J.League 1998

J.League 1998
master	Kashima Antlers
Relegated	Consadole Sapporo
Teams	18th
Games	306
Gates	1074  (ø 3.51 per game)
← J.League 1997 J.League Division 1 1999 →
Japan Football League 1998 ↓

The 1998 J.League was the sixth season of the Japanese J.League . Eighteen clubs took part in it. The regular season was played in two half-series and began on March 21, 1998. After the end of the second half-series on November 14, 1998, the winners of the two half-series, Júbilo Iwata and Kashima Antlers , played in two games for the Japanese championship. These finals were played on November 21st and 28th after the regular season. Both games were won by last year's finalist Kashima against the reigning champions from Iwata 2-1; for the team from the east of the Kanto region , it was the second league title overall.

After the end of the season, relegation playoffs took place once due to the establishment of a second division of the J.League for the 1999 season . In the finals, promoted Consadole Sapporo and Avispa Fukuoka faced each other; Avispa remained in the league by two wins, while Consadole was sent back to the second division after just one year.

mode

As in the previous season , the clubs faced each other twice, once at home and once away, but both half-series were counted as separate championships. There were no ties; in the event of a tie after 90 minutes, the playing time was extended by two fifteen minutes, whereby the golden goal rule was applied. If it was still a draw after that, the winner of the game was determined by a penalty shoot-out .

Points were only awarded for games won. There were three points for a win after regular time and two points for a win in extra time. The winner on penalties received a counter. The table for each semi-series was created according to the following criteria:

1. Number of points scored
2. Goal difference
3. Goals scored
4. Results of the games among themselves
5. Decision game or coin toss

After the end of a half series, the club qualified with the most points for the finals of the Japanese championship. The winner of the finals qualified as Japanese champion for the Asian Club Championship 1999/2000 .

Due to the renewed increase from 17 to 18 teams, the number of games to be completed per team changed again; instead of 32, 34 games were to be played.

Attendees

A total of eighteen teams took part in the season. In addition to the 17 clubs of the preseason, Consadole Sapporo rose as champions of the Japan Football League in 1997. The club from the island of Hokkaidō was the first team of the J.League, which was taken from a prefecture north of the metropolitan area of ​​Tokyo .

Sapporo Iwata Shizuoka Nagoya Kyoto Osaka Suita Kobe Hiroshima Fukuoka Kashima Urawa Ichihara Kashiwa Kawasaki Hiratsuka Wing Marinos Associations of the Kantō region

Clubs of the J.League 1998

society	City / region
Avispa Fukuoka	Fukuoka , Fukuoka
Bellmare Hiratsuka	Hiratsuka , Kanagawa
Cerezo Osaka	Osaka , Osaka
Consadole Sapporo	Sapporo , Hokkaidō
Gamba Osaka	Suita , Osaka
JEF United Ichihara	Ichihara , Chiba
Júbilo Iwata	Iwata , Shizuoka
Kashima Antlers	Kashima , Ibaraki
Kashiwa Reysol	Kashiwa , Chiba
Kyoto Purple Sanga	Kyōto , Kyōto
Nagoya Grampus Eight	Nagoya , Aichi
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Hiroshima , Hiroshima
Shimizu S-Pulse	Shizuoka , Shizuoka
Urawa Red Diamonds	Urawa , Saitama
Verdy Kawasaki	Kawasaki , Kanagawa
Vissel Kobe	Kobe , Hyogo
Yokohama wing	Yokohama , Kanagawa
Yokohama Marinos	Yokohama, Kanagawa

