J3 League

J3 League (Japanese: J3リーグ, Hepburn: J3 Rīgu) or simply J3 is the third division of Japan Professional Football League (Japanese: 日本プロサッカーリーグ, Hepburn: Nihon Puro Sakkā Rīgu) that has established a third-tier professional association football league in Japan starting in 2013.

J3 League

Founded	2013; 8 years ago
Country	Japan
Confederation	AFC
Number of teams	15 (2021 season)
Level on pyramid	3
Promotion to	J2 League
Domestic cup(s)	Emperor's Cup
Current champions	Blaublitz Akita (2nd title) (2020 season)
Most championships	Blaublitz Akita (2 titles)
TV partners	DAZN
Website	www.jleague.jp/en/
Current: 2021

Championship/Promotion History

Season	Winner	Runner-up	Third place
2014	Zweigen Kanazawa	AC Nagano Parceiro†	FC Machida Zelvia
2015	Renofa Yamaguchi FC	FC Machida Zelvia‡	AC Nagano Parceiro
2016	Oita Trinita	Tochigi SC	AC Nagano Parceiro
2017	Blaublitz Akita	Tochigi SC	Azul Claro Numazu
2018	FC Ryukyu	Kagoshima United FC	Gainare Tottori
2019	Giravanz Kitakyushu	Thespakusatsu Gunma	Fujieda MYFC
2020	Blaublitz Akita	SC Sagamihara	AC Nagano Parceiro

* Bold designates the promoted club;
† Lost the J2–J3 playoffs;
‡ Won the J2–J3 playoffs and got promoted;

Most successful clubs

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Promotions	Winning seasons	Runners-up seasons	Promotion seasons
Blaublitz Akita	2	0	1	2017, 2020		2020
Zweigen Kanazawa	1	0	1	2014		2014
Renofa Yamaguchi FC	1	0	1	2015		2015
Oita Trinita	1	0	1	2016		2016
FC Ryukyu	1	0	1	2018		2018
Giravanz Kitakyushu	1	0	1	2019		2019
Tochigi SC	0	2	1		2016, 2017	2017
SC Sagamihara	0	1	1		2020	2020
Thespakusatsu Gunma	0	1	1		2019	2019
Kagoshima United FC	0	1	1		2018	2018
FC Machida Zelvia	0	1	1		2015	2015
AC Nagano Parceiro	0	1	0		2014

Other websites

• J.League Archived 2017-09-11 at the Wayback Machine