| Competition: | J2 League |
| Season: | 2024 |
| Dates: | 24 February – 10 November 2024 |
| Matches: | 260 |
| Total Goals: | 632 |
| League Topscorer: | Edigar Junio and Kaina Tanimura (14 goals) |
| Biggest Home Win: | JEF United Chiba 8–0 Tochigi SC (3 April 2024) |
| Biggest Away Win: | Roasso Kumamoto 0–6 Iwaki FC (17 March 2024) |
| Highest Scoring: | JEF United Chiba 8–0 Tochigi SC (3 April 2024) |
| Highest Attendance: | 28,359 Oita Trinita 2–1 Roasso Kumamoto (11 August)[1] |
| Lowest Attendance: | 1,255 Thespa Gunma 0–2 Oita Trinita (3 April) |
| Attendance: | 1,815,326[2] |
| Average Attendance: | 6,982[3] |
| Prevseason: | 2023 |
| Nextseason: | 2025 |
| Updated: | 22:00, 14 August 2024 (UTC) |
The 2024 J2 League, also known as the for sponsorship reasons, is the 26th season of the J2 League, the second-tier Japanese professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1999. This will also be the tenth season of the league since its rebrand from J.League Division 2.
For the first time since 2011, the number of the clubs in the league decreased from 22 to 20.[4]
This season, there will be three automatic relegation spots to the J3 League (one more than the 2023 season) and two clubs will gain automatic promotion to the J1 League. Like last season, the winner of the J2 promotion play-off will also be promoted to the top tier.
Additionally, some J3 League clubs may not have a J2 license and may not be promoted if they finish in the top two places of the J3 League.
The league and match format was announced on 19 December 2023. The league will begin on 23 February and end on 10 November in a round-robin format of 38 matches.[5]
The J1 promotion play-offs will have the semi-finals on 30 November or 1 December with the final taking place on 7 December.[6]
Zweigen Kanazawa and Omiya Ardija were relegated to the 2024 J3 League, finishing the previous J2 League season as 21st and 22nd-placed teams, respectively.
Yokohama FC were the sole team to be relegated from the J1 League, after only one season in the top flight.
Both Machida Zelvia and Júbilo Iwata are promoted to the J1 League as champions and runners-up, respectively, of the previous J2 League season. Tokyo-based Machida will make their debut in the top flight of Japanese football, while Júbilo will make their immediate comeback to the J1. Joining the duo are Tokyo Verdy, who finished 3rd in 2023 and earned promotion after winning the promotion play-offs, thus making their first top flight appearance since 2008.
J3 winners Ehime FC and runners-up Kagoshima United were both promoted from the J3 League. Ehime are returning to the second-tier following two seasons in the J3 League and Kagoshima United will be playing only their second J2 season after five years absence.
From this season, Thespakusatsu Gunma changed their name to Thespa Gunma.[7]
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in the table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tochigi SC | Yu Tokisaki[8] | Resigned | 6 November 2023 | Pre-season | Makoto Tanaka[9] | 5 December 2023 | |
| Oita Trinita | Takahiro Shimotaira[10] | 10 November 2023 | Tomohiro Katanosaka[11] | 30 November 2023 | |||
| Vegalta Sendai | Takafumi Hori[12] | 13 November 2023 | Yoshiro Moriyama[13] | 27 November 2023 | |||
| Renofa Yamaguchi | Juan Esnáider[14] | 13 November 2023 | Ryo Shigaki[15] | 5 December 2023 | |||
| V-Varen Nagasaki | Fábio Carille[16] | Contract terminated | 15 February 2024 | Takahiro Shimotaira[17] | 15 February 2024 | ||
| Tokushima Vortis | Tatsuma Yoshida | Contract terminated[18] | 31 March 2024 | 20th | Kosaku Masuda[19] | 1 April 2024 (Interim) 7 May 2024 (Official) | |
| Mito HollyHock | Yoshimi Hamasaki | Contract terminated[20] | 4 May 2024 | 19th | Naoki Mori[21] | 9 May 2024 | |
| Thespa Gunma | Tsuyoshi Otsuki | Contract terminated[22] | 6 May 2024 | 20th | Akira Muto[23] | 8 May 2024 | |
| Tochigi SC | Makoto Tanaka | Contract terminated[24] | 14 May 2024 | 19th | Shinji Kobayashi[25] | 15 May 2024 | |
| Kagoshima United | Yasuaki Oshima | Contract terminated[26] | 27 May 2024 | 18th | Tetsuya Asano[27] | 29 May 2024 |
As of the 2023 season, there are no more restrictions on a number of signed foreign players, but clubs can only register up to five foreign players for a single match-day squad.[28] Players from J.League partner nations (Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia and Qatar) are exempt from these restrictions.
| Month | Manager of the Month | Monthly MVP | Goal of the Month | Young Player of the Month | References | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manager | Club | Player | Club | Player | Club | Player | Club | ||
| February/March |  Takashi Kiyama | Fagiano Okayama |  Gleyson | Fagiano Okayama | Matheus Jesus | V-Varen Nagasaki | Hayato Tanaka | V-Varen Nagasaki | [31] [32] [33] [34] |
| April | Takahiro Shimotaira | V-Varen Nagasaki | Koya Kitagawa | Shimizu S-Pulse | Kento Hashimoto | Tokushima Vortis | Tsubasa Kasayanagi | V-Varen Nagasaki | [35] [36] [37] [38] |
| May | Yoshiro Moriyama | Vegalta Sendai | Motohiko Nakajima | Vegalta Sendai | Shinya Yajima | Shimizu S-Pulse | Harumi Minamino | Tochigi SC | [39] [40] [41] [42] |
| June | Shuhei Yomoda | Yokohama FC | Akito Fukumori | Yokohama FC | Taishi Taguchi | JEF United Chiba | Yusei Ozaki | Ehime FC | [43] [44] [45] [46] |
| July | Kosaku Masuda | Tokushima Vortis | Ryota Nagaki | Tokushima Vortis | Ken Yamura | Fujieda MYFC | Kota Kawano | Renofa Yamaguchi | [47] [48] [49] [50] |
Luka Radotić