Trainer

society	Head coach
Consadole Sapporo	Hugo Fernández → Hajime Ishii
Kashima Antlers	João Carlos → Takashi Sekizuka → Zé Mário
Urawa Reds	Hiromi Hara
JEF United Ichihara	Jan Versleijen
Kashiwa Reysol	Akira Nishino
Verdy Kawasaki	Nicanor de Carvalho → Ryōichi Kawakatsu
Yokohama Marinos	Xabier Azkargorta → Antonio de la Cruz
Yokohama wing	Carles Rexach → Gert Engels
Bellmare Hiratsuka	Shigeharu Ueki
Shimizu S-Pulse	Osvaldo Ardiles
Júbilo Iwata	Valmir Louruz
Nagoya Grampus Eight	Kōji Tanaka
Kyoto Purple Sanga	Hans Ooft → Hidehiko Shimizu
Gamba Osaka	Friedrich Koncilia → Frédéric Antonetti
Cerezo Osaka	Yasutaro Matsuki
Vissel Kobe	Benito Floro → Harumi Kōri
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Eddie Thomson
Avispa Fukuoka	Takaji Mori

player

society	player
Consadole Sapporo	Dido (34/0), Ryūji Tabuchi (31/0), Pereira (11/0), Satoshi Kajino (23/1), Takashi Kiyama (16/0), Takamitsu Ōta (14/2), Yoshikazu Gotō (25 / 1), Walter (21/3), Valdes (31/21), Hugo Maradona (28/5), Kenji Arima (10/2), Tomotaka Fukagawa (24/2), Tsuyoshi Furukawa (22/0), Tatsuya Murata (18/1), Kenji Kikawada (20/1), Hiromasa Suguri (20/1), Kōta Yoshihara (34/11), Taku Watanabe (14/1), Yoshifumi Ōno (17/1), Hiromasa Tokioka (8/0), Nobuhito Toriizuka (10/0), Shin Tanada (8/3), Shōji Nonoshita (3/0), Kōji Seki (4/0)
Kashima Antlers	Masaaki Furukawa (9/0), Jorginho (17/2), Yutaka Akita (32/3), Ryōsuke Okuno (29/0), Naruyuki Naitō (28/1), Yasuto Honda (21/0), Naoki Sōma ( 34/1), Mazinho (24/9), Takayuki Suzuki (3/1), Bismarck (30/6), Yoshiyuki Hasegawa (26/14), Atsushi Yanagisawa (32/22), Tadatoshi Masuda (16/4) , Ichiei Muroi (8/0), Toshiyuki Abe (23/1), Masafumi Mizuki (6/0), Kōji Kumagai (4/2), Yōhei Satō (2/0), Akira Narahashi (33/5), Masashi Motoyama (1/0), Kōji Nakata (5/1), Mitsuo Ogasawara (5/0), Daijirō Takakuwa (24/0), Yasuo Manaka (21/6)
Urawa Reds	Hisashi Tsuchida (17/0), Nobuhisa Yamada (34/0), Tsutomu Nishino (27/2), Masaki Tsuchihashi (20/0), Alfred Nijhuis (11/2), Giuseppe Zappella (21/3), Željko Petrović (27/2), Masayuki Okano (34/7), Osamu Hirose (23/0), Masahiro Fukuda (17/7), Yasushi Fukunaga (31/4), Txiki (30/9), Takafumi Hori (4 / 1), Kenji Ōshiba (30/14), Yūki Takita (17/0), Yūichirō Nagai (3/0), Nobuyasu Ikeda (6/0), Naoto Sakurai (5/0), Toshiya Ishii (32/1) , Shinji Jōjō (22/0), Akihiro Tabata (5/0), Yoshinori Taguchi (1/0), Atsuo Watanabe (10/0), Shinji Ono (27/9)
JEF United Ichihara	Ken'ichi Shimokawa (32/0), Eisuke Nakanishi (22/2), Shin'ichi Mutō (32/3), Arnold Scholten (33/2), Satoshi Yamaguchi (30/1), Tomoyuki Sakai (25/0 ), Kim Dae-eui (4/0), Yoshikazu Nonomura (23/3), Nobuhiro Takeda (33/13), Nenad Maslovar (27/8), Atsuhiko Ejiri (30/3), Hirotoshi Yokoyama (11/0 ), Kazuhiro Suzuki (19/1), Takayuki Chano (25/0), Nozomi Hiroyama (30/7), Katsushi Kurihara (10/0), Naoki Matsushita (5/0), Terumasa Kin (9/1), Atsushi Shirai (2/0), Kōhei Inoue (4/0), Shinji Murai (4/1), Ryōhei Nishiwaki (5/2), Matthew Bingley (11/0), Yūki Abe (1/0), Ichizō Nakata (5/0), Takayuki Suzuki (7/0)
