2010 J.League Division 1

The 2010 J.League Division 1 season was the 46th season of the top-flight club football in Japan and the 18th season since the establishment of J1 League. The season began on March 6 and ended on December 4.

J.League Division 1

Season	2010
Champions	Nagoya Grampus 1st J.League title 1st Japanese title
Relegated	FC Tokyo Kyoto Sanga Shonan Bellmare
Champions League	Nagoya Grampus Gamba Osaka Cerezo Osaka Kashima Antlers
Matches played	306
Goals scored	813 (2.66 per match)
Top goalscorer	Joshua Kennedy & Ryoichi Maeda (17 goals)
Highest attendance	55,410 (Round 10, Reds vs. Grampus)
Lowest attendance	5,334 (Round 11, Sanfrecce vs. Cerezo)
Average attendance	18,428
← 2009 2011 →

A total of eighteen clubs participated in double round-robin format. At the end of the season, top three clubs received automatic qualification to the following years' AFC Champions League. Also, the bottom three clubs were relegated to J2 League by default.

Nagoya Grampus won their first ever Japanese championship. This was also the first time since the advent of the J.League that the top scorer scored less than 20 goals; the honour of scoring 17 goals was shared between Nagoya's Joshua Kennedy and Júbilo Iwata's Ryoichi Maeda. Additionally, this was also the first Japanese top division season in which clubs from the Kantō region did not place among the top three.

Clubs

Montedio Yamagata

Vegalta
Sendai

Albirex Niigata

Kashima Antlers

Omiya Ardija

Urawa Red Diamonds

FC Tokyo

Kawasaki Frontale

Yokohama F. Marinos

Shonan Bellmare

Shimizu S-Pulse

Júbilo Iwata

Nagoya Grampus

Kyoto Sanga

Gamba Osaka

Cerezo Osaka

Vissel Kobe

Sanfrecce
Hiroshima

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Location of the clubs in Japan

The following eighteen clubs participated in J.League Division 1 during the 2010 season. Of these clubs, Vegalta Sendai, Cerezo Osaka and Shonan Bellmare were newly promoted clubs. For the first time since 1995 season, all top-flight teams are located on a single island (Honshū).

Club Name	Home Town(s)	Note(s)
Albirex Niigata	Niigata & Seirō, Niigata
Cerezo Osaka	Osaka	Promoted from J2 League in 2009
FC Tokyo	Tokyo
Gamba Osaka	Suita, Osaka	2010 ACL participant
Júbilo Iwata	Iwata, Shizuoka
Kashima Antlers	Southwestern cities/towns of Ibaraki	2010 ACL participant Three-time defending champions
Kawasaki Frontale	Kawasaki, Kanagawa	2010 ACL participant
Kyoto Sanga	Southwestern cities/town in Kyoto
Montedio Yamagata	All cities/towns in Yamagata
Nagoya Grampus	Nagoya, Aichi
Omiya Ardija	Saitama
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Hiroshima	2010 ACL participant
Shonan Bellmare	Southcentral cities/towns in Kanagawa	Promoted from J2 League in 2009
Shimizu S-Pulse	Shizuoka
Urawa Red Diamonds	Saitama
Vegalta Sendai	Sendai, Miyagi	Promoted from J2 League in 2009
Vissel Kobe	Kobe, Hyōgo
Yokohama F. Marinos	Yokohama & Yokosuka

Foreign players

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	AFC player	Non-visa foreign	Type-C contract	Former players
Albirex Niigata	João Paulo	Márcio Richardes	Michael	Cho Young-cheol		Fagner
Cerezo Osaka	Adriano	Amaral	Martinez	Kim Jin-hyeon
FC Tokyo	Ricardinho			Kim Young-gwon		Seo Yong-duk
Gamba Osaka	Dodô	Lucas Severino	Cho Jae-jin	Lee Keun-ho			Pedro Júnior Zé Carlos
Júbilo Iwata	Gilsinho	Lee Woo-jin		Park Joo-ho	Hwang Song-su		Lee Keun-ho
Kashima Antlers	Fellype Gabriel	Marquinhos				Gilton	Lee Jung-soo
Kawasaki Frontale	Juninho	Renatinho	Vitor Júnior		Jong Tae-se
Kyoto Sanga	Diego Souza	Junior Dutra	Thiego	Kwak Tae-hwi	Kim Song-yong
Montedio Yamagata	Han Dong-won	Kim Byung-suk	Kim Kun-hoan
Nagoya Grampus	Magnum	Danilson Córdoba	Igor Burzanović	Joshua Kennedy
Omiya Ardija	Rafael Marques	Mato Neretljak	Lee Chun-soo	Lee Ho	An Yong-hak		Dudu Seo Yong-duk
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Ilian Stoyanov	Mihael Mikić
Shonan Bellmare	Emerson Paulista	Erivaldo	Jean	Han Kook-young	Kim Yeong-gi	Choi Seung-in
Shimizu S-Pulse	Frode Johnsen			Eddy Bosnar
Urawa Red Diamonds	Edmílson	Robson Ponte	Wilfried Sanou	Matthew Spiranovic
Vegalta Sendai	Elizeu	Fernandinho	Park Ju-sung	Park Sung-ho	Ryang Yong-gi		Reinaldo Alagoano
Vissel Kobe	Edmilson Alves	Popó	Raphael Botti	Lee Jae-min	Park Kang-jo
Yokohama F. Marinos	Pablo Bastianini					Jeong Dong-ho

