2020 Japan Football League

The 2020 Japan Football League (Japanese: 第22回日本フットボールリーグ(第22回 JFL 2020), Hepburn: Dai Nijūnikai Nihon Futtobōru Rīgu (Dai Nijūnikai JFL 2020)) is the eight season of the fourth tier in Japanese football, and the 22nd season since the establishment of Japan Football League.

Japan Football League
Season2020
← 2019
2021 →

Postponement of the beginning of the season

On February 27, Opening Game, Match day 2 were postponed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[1]

On March 16, it was announced Match day 3 would be postponed.[2] On March 25, it was announced Match day 4, Match day 5 would be postponed.[3]

On April 7, it was announced Match day 6 would be postponed.[4]

On April 15 it was finally decided that only the second half of the season would be played beginning on the scheduled date, July 18. No promotions or relegations will happen and the winners and runners-up of the Japanese Regional Series will be automatically promoted, meaning that the 2021 season will be held with 18 clubs.[5]

Clubs
JFL map 2020

Sixteen clubs will feature in this season of Japan Football League. There were some changes: FC Imabari got promoted after coming third in 2019, while Ryutsu Keizai Dragons was relegated after playing for five seasons in the category.[6][7] Matsue City FC - who came second-last and were doomed to go back to Japanese Regional Leagues as well - avoided the drop thanks to FC Imabari going up to J3 League.

There are two new clubs in the JFL, debuting in this category after coming in the Top 2 in the 2019 Japanese Regional Series: Iwaki FC dominated the final stage, while Kochi United SC overcame the other two teams - Ococias Kyoto AC and Fukui United FC - to get the last spot for this season of JFL.[8][9]

Club Name Home Town Position Notes
Honda FC Hamamatsu, Shizuoka 1st 2019 Champions
Honda Lock Miyazaki, Miyazaki 6th
Iwaki FC Iwaki, Fukushima RPS 1st Winners of TSL and 43rd RPS, 100 Year Plan-status
Kochi United SC Kōchi, Kōchi RPS 2nd Winners of SSL and runners-up of 43rd RPS
Maruyasu Okazaki Okazaki, Aichi 11th
Matsue City FC Matsue, Shimane 15th
MIO Biwako Shiga Kusatsu, Shiga 9th Applied for 100 Year Plan-status
Nara Club All cities/towns in Nara[lower-alpha 1] 14th No more 100 Year Plan-status, but they hold a J3 license holders
FC Osaka Higashiōsaka, Osaka 8th 100 Year Plan-status
ReinMeer Aomori Aomori, Aomori 13th 100 Year Plan-status and J3 license holders
Sony Sendai Tagajō, Miyagi 2nd
Suzuka Unlimited FC Suzuka, Mie 12th Applied for 100 Year Plan-status
Tegevajaro Miyazaki Miyazaki & Shintomi, Miyazaki 5th 100 Year Plan-status
Tokyo Musashino City Musashino, Tokyo 4th 100 Year Plan-status and J3 license holders
Veertien Mie All cities/towns in Mie[lower-alpha 2] 10th 100 Year Plan-status
Verspah Oita Yufu & Ōita, Ōita 7th

Personnel and kits
Club Manager Captain Kit manufacturer
Honda FC Hiroyasu Ibata Yuya Suzuki Umbro
Honda Lock SC Shinya Shirakawa Naoya Oyama Kappa
Iwaki FC Yuzo Tamura TBA Under Armour
Kochi United SC Akihiro Nishimura Tsubasa Yokotake bonera
Maruyasu Okazaki Ryuji Kitamura TBA ATHLETA
Matsue City FC Noriaki Sanenobu Yuzuru Tabira GAViC
MIO Biwako Shiga Hiroshi Otsuki TBA JOGARBOLA
Nara Club Maiki Hayashi Shinichi Mukai SQUADRA
FC Osaka Shinya Tsukahara Tomoyuki Iwamoto bonera
ReinMeer Aomori Tatsuya Mochizuki Kanta Takahashi Umbro
Sony Sendai FC Gen Nakamura Kenta Ogihara Umbro
Suzuka Point Getters Milagros Martínez Domínguez Kohei Fujita ATHLETA
Tegevajaro Miyazaki Keiji Kuraishi Kenta Ishii Penalty
Tokyo Musashino City Hisayuki Ikegami Koji Ishihara Yonex
Veertien Mie Nobuhiro Ueno Hitoshi Nishimura Puma
Verspah Oita Shigemitsu Sudo Kosei Uryu YASUDA
  1. centering on Nara
  2. centering on Kuwana & Yokkaichi

References
  1. "新型コロナウイルスの影響による、開幕戦延期のお知らせ" (Press release) (in Japanese). 日本フットボールリーグ. 2020-02-27. Retrieved 2020-04-04.
  2. "新型コロナウイルスの影響による、第３節延期のお知らせ" (Press release) (in Japanese). 日本フットボールリーグ. 2020-03-16. Retrieved 2020-04-04.
  3. "新型コロナウイルスの影響による、第４節、第５節の開催可否について" (Press release) (in Japanese). 日本フットボールリーグ. 2020-03-16. Retrieved 2020-04-04.
  4. "新型コロナウイルスの影響による、第６節の開催可否について" (Press release) (in Japanese). 日本フットボールリーグ. 2020-04-07. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  5. "第22回日本フットボールリーグ日程及び大会方式の変更のお知らせ" (Press release) (in Japanese). 日本フットボールリーグ. 2020-04-15. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
  6. https://www.footballchannel.jp/2019/11/18/post348645/
  7. https://note.com/hitoniph/n/n7f4963b5194b
  8. https://www.minyu-net.com/news/iwakifc/FM20191127-437100.php
  9. http://www.jfl.or.jp/jfl-pc/view/s.php?a=1525
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