J League History: 2005

When writing a synopsis of the previous season, at the end of 2004, we commented that we think the year will probably be viewed, decades from now, as a watershed for the J.League. Though we are only one year on from that comment, the impression we had of a League moving from the early phase of formative struggle, into a new era of maturity and prosperity seems to have been justified. Years from now, perhaps there will be disagreements about whether that 'watershed" was crossed as early as 2002 (with the World Cup, and the first hits of a plan for league expansion), or as late as 2005 (with the successful adoption of a single-stage format, and one of the most suspenseful title chases ever). But we do not think there will be any disagreement with the proposition that the J.League's formative period, roughly equivalent to the first decade of J1 activity, had been completed by the end of 2005, and a new era had begun.

J.League Final Standings, 2005

. Team Pts GP W D L GF GA G.Dif
1 Gamba Osaka 60 34 18 6 10 82 58 +24

2 Urawa Reds 59 34 17 8 9 65 37 +28

3 Kashima Antlers 59 34 16 11 7 61 39 +22

4 JEF United 59 34 16 11 7 56 42 +14

5 Cerezo Osaka 59 34 16 11 7 48 40 +8

6 Jubilo Iwata 51 34 14 9 11 51 41 +10

7 Sanfrecce Hiroshima 50 34 13 11 10 50 42 +8

8 Kawasaki Frontale 50 34 15 5 14 54 47 +7

9 Yokohama Marinos 48 34 12 12 10 41 40 +1

10 FC Tokyo 47 34 11 14 9 43 40 +3

11 Oita Trinita 43 34 12 7 15 44 43 +1

12 Albirex Niigata 42 34 11 9 14 47 62 -15

13 Omiya Ardija 41 34 12 5 17 39 50 -11

14 Nagoya Grampus 39 34 10 9 15 43 49 -6

15 Shimizu S-Pulse 39 34 9 12 13 40 49 -9

16 Kashiwa Reysol 35 34 8 11 15 39 54 -15

17 Tokyo Verdy 30 34 6 12 16 40 73 -33

18 Vissel Kobe 21 34 4 9 21 30 67 -37

Promotion/Relegation Series
4 Dec Ventforet Kofu 2 - 1 Kashiwa Reysol

Kuranuki (25')
Bare" (48')
Reynaldo (11')

12 Dec Kashiwa Reysol 2 - 6 Ventforet Kofu

Reynaldo (52')
Unozawa (86')
Bare (10')
Bare (27')
Bare (53')
Bare (68')
Bare (69')
Bare (87')

Scoring Leaders

Rank Player Team Goals (PKs) Shots
1 Araujo Gamba Osaka 33 (0) 135
2 Washington Tokyo Verdy 22 (5) 102
3 Hayato Sato Sanfrecce Hiroshima 18 (0) 65
3 Edmilson Albirex Niigata 18 (1) 89
3 Magno Alves Oita Trinita 18 (2) 100
6 Juninho Kawasaki Frontale 16 (2) 115
6 Masashi Oguro Gamba Osaka 16 (0) 125
8 Alex Mineiro Kashima Antlers 15 (0) 66
9 Robert Cullen Jubilo Iwata 13 (0) 52
10 Seiichiro Maki JEF United 12 (0) 45
10 Ryoichi Maeda Jubilo Iwata 12 (0) 50
10 Yuki Abe JEF United 12 (5) 77
13 Mitsuo Ogasawara Kashima Antlers 11 (2) 67
14 Akinori Nishizawa Cerezo Osaka 10 (0) 44
14 Takuya Nozawa Kashima Antlers 10 (0) 45
14 Yasuhito Endo Gamba Osaka 10 (4) 64

