2002 J.League Division 2

J.League Division 2
Season	2002
Champions	Oita Trinita; 1st J2 title; 1st D2 title
Promoted	Oita Trinita; Cerezo Osaka
Matches played	264
Goals scored	671 (2.54 per match)
Top goalscorer	Marcus Vinícius (19 goals)
Highest attendance	42,211; Albirex Niigata 0-0 Cerezo Osaka (10 August 2002)
Lowest attendance	1,136; Mito HollyHock 0-2 Sagan Tosu (7 August 2002)
Total attendance	1,806,392
Average attendance	6,842
	← 2001 2003 →

The 2002 J.League Division 2 season was the 31st season of the second-tier club football in Japan and the 4th season since the establishment of J.League Division 2.

Starting this season, extra-time rule was abolished and the league adopted the traditional 3-1-0 points system. The twelve clubs competed in the quadruple round-robin format. The top two received promotion to the J.League Division 1. There were no relegation to the third-tier Japan Football League.

Clubs

Locations of the 2002 J.League 2 teams

The following 12 clubs played in J.League Division 2 during 2002 season. Of these clubs, Cerezo Osaka and Avispa Fukuoka were relegated from J.League Division 1 last year.

Personnel

Club	Head coach
Albirex Niigata	Yasuharu Sorimachi
Avispa Fukuoka	Shigekazu Nakamura
Cerezo Osaka	Akihiro Nishimura
Kawasaki Frontale	Nobuhiro Ishizaki
Mito HollyHock	Masaaki Kanno
Montedio Yamagata	Koichi Hashiratani
Oita Trinita	Shinji Kobayashi
Omiya Ardija	Henk Duut
Sagan Tosu	Hiroshi Soejima
Shonan Bellmare	Koji Tanaka
Ventforet Kofu	Takeshi Oki
Yokohama FC	Katsuyoshi Shinto

Foreign players

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Non-visa foreign	Type-C contract	Former players
Albirex Niigata	Beto	Marcus Vinícius	Serjão	An Yong-hak
Avispa Fukuoka	Alen Avdić	Zoltan Sabo	Noh Jung-yoon
Cerezo Osaka	Almir Turković	João Carlos	Yoon Jong-hwan	Jeong Yong-dae
Kawasaki Frontale	Bentinho	Marlon	Marquinho		Alex	Marcos Aurélio
Mito HollyHock	An Seon-jin			Hwang Hak-sun
Montedio Yamagata
Oita Trinita	Andradina	Fabinho Santos		Sandro	Marcelo Mattos Kim Sung-kil
Omiya Ardija	Toninho	Jorge Dely Valdés	Fuat Usta			Jorginho
Sagan Tosu	David Bisconti			Erikson Noguchipinto
Shonan Bellmare	Ever Palacios				Silva
Ventforet Kofu	Jorginho				Alair
Yokohama FC	Fernando Moner

League format

Twelve clubs played in quadruple round-robin format, a total of 44 games each. A club receives 3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, and 0 points for a loss. The clubs are ranked by points, and tie breakers are, in the following order:

Goal differential
Goals scored
Head-to-head results

A draw would be conducted, if necessary. However, if two clubs are tied at the first place, both clubs will be declared as the champions. The top two clubs are promoted to J1.

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Oita Trinita (C, P)	44	28	10	6	67	34	+33	94	Promotion to 2003 J.League Division 1
2	Cerezo Osaka (P)	44	25	12	7	93	53	+40	87	Promotion to 2003 J.League Division 1
3	Albirex Niigata	44	23	13	8	75	47	+28	82
4	Kawasaki Frontale	44	23	11	10	71	53	+18	80
5	Shonan Bellmare	44	16	16	12	46	43	+3	64
6	Omiya Ardija	44	14	17	13	52	42	+10	59
7	Ventforet Kofu	44	16	10	18	51	55	−4	58
8	Avispa Fukuoka	44	10	12	22	58	69	−11	42
9	Sagan Tosu	44	9	14	21	41	64	−23	41
10	Mito HollyHock	44	11	7	26	45	73	−28	40
11	Montedio Yamagata	44	6	17	21	29	57	−28	35
12	Yokohama FC	44	8	11	25	43	81	−38	35

Updated to match(es) played on November 24, 2002. Source: J.League Data Site
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted

Top scorers

Pos	Player	Club	Goals	PK	GP	Shots	Goals per game
1st	Marcus Vinícius	Albirex Niigata	19	4/5	36	139	0.55
2nd	Yoshito Ōkubo	Cerezo Osaka	18	1/2	29	65	0.91
2nd	Andradina	Oita Trinita	18	1/1	39	117	0.50
4th	Bentinho	Kawasaki Frontale	16	3/3	36	176	0.44
5th	Takayoshi Ono	Mito HollyHock	14	2/2	36	85	0.46
	Hiroshi Morita	Sagan Tosu		0/0	38	86	0.45
	David Bisconti	Sagan Tosu		4/4	39	92	0.42
8th	Yasuo Manaka	Cerezo Osaka	13	1/1	28	67	1.05
8th	Jorge Dely Valdés	Omiya Ardija	13	2/2	32	72	0.46
10th	Hiroaki Morishima	Cerezo Osaka	12	0/0	37	75	0.34
10th	Marlon	Kawasaki Frontale	12	0/0	23	74	0.58

Attendances

#	Football club	Total attendance	Home games	Average	Highest	Lowest
1	Albirex Niigata	472,507	22	21,478	42,211	9,125
2	Oita Trinita	271,669	22	12,349	27,431	3,094
3	Cerezo Osaka	174,951	22	7,952	32,067	3,067
4	Avispa Fukuoka	142,808	22	6,491	14,475	3,284
5	Omiya Ardija	115,846	22	5,266	19,782	2,517
6	Kawasaki Frontale	115,431	22	5,247	20,405	3,044
7	Shonan Bellmare	100,125	22	4,551	9,739	2,120
8	Ventforet Kofu	108,108	22	4,914	13,000	2,954
9	Sagan Tosu	85,586	22	3,890	8,464	1,796
10	Montedio Yamagata	82,601	22	3,755	8,996	1,908
11	Yokohama FC	76,498	22	3,477	11,118	1,518
12	Mito HollyHock	60,262	22	2,739	5,576	1,136