Kashiwa Reysol	Yōichi Doi (8/0), Kentarō Sawada (30/1), Marcao (1/0), Takeshi Watanabe (33/2), Takahiro Shimotaira (25/0), Kentarō Ishikawa (2/0), Silva (10 / 2), Bentinho (19/13), Shin Tanada (5/0), Duda (5/3), Basilio (27/6), Nozomu Katō (34/8), Naoki Sakai (27/5), Harutaka Ōno (28/2), Shigenori Hagimura (26/1), Takashi Kojima (1/0), Mitsuteru Watanabe (15/3), Tomokazu Myōjin (28/0), Tomohiro Katanosaka (27/0), Hideaki Kitajima ( 9/2), Dai Satō (4/0), Yūta Minami (22/0), Tōru Irie (19/0), Takumi Morikawa (20/0), Tarō Hasegawa (1/0), Stoitchkov (16/8 ), Buiu (3/0)
Verdy Kawasaki	Shinkichi Kikuchi (33/0), Moacir (26/0), Henrique (20/0), Kentarō Hayashi (3/0), Daniel (5/0), Tetsuji Hashiratani (28/1), Tadashi Nakamura (31 / 1), Masakiyo Maezono (22/3), Tsuyoshi Kitazawa (34/5), Euller (16/12), Ruy Ramos (29/0), Kazuyoshi Miura (28/5), Fernando (10/5), Edwin (2/0), Yasutoshi Miura (16/0), Toshimi Kikuchi (9/0), Takayuki Yamaguchi (15/2), Takuya Takagi (22/9), Keiji Ishizuka (10/1), Kenji Honnami (1 / 0), Takuya Yamada (7/0), Atsushi Yoneyama (15/0), Shintetsu Gen (2/0), Tomo Sugawara (12/1), Michiyasu Osada (5/0), Yukio Tsuchiya (14/0 ), Mitsunori Yabuta (11/0), Masakazu Senuma (3/0), Kōsaku Masuda (3/0), Yukinori Shigeta (2/0), Jun'ichi Watanabe (5/0)
Yokohama Marinos	Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi (34/0), Katsuo Kanda (19/0), Takehito Suzuki (13/0), Masami Ihara (27/0), Norio Omura (32/3), Yoshiharu Ueno (32/3), Julio Salinas (21/13), Satoru Noda (27/0), Shōji Jō (31/25), Julio César Baldivieso (32/10), Fumitake Miura (18/5), Masahiro Fukazawa (7/1), Naoki Matsuda ( 12/0), Yoshiaki Maruyama (4/0), Ryūji Michiki (18/0), Akihiro Endō (16/1), Yoshito Terakawa (11/0), Kazunari Okayama (5/0), Seiji Koga (3 / 0), Tomokazu Hirama (13/0), Shunsuke Nakamura (33/9), Ryōsuke Kijima (2/0), Dušan Petković (1/0), Jon Andoni Goikoetxea (23/0), Sōtarō Yasunaga (19/6 )
Yokohama wing	Seigō Narazaki (34/0), Kazuki Satō (19/3), Norihiro Satsukawa (32/0), Jin Satō (14/1), Motohiro Yamaguchi (34/7), Atsuhiro Miura (32/10), Takeo Harada (22/0), César Sampaio (28/2), Takayuki Yoshida (20/5), Hideki Nagai (32/12), Hiroki Hattori (11/1), Yasuhiro Hato (16/0), Kōji Maeda (24 / 1), Shōji Nonoshita (8/0), Haruki Seto (20/0), Seiichirō Okuno (3/0), Takahiro Ōkubo (5/0), Takashi Sakurai (1/0), Yoshikiyo Kuboyama (10/3 ), Yūki Inoue (9/0), Hideyuki Ujiie (9/1), Yasuhito Endō (16/1), Hideo Ōshima (6/0), Anderson (14/3), Igor Ledjachow (23/15), Paulo Future (13/3)