J.League Awards, 2005

MVP Araujo 28 Gamba Osaka

Rookie of the Year Robert Cullen 20 Jubilo Iwata

Golden Boot Araujo 28 Gamba Osaka

Coach of the Year Akira Nishino 50 Gamba Osaka

Best Eleven

GK Motohiro Yoshida 31 Cerezo Osaka

DF Marcus Tulio Tanaka 24 Urawa Reds

Yuji Nakazawa 27 Yokohama Marinos

Ilya Stoyanov 31 JEF United

MF Mitsuo Ogasawara 26 Kashima Antlers

Yuki Abe 24 JEF United

Yasuhiro Endo 26 Gamba Osaka

Fernandinho 24 Gamba Osaka

Tatsuya Furuhashi 25 Cerezo Osaka

FW Hayato Sato 23 Sanfrecce Hiroshima

Araujo 28 Gamba Osaka

RELEGATED:
Vissel Kobe
Tokyo Verdy
Kashiwa Reysol

The J.League is still youthfully energetic, still growing rapidly, and still troubled by a variety of problems that you might associate with immaturity (such as bureaucratic inefficiency, continued financial instability at a few clubs, and weak, unclear or inadequately enforced standards (particularly in terms of officiating, though visible in other areas as well). But despite these signs of youth, the J.League is now clearly a strong, healthy and vibrant sports organization. League officials no longer have to devote any energy to simply keeping professional football alive, in Japan. Instead, the League Office has shifted its focus fully to what they want the J.League to become in the future.
The J.League's so-called "Hundred Year Plan" -- a very ambitious program of organisational development whose clear, though unstated goal is to replace baseball as Japan's national sport -- is now well under way, and indeed, the clearest signs of football's rapid growth and vibrant health in Japan can be seen in the activities of local, regional and nationwide "amateur" football. A formal and successful system of promotion from the regional leagues to the nationwide "semi-professional" JFL, and from there to the J.League, has been introduced, and though there was a dramatic disparity in the relative success of the teams that have been promoted since the "Hundred Year Plan" went into effect, there still have been no examples of outright failure. On the contrary, after adding two clubs to the J2 in 2005, the League was sufficiently confident of the process to approve another team's promotion from the JFL in 2006. Meanwhile, two very promising franchises -- in Kumamoto and Okinawa -- advanced to the JFL from the regional leagues, and there seem to be a host of other clubs, in every corner of the country, that are now aiming to follow the same path towards membership in the J.League.
In the J.League's top division, meanwhile, the League's progress towards an era of greater maturity was symbolized by the successful adoption of a single stage format to the season. There are still some indications that the switch from a two-stage format to a single stage will hurt the finances of mid-table clubs (for example, average attendance per match declined for the first time since the turn of the century, pulled down by the weak contributions of clubs in the bottom half of the table), and the J.League may eventually find it necessary to review its system of revenue sharing, or find some other means of encouraging the smaller and weaker clubs. Nevertheless, the single-stage season did come off successfully, even if there were some indications of "manipulation" to prevent any one team from running away with the title, early in the season. Manipulated or not, the battle for the league title in the final few weeks of the season was breathtaking, to say the least. On the final day, five teams all had a theoretical chance to lift the trophy depending upon the outcome of that day's matches, and in the final standings, those five teams were all separated by just two points.
Another important sign of the League's transition was the fact that previously unheralded teams rose to the top of the heap. Tokyo Verdy started the year by claiming the Emperor's Cup, and although Verdy (when it was known as Verdy Kawasaki), was one of the four traditional powers in the J.League (along with Yokohama Marinos, Kashima Antlers and Jubilo Iwata), the modern Verdy is a very different team both in name and organization from the one that captured a fistful of titles in the early 1990s. In League action, meanwhile, the Antlers were the only "traditional power" to remain in the title chase. The Marinos and Jubilo both finished mid-table, and Verdy went from New Year's Day triumph to relegation in late November. Meanwhile, both Osaka teams climbed into the ranks of title contenders (a good sign, given the weak support that football has received in the Kansai region, in the past), with Gamba just edging out Cerezo on the final day to claim the J1 crown
Other up and coming teams also made their marks. JEF United, having just expanded its regional base to include Chiba city, captured the Nabisco (League) Cup. Ther team also moved to a new home stadium in the latter part of the season, and drew the largest crowds in the team's history, showing that JEF United have permanently moved out of the obscurity the team has faced in past years. The Urawa Reds, last year's unsuccessful finalist in the (now defunct) Suntory Championship Series, made another run at a title, and though they fell just short, they have confirmed their place among the league's new title contenders.
The results at the opposite end of the J1 table also provided an indication of the league's changing character. The most stunning result of them all, of course, was the relegation of Tokyo Verdy, which won the Emperor's Cup on January 1, only to collapse during the J.League season and finish in 17th place. As we noted above, Tokyo Verdy has changed a great deal from the Verdy Kawasaki teams that won the J.League crown in the League's first two seasons, not only in name and home town, but in many elements of the team organization. Nevertheless, it was a surprise to all when the former league powerhouse was relegated to the J2. Both of the other teams that will move to the J2 next season are also clubs that have been in the top-flight division since joining the J.League. Kashiwa Reysol had been a J1 club since 1994, and Vissel Kobe since 1997. Both teams will now have their first taste of life in the second division.
As exciting and suspenseful as the league title race might have been, the promotion-relegation series that followed the regular season provided another thrilling climax to cap off what was a fantastic year for footbaall fans. Ventforet Kofu -- a tiny J2 club from the smallest town to host a J.League franchise, funded mainly by donations from local mom-and-pop stores -- took on Kashiwa Reysol -- an established J1 member with financial backing from the massive Hitachi conglomerate. Against all the odds, Ventforet won the home leg 2-1, and then marched into Kashiwa Stadium and ran their J1 opponents off the pitch with a 6-2 victory, on a double-hat-trick by Jader "Bare" Spindler. As a result, Ventforet will join Kyoto Purple Sanga and Avispa Fukuoka (the first and second-placed J2 teams) in advancing to the J1 next season.

PROMOTED:
Kyoto Purple Sanga
Avispa Fukuoka
Ventforet Kofu