The2026–27Japan Football League is the upcoming 28th season ofJFL, since its establishment in 1999. This will be also the thirteenth season of the league having a fourth-tier status inJapanesefootball since 2014.

This marked the first Japan Football League season scheduled with a summer-to-spring format with 16 teams will compete in the league – the thirteen teams from the previous season, one team relegated from theJ3 League and two teams promoted fromRegional Leagues.

The league's champion team earns automatic promotion to theJ3 League, while the 2nd place team competes in a promotion/relegation play-off against the 19th-placed team from the J3 League. Meanwhile, the relegation playoff between the 15th-placed team in the JFL and the second-placed team in theJRFCL has been abolished and starting from this season the bottom two teams (15th and 16th) will be relegated directly to thefifth division depending on the region of origin of the team.

J-Lease became the first team to be promoted on 24 November 2025 after defeatingTokyo United in thefinal round and at the same time asVeroskronos Tsuno lost toVonds Ichihara where both matches ended with a score of 1-0.

Vonds Ichihara became the second team to be promoted on 30 November 2025, after defeatingAtletico Suzuka in the JFL/Japanese Regional Leagues playoffs.^[2] Both promoted teams will compete in the fourth division for the first time in their respective histories.

Asuka became the first team to be relegated after a draw againstMaruyasu Okazaki on 15 November 2025. Asuka was relegated toKansai Soccer League Division 1 after spending one season in the fourth division.

Atletico Suzuka became the second team to be relegated after losing to Vonds Ichihara in the JFL/Japanese Regional Leagues playoffs on 30 November 2025. Atletico Suzuka was relegated to theTōkai Soccer League Division 1 after spending six seasons in the fourth division.

Reilac Shiga became the only team to be promoted to theJ3 League becauseHonda, who were last season's champions and does not intend to gain promotion to the J. League. Reilac Shiga ended their 12-season stay in the fourth division by defeatingAzul Claro Numazu in the J3/JFL playoffs with a 4-3 aggregate score on 14 December 2025. For Azul Claro Numazu, this result returned them to the fourth division after spending eight seasons in the third division.^[3]

The following teams changed division since the 2025 season.

To JFL Relegated fromJ3 League Azul Claro Numazu Promoted fromRegional Leagues J-Lease Vonds Ichihara

From JFL Promoted toJ3 League Reilac Shiga Relegated toRegional Leagues Atletico Suzuka Asuka

Okinawa

Minebea

Tiamo

Veertien

Maruyasu

Honda

Azul

ReinMeer

Iwate

Ōita

Yokogawa

YSCC

Criacao

Briobecca

Vonds

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Locations of teams in the 2026–27 Japan Football League.

Notes

1. ^ The teams which possess (or are applicants of) promotion-enabling licenses are highlighted in green in the table.
2. ^ HavingJ.League 100 Year Plan club status.
3. ^ Also based atTomigusuku andUruma.
4. ^ Mainly based atKuwana andYokkaichi.
5. ^ Mainly based atBeppu andYufu.^[4]