Bellmare Hiratsuka	Nobuyuki Kojima (34/0), Hironari Iwamoto (28/2), Satoshi Tsunami (5/0), Claudio (29/6), Kazuaki Tasaka (33/0), Hiroaki Kumon (23/0), Hidetoshi Nakata ( 12/3), Yoshihiro Natsuka (27/0), Kōji Seki (7/0), Wagner Lopes (29/18), Ricardinho (27/11), Tetsuya Takada (18/0), Hiroshi Sakai (3/0 ), Masato Harasaki (8/1), Teppei Nishiyama (24/2), Tomoaki Matsukawa (28/3), Takashi Miki (13/0), Daisuke Tonoike (8/1), Hong Myung-bo (32/0 ), Takuya Kawaguchi (6/0), Tomoyoshi Ono (2/0), Manabu Komatsubara (3/0), Yasuyuki Moriyama (4/0), Pavel Badea (8/0), Jirō Hiratsuka (2/0), Yasunori Takada (13/0), Keisuke Kurihara (16/5), Kōhei Usui (9/0)
Shimizu S-Pulse	Masanori Sanada (34/0), Toshihide Saitō (33/0), Masahiro Andō (30/2), Takumi Horiike (1/0), Santos (30/4), Katsumi Ōenoki (30/1), Teruyoshi Itō ( 34/5), Oliva (27/21), Kenta Hasegawa (31/9), Masaaki Sawanobori (32/10), Ryūzō Morioka (26/0), Fabinho (19/5), Tadaaki Matsubara (3/0) , Kazuyuki Toda (34/0), Alex (26/10), Junji Nishizawa (26/1), Hiroyuki Ishida (2/0), Daisuke Ichikawa (20/1), Kōhei Hiramatsu (5/0), Yūzō Wada (13/0)
Júbilo Iwata	Hideto Suzuki (20/1), Masahiro Endō (6/0), Adilson (23/5), Makoto Tanaka (32/2), Toshihiro Hattori (32/1), Hiroshi Nanami (33/7), Dunga (28 / 6), Masashi Nakayama (27/36), Toshiya Fujita (33/17), Alessandro (9/3), Dedimar (4/1), Tomoaki Ōgami (34/0), Nobuo Kawaguchi (20/3), Takahiro Yamanishi (13/0), Akira Konno (4/0), Norihisa Shimizu (4/1), Naohiro Takahara (20/5), Kiyokazu Kudō (9/0), Takashi Fukunishi (22/2), Yasushi Kita (7/0), Takuma Koga (30/2), Daisuke Oku (32/12)
Nagoya Grampus Eight	Yūji Itō (29/0), Gō Ōiwa (32/2), Kazuhisa Iijima (12/0), Torres (24/0), Bernard Allou (10/4), Valdo (10/2), Tarik Oulida (16 / 4), Tetsuya Asano (23/2), Shigeyoshi Mochizuki (34/2), Dragan Stojković (28/7), Takashi Hirano (30/8), Kōji Noguchi (13/6), Masahiro Koga (21/0 ), Masaharu Suzuki (1/0), Kazumasa Kawano (6/0), Kenji Fukuda (33/16), Takafumi Ogura (13/1), Suguru Itō (7/1), Tetsuya Okayama (30/14), Masayuki Ōmori (7/0), Yūsuke Nakatani (26/0), Kunihiko Takizawa (1/0), Kō Ishikawa (33/0)
Kyoto Purple Sanga	Shigetatsu Matsunaga (34/0), Hiroshi Noguchi (25/1), Naoto Ōtake (31/1), Junior (27/0), Teruo Iwamoto (33/8), Hajime Moriyasu (32/1), Takahiro Yamada ( 29/1), Hisashi Kurosaki (27/13), Silas (30/5), Shinji Fujiyoshi (6/0), Shinsuke Shiotani (15/0), Masaki Ogawa (31/1), Edmilson (31/12) , Shōkichi Satō (7/0), Yasunari Hiraoka (2/0), Kensaku Ōmori (14/0), Taijirō Kurita (9/0), Shin'ya Mitsuoka (24/2), Tatsuma Yoshida (5/0) , Hiroyasu Kawakatsu (8/1), Takehito Suzuki (8/1), Keiju Karashima (1/0)
Gamba Osaka	Hayato Okanaka (33/0), Ken'ichirō Tokura (5/0), Daisuke Saitō (18/0), Noritada Saneyoshi (34/0), Babunski (1/0), Dambury (22/2), Jun ' ichi Inamoto (28/6), Naoki Hiraoka (26/1), Mboma (6/4), Drobnjak (18/8), Krupni (13/2), Masanobu Matsunami (25/1), Ryōta Tsuzuki (1 / 0), Hiromi Kojima (34/17), Shigeru Morioka (13/0), Masao Kiba (21/0), Daiju Matsumoto (7/0), Tōru Araiba (30/0), Yūzō Funakoshi (1/0) , Kōjirō Kaimoto (13/0), Tsuneyasu Miyamoto (32/0), Hitoshi Morishita (27/1), Yūji Hironaga (26/3), Eiji Hanayama (1/0), Kōhei Hayashi (7/0), Shingi Ono (6/0), Ryūji Bando (13/2), Amir Karić (7/0)
