2023 J2 League

The 2023 J2 League, also known as the 2023 Meiji Yasuda J2 League (2023 明治安田生命J2リーグ) for sponsorship reasons, is the 25th season of the J2 League, the second-tier Japanese professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1999.

Overview
This is the last season to be played with 22 participating clubs, as the number of clubs will be reduced to 20 from the 2024 season.

FC Ryukyu and Iwate Grulla Morioka were relegated to the 2023 J3 League, finishing the previous J2 League season as 21st and 22nd-placed team, respectively.

Relegated from J1, both Shimizu S-Pulse and Júbilo Iwata were the only Shizuoka-based J1 teams last season. Now, they return to J2 after spending six and one season, respectively, at the top flight.

J3 winners Iwaki FC and runners-up Fujieda MYFC were both promoted from the J3 League. Both teams make their debut in J2 League, with Iwaki being promoted to the J2 just a season after being promoted to J3.

For the first time ever since the 2004 season, three teams from the same prefecture participate in the J2 League, as Shimizu S-Pulse, Júbilo Iwata and Fujieda MYFC are all based on Shizuoka Prefecture.

Foreign players
As of the 2023 season, there are no more restrictions on a number of signed foreign players, but clubs can only register up to five foreign players for a single match-day squad. Players from J.League partner nations (Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia and Qatar) are exempt from these restrictions.


 * Players name in bold indicates the player is registered during the midseason transfer window.
 * Player's name in italics indicates the player has Japanese nationality in addition to their FIFA nationality, 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 school in the country.

Play-offs
The usual format was applied in the 2023 season. Promotion play-offs, officially called the 2023 J.League Road To J1 Play-offs (2023 J1昇格プレーオフ), was held from the semi-finals, where the match-ups were previously semi-determined. Based on the J2 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 J1.

If a match was tied in the play-offs, the team with the higher rank won. The rank order was: J2's third, fourth, fifth, and sixth-placed teams.

For the 2023 season, three teams were to be promoted to the 2024 J1 League with no relegation playoffs between the leagues.

Player

 * Most yellow cards: 11
 * Juanma Delgado (V-Varen Nagasaki)
 * Most red cards: 2
 * Ryo Endo (Iwaki FC)
 * So Nakagawa (Fujieda MYFC)
 * Pereira (Oita Trinita)
 * Kotaro Yamahara (Fujieda MYFC)

Club

 * Most yellow cards: 69 (V-Varen Nagasaki)
 * Most red cards: 7 (Fujieda MYFC)

Club seasons

 * 2023 Blaublitz Akita season
 * 2023 Fagiano Okayama season
 * 2023 FC Machida Zelvia season
 * 2023 Fujieda MYFC season
 * 2023 Iwaki FC season
 * 2023 JEF United Chiba season
 * 2023 Júbilo Iwata season
 * 2023 Mito HollyHock season
 * 2023 Montedio Yamagata season
 * 2023 Oita Trinita season
 * 2023 Omiya Ardija season
 * 2023 Renofa Yamaguchi FC season
 * 2023 Roasso Kumamoto season
 * 2023 Shimizu S-Pulse season
 * 2023 Thespakusatsu Gunma season
 * 2023 Tochigi SC season
 * 2023 Tokushima Vortis season
 * 2023 Tokyo Verdy season
 * 2023 Vegalta Sendai season
 * 2023 Ventforet Kofu season
 * 2023 V-Varen Nagasaki season
 * 2023 Zweigen Kanazawa season