2003 J.League Division 2

J. League Division 2
Season	2003
Champions	Albirex Niigata; 1st J2 title; 1st D2 title
Promoted	Albirex Niigata; Sanfrecce Hiroshima
Matches played	264
Goals scored	678 (2.57 per match)
Top goalscorer	Marcus Vinícius (32 goals)
Highest attendance	42,223 (Round 44,; Albirex vs. Ardija)
Lowest attendance	1,337 (Round 4,; HollyHock vs. Ardija)
Average attendance	7,895
	← 2002 2004 →

The 2003 J. League Division 2 season was the 32nd season of the second-tier club football in Japan and the 5th season since the establishment of J.League Division 2.

In this season, 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 2003 J.League 2 teams

The following twelve clubs participated in J. League Division 2 during 2003 season. Of these clubs, Consadole Sapporo and Sanfrecce Hiroshima were relegated from Division 1 last year.

Personnel

Club	Head coach
Albirex Niigata	Yasuharu Sorimachi
Avispa Fukuoka	Shigekazu Nakamura
Consadole Sapporo	Akihiro Nishimura
Kawasaki Frontale	Nobuhiro Ishizaki
Mito HollyHock	Masaaki Kanno
Montedio Yamagata	Koichi Hashiratani
Omiya Ardija	Henk Duut
Sagan Tosu	Hiroshi Soejima
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Takeshi Ono
Shonan Bellmare	Koji Tanaka
Ventforet Kofu	Takeshi Oki
Yokohama FC	Pierre Littbarski

Foreign players

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	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
Consadole Sapporo	Almir Turković	João Carlos	Yoon Jong-hwan	Jeong Yong-dae
Kawasaki Frontale	Bentinho	Marlon	Marquinho		Alex	Jorge Dely Valdés
Mito HollyHock	An Seon-jin			Hwang Hak-sun
Montedio Yamagata
Omiya Ardija	Baré	Edson Araújo	Toninho				Alexandre Finazzi
Sagan Tosu	David Bisconti			Erikson Noguchipinto
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	César Sampaio	Marcelo Ramos	Ricardo		Ri Han-jae		Tomislav Erceg
Shonan Bellmare	Ever Palacios				Silva
Ventforet Kofu	Jorginho				Alair
Yokohama FC	Rudi Vata	Fernando Moner	Dirk Lehmann	Mathieu Boots			Dirk van der Ven

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 would be declared as the champions. The top two clubs are promoted to J1.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Albirex Niigata (C, P)	44	27	7	10	80	40	+40	88	Promotion to 2004 J. League Division 1
2	Sanfrecce Hiroshima (P)	44	25	11	8	65	35	+30	86	Promotion to 2004 J. League Division 1
3	Kawasaki Frontale	44	24	13	7	88	47	+41	85
4	Avispa Fukuoka	44	21	8	15	67	62	+5	71
5	Ventforet Kofu	44	19	12	13	58	46	+12	69
6	Omiya Ardija	44	18	7	19	52	61	−9	61
7	Mito HollyHock	44	15	11	18	37	41	−4	56
8	Montedio Yamagata	44	15	10	19	52	60	−8	55
9	Consadole Sapporo	44	13	13	18	57	56	+1	52
10	Shonan Bellmare	44	11	11	22	33	53	−20	44
11	Yokohama FC	44	10	12	22	49	88	−39	42
12	Sagan Tosu	44	3	11	30	40	89	−49	20

Updated to match(es) played on November 23, 2003. Source: J. League Division 2
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted

Final results

Rounds 1 & 2
Home \ Away	ALB	SFR	FRO	AVI	VEN	ARD	HOL	MON	CON	BEL	YFC	SAG
Albirex Niigata		1–2	1–0	4–0	0–0	4–0	2–2	1–1	0–1	1–0	2–1	2–1
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	0–0		2–2	3–1	1–0	2–1	3–0	2–1	1–1	0–0	6–1	2–1
Kawasaki Frontale	0–4	1–0		2–1	1–1	1–1	2–2	5–1	1–0	2–1	1–1	6–3
Avispa Fukuoka	1–2	0–2	0–2		1–2	0–1	1–2	2–2	0–0	2–0	3–2	5–2
Ventforet Kofu	1–3	1–0	0–2	2–1		1–2	0–2	1–2	2–1	1–0	1–1	1–1
Omiya Ardija	1–4	1–1	1–0	2–1	0–3		1–3	0–2	1–1	0–0	0–2	1–0
Mito HollyHock	0–1	0–1	0–1	1–1	1–0	0–2		0–2	1–1	1–0	2–0	1–0
Montedio Yamagata	1–0	0–0	2–2	0–0	1–0	1–0	1–0		2–3	0–2	1–1	4–1
Consadole Sapporo	2–0	0–2	0–0	5–0	3–3	6–2	2–4	1–0		1–1	1–3	3–0
Shonan Bellmare	1–2	0–1	0–4	1–2	0–3	0–0	1–0	2–0	0–2		1–1	2–1
Yokohama FC	1–0	0–1	0–4	1–1	1–5	0–1	1–2	0–4	0–0	2–0		1–1
Sagan Tosu	0–1	3–4	0–0	2–3	1–1	3–2	0–0	1–3	1–0	0–0	5–2