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined underFIFA eligibility rules. Players and coaches may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Kit sponsors
				Main	Other(s)0
Azul Claro Numazu	Norihisa Shimizu		Athleta	usui	List Front:Meiden Back: Suruga Bank,OKI Sleeves: Mitsuboshi Shorts: Kawata Construction
Briobecca Urayasu Ichikawa	Satoshi Tsunami		Jogarbola	Urata	List Front: Claudio, Sanwa Back: Manavis, Shoei Sleeves: Univership Brokers,Urayasu,Ichikawa Shorts: Kyoei, Lion Heart Clinic
Criacao Shinjuku	Hideaki Kitajima		MC Fashion	Assetlead	List Front:Isetan Back: SOMPO, Nichizei Group Sleeves:Shinjuku Shorts:None
Honda	Shota Itokazu		Umbro	Honda	List Front:None Back:Honda Sleeves: Honda Cars Shorts:None
Iwate Grulla Morioka	Kei Hoshikawa		Umbro	Nova	List Front: Wiseman Back: Palco Home Sleeves: Iwate Shorts: Ninomiya Clinic
J-Lease	Masaki Yanagawa		Puma	J-Lease	List Front: Carebank, Kasuga Ryokka Back: Medicare Otsuka, Kijima Kogen Sleeves: Financial Design Shorts: Oita Shiroya, Honda Cars Oita-Chuo
Maruyasu Okazaki	Hiroyasu Ibata		Athleta	Maruyasu	List Front: Hoei Back: Tokai Tokyo Securities,Meiji Yasuda Life Sleeves: Hirotec Engineering Shorts:None
Minebea Mitsumi	Hideaki Kitajima		Umbro	MinebeaMitsumi	List Front:None Back:None Sleeves:None Shorts:None
Okinawa	Rei Onogi				List Front:None Back:None Sleeves:None Shorts:None
ReinMeer Aomori	Masato Harasaki		Umbro	Towa	List Front: Kakuhiro, KBS Back: Happy Drug, Nishidagumi Sleeves:None Shorts:None
Tiamo Hirakata	Takahiro Futagawa		Jogarbola	Izawa Towel	List Front: Fukui, Himuro Back: SCO Group, Zero Crest Sleeves: Kakimaru Shorts:None
Veertien Mie	Shuichi Mase		Tres	Daihatsu Mie	List Front: San ju San Bank Back: Shinnihon, Tado Green Farm Sleeves:None Shorts: Taki Shoun
Verspah Oita	Takashi Yamahashi		Yasuda	Hoyo	List Front: Rilno, Kyoei Back: Soitax Japan, Nver Sleeves:Beppu,Yufu, Oita Shorts: Axions
Vonds Ichihara	Seiya Mukoyama		Vinculum	Pulchra	List Front: Sodick Back: Juichi Sekken Sleeves: Kominato Railway Shorts: Ryokuyukai
Yokogawa Musashino	Hisayuki Ikegami		Puma	Yokogawa Electric	List Front: Koshin Shoji Back: Komoju, Edit Study Sleeves: Musashi-Sakai Driving School Shorts: Environmental Control Center
YSCC Yokohama	Tsuyoshi Omatsu		Penalty	My Basket	List Front: Remain In, Taiko Back: Sanshin, YKA Dance Studio Sleeves: Honmoku,Yokohama Shorts:None

Team	Outgoing head coach	Manner	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of arrival
Azul Claro Numazu	Hideto Suzuki	Resigned	16 December 2025[5]	Norihisa Shimizu	17 January 2026[6]

Team	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	Former players
Azul Claro Numazu
Briobecca Urayasu Ichikawa
Criacao Shinjuku
Honda
Iwate Grulla Morioka	Sillas	Cédric Toussaint	Ryu Se-gun	Won Tae-rang
J-Lease
Maruyasu Okazaki
Minebea Mitsumi
Okinawa
ReinMeer Aomori	Arthur Bessa	Luiz Fernando	Han Yong-gi	Park Yong-ji
Tiamo Hirakata	Kim Sung-kon	Thanakrit Laorkai
Veertien Mie	Kim Song-sun	Ryang Hyon-ju
Verspah Oita
Vonds Ichihara
Yokogawa Musashino	Kim Tae-uk	Park Kwan-gyu
YSCC Yokohama	Onye Ogochukwu	Kim Yong-u	Park Si-eon

Source:Japan Football League

Number	Prefecture	Team(s)
2	Chiba Prefecture	Briobecca Urayasu Ichikawa andVonds Ichihara
	Ōita Prefecture	J-Lease andVerspah Oita
	Shizuoka Prefecture	Azul Claro Numazu andHonda
	Tokyo	Criacao Shinjuku andYokogawa Musashino
1	Aichi Prefecture	Maruyasu Okazaki
	Aomori Prefecture	ReinMeer Aomori
	Iwate Prefecture	Iwate Grulla Morioka
	Kanagawa Prefecture	YSCC Yokohama
	Mie Prefecture	Veertien Mie
	Miyazaki Prefecture	Minebea Mitsumi
	Okinawa Prefecture	Okinawa
	Osaka Prefecture	Tiamo Hirakata

• 2026 Japan Football League Cup
• 2026 Japanese Super Cup
• 2026–27 Emperor's Cup
• 2026–27 J.League Cup
• 2026–27 J1 League
• 2026–27 J2 League
• 2026–27 J3 League
• 2026–27 Japanese Regional Leagues

• Official website(in Japanese)

• Japan Football League seasons

• CS1 Japanese-language sources (ja)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Pages using sports rbr table with unequal row lengths
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