2023 J1 League

The 2023 J1 League, also known as the 2023 Meiji Yasuda J1 League (2023 明治安田生命J1リーグ) for sponsorship reasons, was the 31st season of the J1 League, the top Japanese professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1992. This was the ninth season of J1 League after being renamed from J. League Division 1.

Yokohama F. Marinos were the defending champions, having won their fifth J.League and seventh Japanese title in 2022 in the final match of the season. Vissel Kobe won their first ever league title with one game to go.

Overview
This season was the last as an 18 team-competition. At the end of season, only one club would be relegated to the J2 League as the number of clubs was expanded from 18 to 20 clubs from the 2024 season.

Changes from the previous season
There were two teams relegated last season to the 2023 J2 League. Shimizu S-Pulse and Júbilo Iwata, both from Shizuoka Prefecture, were relegated due to them finishing 17th and 18th respectively the previous season. Thus, this was the first Japanese top-flight season to not feature any team from the region.

Kyoto Sanga finished on 16th place, but won the promotion/relegation playoffs against Roasso Kumamoto and thus retained their top league status. Had Roasso won, it would have been their first ever promotion to the top-flight.

Two teams were promoted from the 2022 J2 League: Albirex Niigata, who won the title and returned to J1 after a five-year absence, and Yokohama FC, who finished second, returning to the J1 after just a season playing on the J2 League.

Foreign players
From the 2021 season, there are no limitations on signing foreign players, but clubs can only register up to five of them for a single matchday squad. Players from J.League partner nations (Thailand, Vietnam, Morocco, Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Tunisia, Egypt, and Qatar) were exempted from these restrictions.


 * Players name in bold indicates the player is registered during the mid-season transfer window.
 * Player's name in italics indicates the player has Japanese nationality in addition to their FIFA nationality, holds the nationality of a J.League partner nation, or is exempt from being treated as a foreign player due to having been born in Japan and being enrolled in, or having graduated from an approved type of school in the country.

Hat-tricks

 * Notes
 * 4 Player scored 4 goals
 * (H) – Home team
 * (A) – Away team

Player

 * Most yellow cards: 10
 * 🇯🇵 Takuma Arano (Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo)


 * Most red cards: 2
 * José Kanté (Urawa Red Diamonds)
 * 🇯🇵 Yoichi Naganuma (Sagan Tosu)
 * 🇧🇷 Diego Pituca (Kashima Antlers)
 * 🇯🇵 Yugo Tatsuta (Kashiwa Reysol)
 * 🇯🇵 Hisashi Appiah Tawiah (Kyoto Sanga)

Club

 * Most yellow cards: 64
 * FC Tokyo
 * Most red cards: 6
 * Kawasaki Frontale