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| Season | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Dates | 15 February 2025 – 24 November 2025 |
| ← 2024 2026–27 → | |
The 2025 J3 League, also known as the 2025 Meiji Yasuda J3 League (Japanese: 2025 明治安田J3リーグ, Hepburn: 2025 Meiji Yasuda J3 Rīgu) for sponsorship reasons, is the 12th season of the J3 League, the third-tier Japanese professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 2013.
Overview
This is the last J.League season played in a whole calendar year from late winter to early winter, with the following season onwards played from summer to spring.
The league continued with 20 teams for the 2024 season.
The top two teams in the league will be automatically promoted to the J2 League, teams ranked 3rd to 6th dispute the promotion play-offs. There is the possibility that as many as two clubs will be relegated to the Japan Football League. Promotion from the JFL is conditional on holding a valid J3 license. If the JFL champions hold a license, the club will be automatically promoted and the J3's 20th-placed team will be automatically relegated. If the JFL runners-up hold a license, the club will need to play promotion/relegation play-offs against J3's 19th or 20th-placed team for the season, depending on whether the JFL champions hold the J3 license. The club(s) who do not hold a license cannot be promoted and no teams will be relegated from the J3 League.
Schedule
The league and match format was announced on 25 November 2024. The league began on 15 February and ended on 29 November in a round-robin format of 38 matches.
The J3 promotion play-offs were held in a similar manner to the J2 playoffs, with the dates will be confirmed in november
Changes from the previous season
Tochigi SC, Kagoshima United and Thespakusatsu Gunma were relegated to the J3 League, finishing the previous J2 League season as 18th, 19th and 20th places. Tochigi gets relegated after eight years in the second divsion. Meanwhile, Kagoshima United come back to the third tier after one season in J2 and Thespa Gunma back to the league after five years in J2 League.
From J3 win promotion RB Omiya Ardija (Formerly only Omiya Ardija) team recently acquired for the Red Bull Group who gets promoted after only one season in J3, runner-up FC Imabari gets promoted for first time ever and will play the Ehime Derby against Ehime FC in J2 League, the last team promoted was Kataller Toyama after eleven seasons in J3 thanks to a epic draw in the play-off final against Matsumoto Yamaga with a double from the striker Shosei Usui in the last ten minutes.
From Japan Football League teams gets promoted after two seasons. 2024 Japan Football League champions, Tochigi City FC gets promoted for first time ever and will play the Tochigi Derby against Tochigi SC. The second and final team promoted was Kochi United SC finished as runner-up and after won the relegation play-off defeated YSCC Yokohama with a aggregate of 1-3, the first team of Kochi Prefecture who play in the J League.
Clubs
Foreign player
League table
Play-offs
Promotion play-offs
The usual format will be applied in the 2025 season. Promotion play-offs, officially called the 2025 J.League Road To J2 Play-offs (Japanese: 2025 J2昇格プレーオフ), was held from the semi-finals, where the match-ups were previously semi-determined. Based on the J3 placements at the end of the regular season, the third-placed team played against the sixth-placed, while the fourth-placed team played against the fifth-placed. The winners of the semi-finals played the final, with the winners promoted to the J2.
If a match was tied in the play-offs, the team with the highest league position are declared the winner. The rank order was: J3's third, fourth, fifth, and sixth-placed teams.
Relegation play-offs
The relegation play-offs, officially called the 2025 J3/JFL Play-Offs (Japanese: 2025 J3・JFL入れ替え戦), take place on 7 and 12 December 2025. If two teams are equal on the scoreboard, the match will going to extra time and penalty shoot-out. Away goals rule will not applied.
Season statistics
Awards
See also
- 2025 Japanese Super Cup
- 2025 Emperor's Cup
- 2025 J1 League
- 2025 J2 League
- 2025 J.League Cup
- 2025 Japan Football League
Footnotes
- On the official J.League English website, it is listed as J2 Promotion Play-Offs
- The logo and signage reads 2025 J.League J3・JFL入れ替え戦
References
- ^ "２０２４明治安田Ｊ３リーグ 大会方式および試合方式について：Ｊリーグ公式サイト（J.LEAGUE.jp）". Ｊリーグ.jp（日本プロサッカーリーグ） (in Japanese). 19 December 2023. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
- "２０２５明治安田Ｊ３リーグ 大会方式および試合方式について". Ｊリーグ.jp（日本プロサッカーリーグ） (in Japanese). 25 November 2024. Retrieved 22 January 2025.
External links
- Official website on jleague.co (in English)
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