Format

Eighteen clubs will play in double round-robin (home and away) format, a total of 34 games each. A club receives 3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, and 0 points for a loss. The clubs are ranked by points, and tie breakers are, in the following order:

• Goal differential
• Goals scored
• Head-to-head results
• Disciplinary points

A draw would be conducted, if necessary. However, if two clubs are tied at the first place, both clubs will be declared as the champions. The bottom three clubs will be relegated to J.League Division 2. The top three clubs will qualify to AFC Champions League in the following year.

Changes from previous year

• Regular season schedule had two months break after May 16 games, due to 2010 FIFA World Cup. The season was resumed from July 17, with exceptions for clubs advancing to the Round of 16 of 2010 AFC Champions League, which 11th-week matches were rescheduled to July 14.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Nagoya Grampus (C)	34	23	3	8	54	37	+17	72	Qualification for 2011 AFC Champions League group stage
2	Gamba Osaka	34	18	8	8	65	44	+21	62
3	Cerezo Osaka	34	17	10	7	58	32	+26	61
4	Kashima Antlers	34	16	12	6	51	31	+20	60
5	Kawasaki Frontale	34	15	9	10	61	47	+14	54
6	Shimizu S-Pulse	34	15	9	10	60	49	+11	54
7	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	34	14	9	11	45	38	+7	51
8	Yokohama F. Marinos	34	15	6	13	43	39	+4	51
9	Albirex Niigata	34	12	13	9	48	45	+3	49
10	Urawa Red Diamonds	34	14	6	14	48	41	+7	48
11	Júbilo Iwata	34	11	11	12	38	49	−11	44
12	Omiya Ardija	34	11	9	14	39	45	−6	42
13	Montedio Yamagata	34	11	9	14	29	42	−13	42
14	Vegalta Sendai	34	10	9	15	40	46	−6	39
15	Vissel Kobe	34	9	11	14	37	45	−8	38
16	FC Tokyo (R)	34	8	12	14	36	41	−5	36	Relegation to 2011 J.League Division 2
17	Kyoto Sanga (R)	34	4	7	23	30	60	−30	19
18	Shonan Bellmare (R)	34	3	7	24	31	82	−51	16

Updated to match(es) played on December 4, 2010. Source: J.League Division 1
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

