| Season | 1999 |
|---|---|
| Dates | 18 April – 7 November |
| Champions | Yokohama FC 1stJFL title 1stD3 title |
| Promoted | Mito HollyHock |
| Matches | 108 |
| Goals | 386 (3.57 per match) |
| Top goalscorer | Marcus (22 goals total) |
| Highest attendance | 11,283 (Round 2, Yokohama vs.Jatco) |
| Lowest attendance | 113 (Round 4, Kokushikan vs.Jatco) |
| Average attendance | 1,084 |
2000 → | |
The1999 Japan Football League (Japanese:第1回日本フットボールリーグ,Hepburn:Dai Ikkai Nihon Futtobōru Rīgu) was the first season of theJapan Football League, the third tier of the Japanesefootball league system.
After the dissolution offormer Japan Football League in order to formJ. League Division 2, the newJapan Football League was established from this season as the nationwide top division for amateur clubs. It was originally planned to have 8 clubs, including seven former JFL clubs andYokogawa Electric, promoted from Kantō Soccer League, one of nineJapanese Regional Leagues. But it eventually became nine-club structure by acceptingYokohama FC, which was established by supporters of defunctYokohama Flügels, as an associate member as an extralegal measures. Nine clubs played 24 matches each, in triple round-robin format. Yokohama F.C. won the championship but under the conditions of their associate membership were not eligible to promotion and had to stay in JFL for the next year.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yokohama FC(C) | 24 | 16 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 57 | 32 | +25 | 55 | |
| 2 | Honda Motor[a] | 24 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 69 | 34 | +35 | 50 | |
| 3 | Mito HollyHock(P) | 24 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 48 | 32 | +16 | 45 | Promotion to2000 J. League Division 2[b] |
| 4 | Denso SC[a] | 24 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 46 | 38 | +8 | 34 | |
| 5 | Sony Sendai | 24 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 14 | 29 | 42 | −13 | 26 | |
| 6 | Otsuka Pharmaceuticals[a] | 24 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 35 | 47 | −12 | 25 | |
| 7 | Jatco SC | 24 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 40 | 53 | −13 | 25 | |
| 8 | Yokogawa Electric | 24 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 17 | 26 | 42 | −16 | 20 | |
| 9 | Kokushikan University | 24 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 18 | 36 | 65 | −29 | 16 |
| Home \ Away | DEN | HOL | HON | JAT | KSU | OTP | SON | YEL | YFC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denso SC | 2–4 | 3–1 | 0–0OT | 3–1 | 1–1OT | ||||
| Mito HollyHock | 0–3 | 1–2OT | 1–0 | ||||||
| Honda Motors | 6–4 | 3–2 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 3–4 | ||||
| Jatco SC | 2–1OT | 2–3OT | |||||||
| Kokushikan University | 0–5 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 1–3 | |||||
| Otsuka Pharmaceuticals | 3–2 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–4 | ||||
| Sony Sendai | 0–4 | 2–3 | 1–0OT | 0–1 | |||||
| Yokogawa Electric | 0–1OT | 2–1 | 2–1OT | ||||||
| Yokohama FC | 4–1 | 2–2OT | 5–2 | 1–0 | 4–0 |
| Home \ Away | DEN | HOL | HON | JAT | KSU | OTP | SON | YEL | YFC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denso SC | 0–4 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 2–2OT | |||||
| Mito HollyHock | 2–1 | 2–1 | 4–3 | 4–0 | |||||
| Honda Motors | 1–2 | 8–2 | 4–1 | 2–0 | |||||
| Jatco SC | 0–4 | 0–5 | 1–3 | 2–3 | |||||
| Kokushikan University | 1–3 | 1–0OT | 1–2OT | 2–1 | |||||
| Otsuka Pharmaceuticals | 1–2OT | 1–1OT | 2–0 | 2–3 | |||||
| Sony Sendai | 0–1 | 1–3 | 1–3 | 3–1 | |||||
| Yokogawa Electric | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 3–4OT | |||||
| Yokohama FC | 3–2 | 4–3OT | 1–0 | 2–1 |
| Home \ Away | DEN | HOL | HON | JAT | KSU | OTP | SON | YEL | YFC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denso SC | 3–2OT | 0–0OT | 1–0OT | ||||||
| Mito HollyHock | 2–1 | 3–2OT | 4–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | ||||
| Honda Motors | 1–0OT | 2–1OT | 2–1OT | 4–3OT | |||||
| Jatco SC | 5–3 | 2–1OT | 1–5 | 2–1 | |||||
| Kokushikan University | 5–4 | 3–1 | 0–3 | 0–3 | |||||
| Otsuka Pharmaceuticals | 2–2OT | 3–0 | 2–3OT | ||||||
| Sony Sendai | 3–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | |||||
| Yokogawa Electric | 2–3 | 1–5 | 3–2 | 3–0 | 0–1 | ||||
| Yokohama FC | 3–2 | 2–1 | 3–2OT | 2–0 |
| Rank | Scorer | Club | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Marcus | Honda Motors | 22 |
| 2 |  Kenji Arima | Yokohama FC | 19 |
| 3 | Mitsunori Yabuta | Yokohama FC | 12 |
| 4 | Hiroyasu Ibata | Honda Motors | 11 |
| Hiroaki Tajima | Honda Motors | 11 |
| Pos | Team | Total | High | Low | Average | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yokohama FC | 53,045 | 11,283 | 1,494 | 4,080 | −74.3%† |
| 2 | Honda Motors | 14,733 | 3,109 | 283 | 1,133 | +62.1%† |
| 3 | Mito HollyHock | 10,695 | 2,531 | 412 | 891 | +16.6%† |
| 4 | Sony Sendai | 7,833 | 2,109 | 329 | 653 | −57.5%† |
| 5 | Jatco SC | 6,198 | 1,809 | 362 | 620 | +5.3%† |
| 6 | Yokogawa Electric | 7,194 | 1,556 | 268 | 600 | n/a‡ |
| 7 | Otsuka Pharmaceuticals | 6,803 | 2,039 | 172 | 567 | −4.7%† |
| 8 | Denso SC | 6,270 | 1,372 | 211 | 523 | +28.5%† |
| 9 | Kokushikan University | 4,253 | 2,099 | 113 | 354 | 0.0%† |
| League total | 117,024 | 11,283 | 113 | 1,084 | −39.7%† |
Source:Japan Football League
Notes:
† The club was created by the supporters of disbanded J. League clubYokohama Flügels – therefore attendances are compared to Flügels' last record in J. League.
‡ Team played previous season in Regional Leagues.
No relegation has occurred because the league was expanding to 12 teams. At the end of the season, the winner and runner-up of theRegional League promotion series,ALO's Hokuriku andTochigi SC were promoted automatically. In addition,FC Kyoken andShizuoka Sangyo University were included byJFA and College FA recommendations.