Updated to match(es) played on July 6, 2003. Source: J. League Division 2
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Rounds 3 & 4
Home \ Away	ALB	SFR	FRO	AVI	VEN	ARD	HOL	MON	CON	BEL	YFC	SAG
Albirex Niigata		3–1	3–2	3–2	2–0	1–0	0–0	4–1	5–1	2–1	4–2	2–1
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	1–0		1–1	0–2	2–0	1–2	1–1	1–0	1–0	3–0	3–0	2–1
Kawasaki Frontale	3–0	2–1		5–2	4–1	0–1	1–2	2–1	1–0	2–1	3–3	7–1
Avispa Fukuoka	2–1	3–1	2–3		3–0	5–3	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–1	2–1
Ventforet Kofu	2–1	0–0	2–0	0–0		3–0	1–0	2–1	1–1	2–0	3–0	2–0
Omiya Ardija	0–2	0–2	0–2	0–1	0–0		3–1	0–2	3–0	2–2	3–0	3–0
Mito HollyHock	1–0	0–0	0–1	0–1	1–2	1–2		1–0	0–0	1–2	0–0	1–0
Montedio Yamagata	1–2	1–2	0–0	3–3	2–1	1–0	0–0		2–1	1–0	1–2	1–1
Consadole Sapporo	2–2	1–2	1–1	1–2	0–2	0–1	1–0	4–1		1–2	2–2	4–1
Shonan Bellmare	0–0	1–0	2–2	0–3	2–2	2–0	0–1	3–0	0–2		1–0	2–1
Yokohama FC	1–7	0–2	2–5	0–1	1–2	0–3	2–1	4–2	2–0	1–0		3–1
Sagan Tosu	0–1	2–2	0–2	0–2	1–1	1–4	0–1	0–1	0–1	0–0	1–1

Updated to match(es) played on November 23, 2003. Source: J. League Division 2
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals^[1]
1	Marcus Vinícius	Albirex Niigata	32
2	Juninho	Kawasaki Frontale	28
3	Baré	Omiya Ardija	22
4	Bentinho	Avispa Fukuoka	20
5	Augusto César	Kawasaki Frontale	17
6	Marcelo Ramos	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	14
7	Kazuki Ganaha	Kawasaki Frontale	13
7	Yusaku Ueno	Albirex Niigata	13
9	Shoji Jo	Yokohama FC	12
10	Hiroyuki Hayashi	Avispa Fukuoka	11
10	Kosei Nakamura	Montedio Yamagata	11

Attendance figures

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Albirex Niigata	667,447	42,223	8,644	30,339	+41.3%^†
2	Consadole Sapporo	236,861	23,590	3,653	10,766	−44.5%^†
3	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	198,004	26,158	3,471	9,000	−17.7%^†
4	Avispa Fukuoka	163,165	13,921	3,448	7,417	+14.3%^†
5	Kawasaki Frontale	159,678	22,087	2,438	7,258	+38.3%^†
6	Ventforet Kofu	127,515	13,043	2,382	5,796	+17.9%^†
7	Omiya Ardija	111,274	20,686	1,357	5,058	−3.9%^†
8	Shonan Bellmare	104,085	8,276	2,772	4,731	+4.0%^†
9	Montedio Yamagata	96,142	10,096	2,743	4,370	+16.4%^†
10	Yokohama FC	82,351	8,574	1,851	3,743	+7.7%^†
11	Sagan Tosu	69,789	5,756	1,585	3,172	−18.5%^†
12	Mito HollyHock	67,874	5,889	1,337	3,085	+12.6%^†
	League total	2,084,185	42,223	1,337	7,895	+15.4%^†