Cerezo Osaka	Seigo Shimokawa (34/0), Masanori Kizawa (13/0), Hiroyuki Inagaki (12/0), Hiroyuki Shirai (21/0), Kazunari Koga (1/0), Shigeki Kurata (18/0), Makoto Yonekura (3/1), Hiroaki Morishima (29/18), Radivoje Manić (17/6), Akinori Nishizawa (32/7), Ko Jeong-un (12/0), Takayuki Yokoyama (24/4), Tadahiro Akiba (5/0), Toshihiro Uchida (2/0), Toshinobu Katsuya (14/0), Katsutoshi Dōmori (18/0), Ha Seok-ju (17/2), Tarō Urabe (8/0), Kazuo Shimizu (17/1), Yoshinari Hyakutake (6/0), Masaya Nishitani (19/4), Takahiro Sasaki (1/0), Masaru Hashiguchi (21/0), Tetsu Yamato (2/0), Satoru Suzuki (33 / 3), Akira Kaji (15/0), Pintado (21/4), Takayasu Kawai (2/0), Pericles (16/0), Hwang Sun-hong (11/6), Takumi Horiike (14/0 )
Vissel Kobe	Ryūji Ishizue (13/0), Naoki Naitō (5/0), Megumu Yoshida (22/0), Albert Tomàs (17/1), Ryūji Kubota (20/0), Yūta Abe (30/2), Takanori Nunobe (31/2), Kim Do-hoon (33/17), Shigetoshi Hasebe (29/1), Takuya Jinno (28/2), Akihiro Nagashima (28/10), Tomoji Eguchi (22/0), Masakazu Kōda (8/0), Masamitsu Kanemoto (1/0), Mitsutoshi Watada (28/2), Keiji Kaimoto (32/4), Kazuyoshi Mikami (21/0), Kōji Yoshimura (27/1), Michael Yano (3 / 0), Yūsuke Satō (2/0), Yūichi Yōda (2/0), Naoto Matsuo (16/0), Nobuhiro Maeda (21/0), Matthew Bingley (10/1), Ha Seok-ju (9 / 2), Kentarō Hayashi (7/0)
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Hiroshi Miyazawa (21/1), Hiroshige Yanagimoto (23/0), Hiroyoshi Kuwabara (28/0), Tetsuya Itō (24/3), Mitsuaki Kojima (24/0), Ian Crook (9/1), Vidmar ( 15/4), Yasuhiro Yoshida (32/2), Graham Arnold (10/1), Don Goodman (10/2), Tatsuhiko Kubo (32/12), Masato Fue (1/0), Susumu Ōki (20 / 4), Satoshi Koga (13/0), Katsuhiro Minamoto (26/1), Iwao Yamane (11/1), Takashi Shimoda (34/0), Kōta Hattori (32/1), Tony Popovic (25/4) , Ken'ichi Uemura (17/0), Keita Kanemoto (3/0), Makoto Ōkubo (6/1), Kazuyoshi Matsunaga (8/1), Shin'ya Kawashima (3/0), Yōsuke Ikehata (4 / 0), Masahiro Akimoto (1/0), Toshihiro Yamaguchi (17/2), Hayden Foxe (15/3)
Avispa Fukuoka	Hideki Tsukamoto (21/0), Hideaki Mori (18/0), Yoshinori Furube (28/0), Atsuhiro Iwai (32/1), Fernando (26/6), Takayuki Nishigaya (25/0), Masatada Ishii ( 1/0), Kiyotaka Ishimaru (28/2), Michael Obiku (10/2), Pablo (5/0), Juan Carlos Villamayor (1/0), Yūsaku Ueno (24/1), Marcos (3/0 ), Miodrag Božović (8/0), Daisuke Nakaharai (15/3), Yoshiteru Yamashita (32/7), Tomoaki Sano (10/0), Chikara Fujimoto (30/6), Yoshihiro Nishida (16/1), Kentarō Sakai (21/0), Tomonori Tateishi (3/0), Yoshiyuki Shinoda (6/0), Tatsunori Hisanaga (31/0), Yūji Ōkuma (21/0), Yūji Yokoyama (18/1), Shōji Ikitsu (3/0), Dragan Đukanović (15/1), Masaaki Furukawa (1/0), Kiyokazu Kudō (8/1)

