1997 Japan Football League

Statistics of Japan Football League in the 1997 season.

Japan Football League

Season	1997
Champions	Consadole Sapporo 1st JFL title 3rd D2 title
Promoted	Consadole Sapporo
Relegated	Fukushima FC (folded) Seino Transportation (folded)
Matches played	240
Goals scored	765 (3.19 per match)
← 1996 1998 →

Overview

It was contested by 16 teams, and Consadole Sapporo won the championship.

As a result of Cosmo Oil Yokkaichi's closure the previous year, Jatco F.C. and Mito HollyHock were promoted before the season.

League standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	PKW	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion
1	Consadole Sapporo (C, P)	30	24	2	0	4	77	26	+51	76	Promoted to 1998 J. League
2	Tokyo Gas	30	21	2	1	6	70	30	+40	68
3	Kawasaki Frontale	30	21	2	0	7	87	36	+51	67
4	Honda Motors	30	20	2	1	7	60	37	+23	65
5	Montedio Yamagata	30	18	1	0	11	57	36	+21	56
6	Ventforet Kofu	30	15	3	1	11	59	41	+18	52
7	Otsuka FC Vortis Tokushima	30	13	1	0	16	50	45	+5	41
8	Brummell Sendai	30	12	1	2	15	37	43	−6	40
9	NTT Kanto	30	11	3	0	16	48	49	−1	39
10	Fukushima FC	30	12	1	0	17	48	59	−11	38	Folded[lower-alpha 1]
11	Sagan Tosu	30	12	1	0	17	38	54	−16	38
12	Oita Trinity	30	7	4	0	19	42	64	−22	29
13	Denso SC	30	7	2	2	19	29	49	−20	27
14	Seino Transportation	30	5	0	0	25	24	67	−43	15	Folded[lower-alpha 2]
15	Jatco SC	30	2	1	3	24	25	70	−45	11
16	Mito HollyHock	30	3	0	1	26	24	69	−45	10

Updated to match(es) played on November 1997. Source: Montedio Yamagata website
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champion; (P) Promoted.
Notes:

1. After the season Fukushima F.C. has folded due to financial difficulties.
2. Seino Transportation S.C. were disbanded by parent company after the season.

Home \ Away	BRU	CON	DEN	FRO	FFC	HOL	HON	JAT	MON	NTK	OVT	SAG	SET	TGA	TRI	VEN
Brummel Sendai		0–1	1–0	2–3	0–1	1–0	1–1^PK 3–4	2–0	1–3	0–3	2–0	2–0	2–1	3–1	3–0	2–0
Consadole Sapporo	3–0		1–0	4–3^OT	2–0	6–1	1–0	1–0	3–0	1–0	5–1	4–0	3–0	2–1	2–1	3–0
Denso SC	1–0^OT	1–6		1–4	0–1	1–0	0–3	4–3	2–1	0–0^PK 4–3	1–5	1–3	2–0	1–3	3–3^PK 5–4	0–2
Kawasaki Frontale	3–0	3–4^OT	1–0		3–1	1–0	1–3	4–0	2–1	2–1	1–0	5–0	3–0	3–0	4–0	2–3
Fukushima FC	1–0	2–5	1–0	2–6		1–2	0–1	3–1	2–1	2–3	3–1	2–0	0–1	1–2	4–3^OT	2–2^PK 3–4
Mito HollyHock	1–2	0–2	0–1	2–1	0–2		0–3	0–0^PK 5–6	0–4	2–3	1–6	0–2	2–0	1–3	1–2	1–5
Honda Motors	4–0	2–1	2–1	2–4	5–0	3–2		1–5	3–0	1–0	2–0	2–1	1–2	3–2	4–0	2–1
Jatco SC	2–2^PK 1–4	0–3	0–1	0–6	0–1	1–0^OT	1–2		0–3	0–3	1–3	1–1^PK 4–1	0–1	1–4	0–1^OT	0–3
Montedio Yamagata	3–1	4–1	2–1	1–2^OT	2–1	2–0	1–0^OT	2–1		1–2^OT	2–1	2–1	3–0	1–0	1–2	2–3
NTT Kanto	0–3	3–5	1–2^OT	0–1	2–0	3–2	0–1	3–2	0–2		2–1^OT	2–0	2–1	0–3	3–2^OT	0–1
Otsuka FC Vortis Tokushima	1–0	0–2	1–0^OT	0–1^OT	3–0	2–1	1–2	5–1	2–1	1–5		1–1^PK 3–5	3–0	1–2	1–2^OT	3–0
Sagan Tosu	2–1	0–2	0–0^PK 3–1	0–3	4–1	1–1^PK 3–5	3–0	1–2	0–1	4–1	0–1		2–1^OT	0–2	1–0	2–0
Seino Transportation	1–3	1–2	0–3	1–5	0–2	4–1	2–3^OT	1–1^PK 2–4	1–4	1–2	0–3	2–1		1–2	1–2	1–4
Tokyo Gas	5–0	0–0^PK 6–5	2–1	4–3^OT	1–0	1–0	5–0	4–1	2–1	3–1	1–0	5–2	2–0		3–2^OT	3–0
Oita Trinity	1–2^OT	1–2	1–0	1–7	1–2	4–2	1–2	2–1^OT	0–1	2–1	2–3	2–3^OT	1–0^OT	0–4		2–0
Ventforet Kofu	1–1^PK 3–4	2–0	2–1^OT	3–0	3–0	2–1^OT	1–2^OT	3–0	2–5	3–2	4–0	2–3^OT	3–0	1–0^OT	3–1

Updated to match(es) played on November 1997. Source: Montedio Yamagata website
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Promotion and Relegation

Because Fukushima FC and Seino Transportation were disbanded, no relegation has occurred. At the end of the season, the winner and runner-up of Regional League promotion series, Sony Sendai and Albirex Niigata were promoted automatically.