2001 J.League Division 1

The 2001 season was the ninth season since the establishment of the J.League. The league began on March 10 and ended on November 24. At the end of the season, the second stage winner Kashima Antlers won the Suntory Championship against Júbilo Iwata who won the first stage.

J.League Division 1

Season	2001
Champions	Kashima Antlers 4th J.League title 4th Japanese title
Promoted	Urawa Red Diamonds Consadole Sapporo
Relegated	Avispa Fukuoka Cerezo Osaka
AFC Champions League	Kashima Antlers Shimizu S-Pulse (as Emperor's Cup winner)
Matches played	240
Goals scored	788 (3.28 per match)
Top goalscorer	Will (24 goals)
Highest attendance	60,553 - Urawa Red Diamonds vs. Yokohama F. Marinos (13 October)
Lowest attendance	4,014 - JEF United Ichihara vs. Gamba Osaka (31 October)
Average attendance	16,548
← 2000 2002 →

Clubs

Following sixteen clubs participated in J.League Division 1 during 2001 season. Of these clubs, Consadole Sapporo and Urawa Red Diamonds were promoted from Division 2.

• Avispa Fukuoka
• Cerezo Osaka
• Consadole Sapporo
• FC Tokyo
• Gamba Osaka
• JEF United Ichihara
• Júbilo Iwata
• Kashima Antlers
• Kashiwa Reysol
• Nagoya Grampus Eight
• Sanfrecce Hiroshima
• Shimizu S-Pulse
• Tokyo Verdy 1969
• Urawa Red Diamonds
• Vissel Kobe
• Yokohama F. Marinos

Foreign players

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	Former players
Avispa Fukuoka	Claudio Biaggio	David Bisconti	Noh Jung-yoon		Martín Vilallonga Pavel Badea
Cerezo Osaka	Cláudio	Wágner	Washington	Yoon Jong-hwan	Marcelo Rosa Kim Do-keun Noh Jung-yoon
Consadole Sapporo	Adalto	Biju	Will		Almir
FC Tokyo	Amaral	Kelly	Sandro
Gamba Osaka	Reginaldo	Mirko Hrgović	Nino Bule		Claude Dambury
JEF United Ichihara	Edin Mujčin	Željko Milinovič	Choi Yong-soo	Kim Myung-hwi
Júbilo Iwata	Aleksandar Živković	Arno van Zwam
Kashima Antlers	Augusto César	Bismarck	Fabiano
Kashiwa Reysol	Hong Myung-bo	Hwang Sun-hong	Yoo Sang-chul
Nagoya Grampus Eight	Marcelo Ramos	Ueslei	Dragan Stojković	Tarik Oulida	Adriano Pimenta
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Steve Corica	Ri Han-jae	Oleg Pashinin		Tony Popovic Serhiy Skachenko
Shimizu S-Pulse	Fernando Oliva	Alair	Alex	Baron
Tokyo Verdy 1969	Edmundo	Emerson	Marquinhos
Urawa Red Diamonds	Adriano Gerlin	Emerson Sheik	Harison	Tuto	Donizete Oliveira
Vissel Kobe	Daniel	Santos	Sidiclei
Yokohama F. Marinos	Dutra	Marco Brito	Nasa	Marcelo Lipatín	Leandro Simioni

Overview

First stage

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	D	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Júbilo Iwata	15	9	4	1	1	0	32	12	20	36	Qualification to the Suntory Championship
2	JEF United Ichihara	15	7	3	0	2	3	35	26	9	27
3	Nagoya Grampus Eight	15	5	5	2	0	3	29	20	9	27
4	Shimizu S-Pulse	15	6	4	0	2	3	28	18	10	26
5	Gamba Osaka	15	7	2	0	3	3	29	22	7	25
6	Kashiwa Reysol	15	6	2	0	2	5	29	23	6	22
7	Urawa Red Diamonds	15	6	1	1	1	6	24	22	2	21
8	Consadole Sapporo	15	6	0	3	2	4	20	21	−1	21
9	FC Tokyo	15	5	3	0	0	7	18	19	−1	21
10	Vissel Kobe	15	5	1	2	3	4	16	20	−4	19
11	Kashima Antlers	15	5	1	1	3	5	21	23	−2	18
12	Avispa Fukuoka	15	4	1	0	2	8	13	25	−12	14
13	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	15	3	2	0	2	8	25	33	−8	13
14	Cerezo Osaka	15	3	0	2	2	8	22	31	−9	11
15	Yokohama F. Marinos	15	3	0	2	3	7	13	24	−11	11
16	Tokyo Verdy 1969	15	2	2	0	3	8	16	31	−15	10