statistics

First half series

The first half series began on March 21, 1998 and ended on August 8, 1998. Due to the 1998 Football World Cup and the 1998 J.League Cup , there were no games between May 9 and July 25. The half series was won by Júbilo Iwata.

table

	society	Sp	Victories			Defeats			Pts	T	GT	Diff.	Comments
			90 ′	GG	n. E.	90 ′	GG	n. E.
1	Júbilo Iwata	17th	13	0	0	4th	0	0	39	52	18th	+34	Qualification for the Suntory Championship 1998
2	Shimizu S-Pulse	17th	13	0	0	4th	0	0	39	32	14th	+18
3	Nagoya Grampus Eight	17th	9	3	0	4th	0	1	33	37	21st	+16
4th	Yokohama Marinos	17th	10	1	0	5	1	0	31	39	21st	+18
5	Kashima Antlers	17th	10	1	0	6th	0	0	31	41	28	+13
6th	Verdy Kawasaki	17th	10	0	0	5	1	1	30th	34	25th	+9
7th	Urawa Red Diamonds	17th	8th	1	2	5	1	0	28	30th	23	+7
8th	Yokohama wing	17th	7th	2	1	7th	0	0	26th	33	32	+1
9	Cerezo Osaka	17th	7th	1	0	8th	1	0	23	36	47	–11
10	Kashiwa Reysol	17th	6th	1	2	7th	1	0	22nd	32	35	-3
11	JEF United Ichihara	17th	7th	0	0	8th	2	0	21st	31	31	± 0
12	Bellmare Hiratsuka	17th	5	2	1	8th	1	0	20th	27	34	–7
13	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	17th	5	2	0	7th	2	1	19th	22nd	33	–11
14th	Gamba Osaka	17th	4th	2	1	9	1	0	17th	27	29	-2
15th	Kyoto Purple Sanga	17th	4th	2	0	8th	3	0	16	20th	33	-13
16	Consadole Sapporo	17th	3	1	0	8th	2	3	11	28	44	-16
17th	Vissel Kobe	17th	3	0	0	13	1	0	9	20th	48	-18
18th	Avispa Fukuoka	17th	2	0	1	10	2	2	7th	22nd	47	-25

Crosstab

Second half series

The second half series began on August 22, 1998 and ended on November 14, 1998. The Kashima Antlers secured the championship by three points.