Results

Home \ Away	ALB	ANT	ARD	BEL	CER	FRO	GAM	GRA	JÚB	MON	SFR	SAN	SSP	TOK	RED	VEG	VIS	FMA
Albirex Niigata		2–1	0–0	3–1	1–1	2–1	1–2	4–1	1–1	3–1	2–2	1–1	4–1	2–1	0–2	1–1	1–1	2–1
Kashima Antlers	2–2		3–0	1–0	0–1	2–1	2–1	1–0	1–2	3–1	0–0	2–1	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–0	3–0	2–0
Omiya Ardija	2–2	0–1		3–0	3–0	2–2	1–3	0–1	0–0	2–1	0–0	2–1	3–0	0–2	1–2	0–3	2–2	1–1
Shonan Bellmare	2–0	1–1	1–3		0–4	1–6	1–3	0–1	0–0	1–1	1–3	2–2	3–6	1–3	1–4	1–0	2–2	1–4
Cerezo Osaka	2–1	2–1	2–0	2–1		0–0	1–1	0–1	6–2	3–0	1–1	3–1	1–0	4–1	2–3	0–0	2–1	2–0
Kawasaki Frontale	2–1	1–2	0–0	4–2	1–2		1–2	4–0	1–1	2–0	2–0	1–0	0–0	2–1	1–1	3–2	3–0	1–3
Gamba Osaka	0–0	1–1	5–1	2–1	3–2	4–4		1–2	2–0	1–0	2–0	1–1	1–1	2–0	3–2	2–2	2–4	0–2
Nagoya Grampus	1–1	1–4	2–1	2–1	1–0	2–3	3–1		2–0	2–1	2–1	1–0	3–3	0–1	3–1	2–1	2–0	1–1
Júbilo Iwata	1–1	2–3	1–1	3–2	0–3	3–1	4–3	1–2		0–0	2–1	2–3	2–1	2–1	2–1	0–1	3–2	0–0
Montedio Yamagata	1–0	1–1	1–0	1–1	3–3	0–0	2–1	0–1	1–0		1–0	1–0	0–3	0–3	1–1	3–1	0–0	0–1
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	4–0	1–1	1–2	3–0	0–5	0–3	0–2	1–0	1–1	2–1		3–0	1–1	2–1	2–1	1–0	1–1	3–0
Kyoto Sanga	0–2	1–1	0–2	0–1	0–1	3–4	1–2	0–2	0–1	1–2	0–3		2–4	2–0	0–4	2–1	3–0	1–2
Shimizu S-Pulse	0–2	2–1	2–1	5–0	3–2	2–0	0–3	1–5	0–0	3–0	2–1	1–1		1–2	2–1	5–1	1–0	1–2
FC Tokyo	1–1	1–1	0–1	3–0	0–0	1–2	1–1	0–1	1–1	1–1	0–2	1–1	2–2		0–1	0–0	2–2	1–0
Urawa Red Diamonds	2–0	1–1	0–1	2–1	2–0	3–0	0–2	2–1	0–1	0–1	0–1	2–0	1–1	1–0		1–1	0–4	2–3
Vegalta Sendai	2–3	2–1	3–1	2–1	1–1	1–1	1–3	1–2	3–0	2–0	1–1	1–0	1–3	3–2	1–1		0–1	0–1
Vissel Kobe	1–2	0–0	3–1	0–0	0–0	0–4	1–3	1–2	3–0	0–2	1–2	2–0	1–0	0–0	1–0	2–0		1–1
Yokohama F. Marinos	3–0	1–3	0–2	3–0	0–0	4–0	1–0	0–2	1–0	0–1	2–1	2–2	1–2	1–2	1–4	0–1	1–0

Updated to match(es) played on December 4, 2010. Source: J. League Division 1
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals
1	Joshua Kennedy	Nagoya Grampus	17
	Ryoichi Maeda	Júbilo Iwata
3	Edmílson	Urawa Red Diamonds	16
	Márcio Richardes	Albirex Niigata
5	Adriano	Cerezo Osaka	14
	Juninho	Kawasaki Frontale
	Shoki Hirai	Gamba Osaka
8	Jungo Fujimoto	Shimizu S-Pulse	13
	Shinji Okazaki	Shimizu S-Pulse
	Keiji Tamada	Nagoya Grampus

Awards

MVP

• Seigo Narazaki

Best XI

Position	Player
GK	Seigo Narazaki
DF	Marcus Tulio Tanaka
DF	Takahiro Masukawa
DF	Tomoaki Makino
MF	Márcio Richardes
MF	Danilson Córdoba
MF	Jungo Fujimoto
MF	Kengo Nakamura
MF	Yasuhito Endō
FW	Joshua Kennedy
FW	Ryoichi Maeda

Attendance

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Urawa Red Diamonds	678,994	55,410	21,625	39,941	−9.7%†
2	Albirex Niigata	519,221	41,002	19,152	30,542	−8.7%†
3	Yokohama F. Marinos	436,624	43,025	12,184	25,684	+16.4%†
4	FC Tokyo	426,899	30,672	17,477	25,112	−3.0%†
5	Kashima Antlers	356,430	35,251	9,472	20,966	−3.0%†
6	Nagoya Grampus	339,638	34,098	7,991	19,979	+25.4%†
7	Kawasaki Frontale	315,550	22,407	7,348	18,562	−1.5%†
8	Shimizu S-Pulse	306,022	38,851	7,117	18,001	+0.4%†
9	Vegalta Sendai	294,644	26,391	12,119	17,332	+33.8%†
10	Gamba Osaka	283,111	20,973	9,093	16,654	−6.0%†
11	Cerezo Osaka	255,439	37,860	8,041	15,026	+51.6%†
12	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	247,550	23,948	5,334	14,562	−7.4%†
13	Vissel Kobe	218,004	19,506	8,707	12,824	−1.9%†
14	Júbilo Iwata	206,324	31,266	7,030	12,137	−10.2%†
15	Montedio Yamagata	199,069	20,231	7,019	11,710	−2.9%†
16	Shonan Bellmare	188,614	14,095	6,032	11,095	+43.7%†
17	Omiya Ardija	188,088	29,575	7,831	11,064	−19.3%†
18	Kyoto Sanga	178,673	15,222	6,818	10,510	−5.5%†
	League total	5,638,894	55,410	5,334	18,428	−2.9%†

Updated to games played on December 4, 2010
Source: J. League Division 1
Notes:
^† Team played previous season in J2.