Source:
Notes:

Results

Home \ Away	ANT	FMA	REY	JÚB	CER	GAM	TOK	SSP	GRA	VER	SFR	AVI	VIS	JEF	CON	RED
Kashima Antlers		2–0	3–2OT	1–2				3–4OT			2–1		2–0			0–3
Yokohama F. Marinos			0–2	1–2OT			0–2	1–3			2–1		0–1OT			0–1
Kashiwa Reysol				0–1			0–2	2–1			2–1OT	1–0	5–1			3–2
Júbilo Iwata						2–0	1–0		3–0	2–1OT		2–1OT		4–1	2–1OT
Cerezo Osaka	0–0	0–2	3–2				1–2OT	2–1				3–0			1–2
Gamba Osaka	3–1	3–2	3–2OT		2–1			0–1OT	2–3OT	5–0				3–4OT
FC Tokyo	2–0					0–2			0–1	2–1OT		1–2		0–3	2–1
Shimizu S-Pulse				1–0OT			1–2OT				5–1	1–0	1–0		5–2	1–0OT
Nagoya Grampus Eight	2–1OT	1–1	1–4		3–1			2–1OT			3–2OT		0–2			2–0
Tokyo Verdy 1969	2–1OT	2–3	1–0		2–1			1–2	0–3				1–0OT	1–2
Sanfrecce Hiroshima				1–4	3–2OT	2–3	3–0			3–2OT		2–3			1–0	1–3
Avispa Fukuoka	0–2	1–0OT				2–0			0–4	1–0				2–3OT	0–2
Vissel Kobe				2–2	3–1	0–1OT	2–0				1–0	2–1			0–0	1–2OT
JEF United Ichihara	2–0	2–0	2–3OT		4–2			2–0	1–2OT		1–3		4–1
Consadole Sapporo	2–1	1–1	2–1			1–0			2–2	2–0				2–3OT
Urawa Red Diamonds				0–2	2–2	1–2	1–3			4–2		2–0		3–1	2–0

Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second stage

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	D	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Kashima Antlers	15	10	3	0	0	2	36	19	17	36	Qualification to the Suntory Championship
2	Júbilo Iwata	15	9	4	0	0	2	31	14	17	35
3	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	15	8	0	0	0	7	36	27	9	24
4	Shimizu S-Pulse	15	5	4	0	1	5	34	27	7	23
5	JEF United Ichihara	15	7	0	2	0	6	25	28	−3	23
6	Nagoya Grampus Eight	15	7	0	1	1	6	27	25	2	22
7	Kashiwa Reysol	15	6	0	3	0	6	29	23	6	21
8	FC Tokyo	15	5	0	5	1	4	29	28	1	20
9	Tokyo Verdy 1969	15	6	0	2	2	5	22	26	−4	20
10	Yokohama F. Marinos	15	4	2	3	3	3	19	20	−1	19
11	Gamba Osaka	15	5	0	2	1	7	21	26	−5	17
12	Urawa Red Diamonds	15	4	0	3	3	5	20	24	−4	15
13	Vissel Kobe	15	3	0	5	1	6	25	32	−7	14
14	Consadole Sapporo	15	3	1	2	2	7	23	29	−6	13
15	Avispa Fukuoka	15	3	1	2	3	6	22	31	−9	13
16	Cerezo Osaka	15	2	3	0	0	10	19	39	−20	12

Source:
Notes:

Results

Home \ Away	ANT	FMA	REY	JÚB	CER	GAM	TOK	SSP	GRA	VER	SFR	AVI	VIS	JEF	CON	RED
Kashima Antlers
Yokohama F. Marinos
Kashiwa Reysol
Júbilo Iwata
Cerezo Osaka
Gamba Osaka
FC Tokyo
Shimizu S-Pulse
Nagoya Grampus Eight
Tokyo Verdy 1969
Sanfrecce Hiroshima
Avispa Fukuoka
Vissel Kobe
JEF United Ichihara
Consadole Sapporo
Urawa Red Diamonds

Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Suntory Championship

2 December 2001

1st Leg

Júbilo Iwata	2–2	Kashima Antlers
Hattori 11' Nakayama 54'	Report	Akita 80' Hirase 83'

Shizuoka Stadium, Fukuroi

Attendance: 32,368

Referee: Masayoshi Okada

---

9 December 2001

2nd Leg

Kashima Antlers	1–0 (a.e.t.)	Júbilo Iwata
Ogasawara 100'	Report

Kashima Soccer Stadium, Kashima

Attendance: 40,115

Referee: Leslie Mottram

Kashima Antlers won 3–2 on aggregate.

Overall table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	D	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Kashima Antlers	30	15	4	1	3	7	57	42	15	54	Champion and qualified to the AFC Champions League 2002–03 Group stage
2	Júbilo Iwata	30	18	8	1	1	2	63	26	37	71
3	JEF United Ichihara	30	14	3	2	2	9	60	54	6	50
4	Shimizu S-Pulse	30	11	8	0	3	8	62	45	17	49	Cup-Winner 2001 Emperor's Cup and qualified to the AFC Champions League 2002–03 Qualification Round 2
5	Nagoya Grampus Eight	30	12	5	3	1	9	56	45	11	49
6	Kashiwa Reysol	30	12	2	3	2	11	58	46	12	43
7	Gamba Osaka	30	12	2	2	4	10	50	48	2	42
8	FC Tokyo	30	10	3	5	1	11	47	47	0	41
9	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	30	11	2	0	2	15	61	60	1	37
10	Urawa Red Diamonds	30	10	1	4	4	11	44	46	−2	36
11	Consadole Sapporo	30	9	1	5	4	11	43	50	−7	34
12	Vissel Kobe	30	8	1	7	4	10	41	52	−11	33
13	Yokohama F. Marinos	30	7	2	5	6	10	32	44	−12	30
14	Tokyo Verdy 1969	30	8	2	2	5	13	38	57	−19	30
15	Avispa Fukuoka	30	7	2	2	5	14	35	56	−21	27	Relegated to the 2002 J.League Division 2
16	Cerezo Osaka	30	5	3	2	2	18	41	70	−29	23

Source:
Notes:

Awards

Individual

Award	Recipient	Club
Player of the Year	Toshiya Fujita	Júbilo Iwata
Young Player of the Year	Koji Yamase	Consadole Sapporo
Manager of the Year	Masakazu Suzuki	Júbilo Iwata
Top Scorer	Will	Consadole Sapporo

Best Eleven

Position	Footballer	Club	Nationality
GK	Arno van Zwam (1)	Júbilo Iwata	Netherlands
DF	Yutaka Akita (4)	Kashima Antlers	Japan
DF	Akira Narahashi (1)	Kashima Antlers	Japan
DF	Go Oiwa (1)	Júbilo Iwata	Japan
MF	Toshiya Fujita (2)	Júbilo Iwata	Japan
MF	Takashi Fukunishi (2)	Júbilo Iwata	Japan
MF	Toshihiro Hattori (1)	Júbilo Iwata	Japan
MF	Kōji Nakata (1)	Kashima Antlers	Japan
MF	Mitsuo Ogasawara (1)	Kashima Antlers	Japan
FW	Will (1)	Consadole Sapporo	Brazil
FW	Atsushi Yanagisawa (2)	Kashima Antlers	Japan

* The number in brackets denotes the number of times that the footballer has appeared in the Best 11.