table

	society	Sp	Victories			Defeats			Pts	T	GT	Diff.	Comments
			90 ′	GG	n. E.	90 ′	GG	n. E.
1	Kashima Antlers	17th	12	3	0	2	0	0	42	38	15th	+23	Qualification for the Suntory Championship 1998
2	Júbilo Iwata	17th	13	0	0	3	1	0	39	55	21st	+34
3	Urawa Red Diamonds	17th	11	0	0	4th	2	0	33	32	17th	+15
4th	Yokohama Marinos	17th	10	1	0	3	3	0	31	40	27	+13
5	Shimizu S-Pulse	17th	8th	3	1	4th	0	1	31	39	21st	+18
6th	Nagoya Grampus Eight	17th	9	1	1	5	1	0	30th	34	26th	+8
7th	Yokohama wing	17th	8th	0	1	8th	0	0	25th	37	32	+5
8th	Kashiwa Reysol	17th	8th	0	1	6th	1	1	25th	24	26th	-2
9	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	17th	7th	1	1	6th	1	1	24	23	19th	+4
10	Consadole Sapporo	17th	8th	0	0	7th	1	1	24	29	30th	-1
11	Kyoto Purple Sanga	17th	6th	2	1	8th	0	0	23	27	30th	-3
12	Bellmare Hiratsuka	17th	7th	0	1	9	0	0	22nd	26th	32	–6
13	Cerezo Osaka	17th	7th	0	0	9	0	1	21st	20th	32	-12
14th	Vissel Kobe	17th	5	0	1	10	1	0	16	25th	41	-16
15th	Avispa Fukuoka	17th	4th	1	0	12	0	0	14th	11	38	-27
16	Gamba Osaka	17th	3	2	0	11	0	1	13	20th	32	-12
17th	Verdy Kawasaki	17th	3	0	0	12	1	1	9	13	28	-15
18th	JEF United Ichihara	17th	1	0	1	12	2	1	4th	18th	44	-26

Crosstab

Suntory Championship

First leg

pairing	Jubilo Iwata - Kashima Antlers
Result	1: 2 a.d.
date	November 21, 1998
Stadion	Olympic Stadium , Tokyo
Gates	1: 0 Masashi Nakayama (7th), 1: 1 Yoshiyuki Hasegawa (72nd), 1: 2 Ichiei Muroi (110th, golden goal )

Return leg

pairing	Kashima Antlers - Jubilo Iwata
Result	2: 1
date	November 28, 1998
Stadion	Kashima Soccer Stadium , Kashima
Gates	1-0 Yutaka Akita (39th), 2-0 Bismarck (41st), 2: 1 Toshiya Fujita (84th)

Relegation playoffs

For the 1999 season, the J.League Division 2 was introduced with a total of ten teams. In addition to eight clubs in the Japan Football League , the field should be reinforced by one or two participants from the J.League. To determine these teams, the league began relegation playoffs , which had to be contested by the worst four teams in the combined final tables of the 1997 and 1998 seasons. These were Avispa Fukuoka , Consadole Sapporo , JEF United Ichihara and Vissel Kobe . In order to still give a club from the Japan Football League a chance of promotion , the playoffs , which were played in the knockout system and back and forth, had a single elimination game between the JFL runner-up Kawasaki Frontale , which was preferred due to the better economic situation received before champions Tokyo Gas , and upstream Avispa Fukuoka, whose winner participated in the playoffs, while the losing team was classified in the J.League Division 2 in 1999 .

Avispa Fukuoka was able to prevail in an exciting game with a golden goal from Fernando just 3-2 against Kawasaki Frontale and qualify for the main round. Here the team from the island of Kyushu met JEF United Ichihara, Vissel Kobe and Consadole Sapporo faced each other in the other pairing. After JEF United and Vissel were able to prevail relatively clearly against Avispa and Consadole and thus held the class, it was ultimately the climber from the north who had to start again after only one year of membership in the upper house.

Preliminary round

pairing	Avispa Fukuoka - Kawasaki Frontale
Result	3: 2 a.d.
date	November 19, 1998
Stadion	Hakata no Mori Football Stadium , Fukuoka
Gates	0: 1 Akira Itō (17th), 1: 1 Kiyokazu Kudō (24th), 1: 2 Tuto (61st), 2: 2 Yoshiteru Yamashita (89th), 3: 2 Fernando (104th, golden goal )

Avispa Fukuoka qualified for the semi-finals, Kawasaki Frontale plays in J.League Division 2 in 1999 .

