J2 History: 2002

In 2002, the J2 division continued to develop and gain in both quality and fan support. Although the weakest teams in the division continued to struggle merely to remain in operation, teams like Albirex Niigata, Oita Trinita and Cerezo Osaka drew crowds that occasionally rivalled those of J1 teams. The race for promotion was also filled with suspense and excitement, with Oita Trinita at long last claiming a spot in the J1 two weeks before the end of the season, and Cerezo Osaka clinching their spot in the final week.
Although there was still a large gap in performance and organisation between the teams that finished in the top half of the table and those that finished at the bottom, the league had defeloped sufficiently that J.League officials were able to begin discussing, realistically, the possibility of creating a third professional division ("J3") using the top teams from the JFL. Mito Hollyhock and Sagan Tosu both remained in difficult financial straits, but the measures that the league began introducing at the end of the 2001 season forced teams to confront these problems, and slowly started to have an impact on the financial position of the weaker clubs.
One development that provided support was the development of "unofficial" but mutually beneficial relationships between some top J1 clubs and some of the weaker J2 teams. The J1 clubs effectively took a small, nearby club under their wing, farming out promising players as a means of helping them develop their skills, and thus providing both talent and financial support to the J2 clubs. This sort of arrangement is perhaps best reflected in the relationships between Shimizu S-Pulse and Ventforet Kofu, and between Kashima Antlers and Mito Hollyhock.
In 2002, the J2 division did away with extra time, supposedly because of the physical burden to J2 players of taking part in a 44 match season. The experiment apparently was viewed as successful, and extra time was eliminated for the J1 division as well, in 2003.

J2 League Table, 2002
. Team Pts GP W D L GDif GF GA
1 Oita Trinita 94 44 28 10 6 +33 67 34
2 Cerezo Osaka 87 44 25 12 7 +40 93 53
3 Albirex Niigata 82 44 23 13 8 +28 75 47
4 Kawasaki Frontale 80 44 23 11 10 +18 71 53
5 Shonan Bellmare 64 44 16 16 12 +3 46 43
6 Omiya Ardija 59 44 14 17 13 +10 52 42
7 Ventforet Kofu 58 44 16 10 18 -4 51 55
8 Avispa Fukuoka 42 44 10 12 22 -11 58 69
9 Sagan Tosu 41 44 9 14 21 -23 41 64
10 Mito Hollyhock 40 44 11 7 26 -28 45 73
11 Montedio Yamagata 35 44 6 17 21 -28 29 57
12 Yokohama FC 35 44 8 11 25 -38 43 81

PROMOTED:
Oita Trinita
Cerezo Osaka

RELEGATED:
Sanfrecce Hiroshima
Consadole Sapporo