Semifinals

pairing	Vissel Kobe - Consadole Sapporo
Result	2: 1
date	November 22, 1998
Stadion	Kobe Universiade Memorial Stadium , Kobe
Gates	1-0 Akihiro Nagashima (34th, penalty ), 2-0 Keiji Kaimoto (41st), 2-1 Shin Tanada (50th)

pairing	Consadole Sapporo - Vissel Kobe
Result	0: 2
date	November 26, 1998
Stadion	Muroran City Stadium , Muroran
Gates	0: 1 Albert Tomàs i Sobrepera (48th), 0: 2 Mitsutoshi Watada (89th)

Vissel Kobe prevailed 4-1 on a two-way leg and played in J.League Division 1 in 1999 .

pairing	Avispa Fukuoka - JEF United Ichihara
Result	0: 2
date	November 22, 1998
Stadion	Hakata no Mori Football Stadium , Fukuoka
Gates	0: 1 Nobuhiro Takeda (65.), 0: 2 Arnold Scholten (76.)

pairing	JEF United Ichihara - Avispa Fukuoka
Result	2: 1
date	November 26, 1998
Stadion	Ichihara Seaside Stadium , Ichihara
Gates	1-0 Takayuki Suzuki (49th), 2-0 Tomoyuki Sakai (60th), 2-1 Hideaki Mori (63rd)

JEF United Ichihara prevailed 4-1 on a two-way leg and played in J.League Division 1 in 1999.

final

pairing	Avispa Fukuoka - Consadole Sapporo
Result	1-0
date	December 2, 1998
Stadion	Hakata no Mori Football Stadium , Fukuoka
Gates	1-0 Yūsaku Ueno (61.)

pairing	Consadole Sapporo - Avispa Fukuoka
Result	0: 3
date	5th December 1998
Stadion	Muroran City Stadium , Muroran
Gates	0: 1 Yūsaku Ueno (52nd), 0: 2 Fernando (84th), 0: 3 Kiyotaka Ishimaru (89th)

Avispa Fukuoka prevailed 4-0 after a round trip and played in the J.League Division 1 in 1999. Consadole Sapporo relegated to the J.League Division 2 in 1999.

Prices

soccer player of the year

• Masashi Nakayama ( Júbilo Iwata )

Best goal scorers

rank	player	society	Gates	Games
1	Masashi Nakayama	Júbilo Iwata	36	27
2	Shōji Jō	Yokohama Marinos	25th	31
3	Atsushi Yanagisawa	Kashima Antlers	22nd	32
4th	Fernando Nicolas Oliva	Shimizu S-Pulse	21st	27
4th	Jorge Dely Valdés	Consadole Sapporo	21st	31
6th	Wagner Lopes	Bellmare Hiratsuka	18th	29
6th	Hiroaki Morishima	Cerezo Osaka	18th	29
8th	Toshiya Fujita	Júbilo Iwata	17th	33
8th	Kim Do-hoon	Vissel Kobe	17th	33
8th	Hiromi Kojima	Gamba Osaka	17th	34

Rookie of the year

• Shinji Ono ( Urawa Reds )

Best XI

• Seigō Narazaki ( Yokohama Wing )
• Naoki Sōma ( Kashima Antlers )
• Makoto Tanaka ( Júbilo Iwata )
• Yutaka Akita ( Kashima Antlers )
• Shinji Ono ( Urawa Reds )
• Daisuke Oku ( Júbilo Iwata )
• Toshiya Fujita ( Júbilo Iwata )
• Hiroshi Nanami ( Júbilo Iwata )
• Dunga ( Júbilo Iwata )
• Masashi Nakayama ( Júbilo Iwata )
• Atsushi Yanagisawa ( Kashima Antlers )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ https://data.j-league.or.jp/SFMS01/search?competition_years=1998&competition_frame_ids=1&competition_frame_ids=12
2. ^ J.League Clubs and Japan National Team 1995 Complete Match Fixtures and Results. 1994 J. LEAGUE Results and Table. (No longer available online.) November 22, 2011, archived from the original on May 6, 2014 ; accessed on January 18, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ Games J.League DataSite (Japanese)
4. ↑ Tore J.League Data Site (Japanese)