If you’ve hung out long enough within the J.League-sphere, you’re gonna be familiar with the concept of “J2 Chaos Energy”. It’s a label to identify the second division and its madness, which often led to incredible outcomes, even to the ones that I’ve witnessed directly: Yamagata winning the play-offs thanks to a goalkeeper goal in the semifinals, Matsumoto Yamaga losing promotion despite 76 points, and Kashiwa Reysol winning 13-1 in the last round of the season.
The J2 League has always been chaotic, but… Round 38 of the 2025 season might have peaked because there was so much on the line, and it became even more fruitful as the minutes ran by today. The title, the promotion spots, a couple of play-off slots, and the last place available for the next season of J2 were ALL on the line until the very end. And for the very end, I mean… injury time of three different games.
I think that’s where the beauty of the J.League lies – it’s such a young pro-world that things can shift, and in J2, it’s actually harder to create a dynasty or dominate (although it happened more as time flew by in the last decade – e.g. Albirex Niigata, Machida Zelvia, etc.). Today was a great reminder of how Japanese football can be such a blast, and we have to thank all the clubs involved.
But if you wanna know more, brace yourself – it’s been a bumpy ride, even just by reading it.
A title on the line
Coming into this matchday, V-Varen Nagasaki were leading. And deservedly, since Takuya Takagi turned this ship around when he returned to Nagasaki. The 2-1 home win against Mito in the last round laid the fundamentals for V-Varen’s return to J1 after eight years. They just needed to avoid a loss in Tokushima against Vortis, while Mito hosted Oita Trinita, and JEF hosted FC Imabari – both out of everything.
To our surprise, JEF United Chiba were CHAMPIONS at half-time. They were already leading 2-0, and they basically sealed the deal of their game by minute 50 (in the end, they won 5-0 and waited for our matches to finish). The real problems were happening in Tokushima, where Vortis took the lead through a wonderful volley by Daiki Watari before half-time. It took the full second half and a goal by Hijiri Onaga to get the draw, but Nagasaki almost threw everything away.
In the final play of the game, an open shot for Thonny Anderson in the middle of the penalty box was ready to send V-Varen into desperation… if it wasn’t for Masaaki Goto’s face, who basically deflected the shot and saved the day. The keeper even bled after the shot; at the final whistle, all players ran to Goto, and surrounded him in a collective hug. V-Varen Nagasaki are finally back into J1, and shitting the bed this time around would have been terrible.
Meanwhile, Mito HollyHock won the whole thing, ending with the same points as Nagasaki but a better goal difference. It took them 45 minutes to find their mojo, but then goals by Keisuke Tada and Hayato Yamamoto put Oita to bed, granting Mito what’s nothing short of an incredible result. I mean… this page put them on relegation watch at the beginning of the season, and they won the whole thing. But the final day had more to offer.
Spots at the last dinner
The play-offs were not completely sealed. Of course, JEF United Chiba basically had their third place sealed, and the 5-0 against Imabari just closed the deal. Tokushima Vortis and Red Bull Omiya Ardija were in a solid position to guarantee their post-season as well, while Vegalta Sendai had to defend their sixth place from Jubilo Iwata’s assault – Sendai were hosting Iwaki FC at home, while Iwata were playing in Tosu against Sagan.
You have to owe it to Tokushima: they fought until the end. Their fourth-place spot was never in danger, given also how early JEF closed the game in Chiba. But they played their heart out to win – Daiki Watari’s image on the missed chance at the end to win the game was pretty emblematic. On the other end, RB Omiya Ardija found the advantage, managed to get the draw in Yamaguchi, but were never in a position to win the game convincingly. Vortis and Omiya will play each other next week.
Meanwhile, a last spot was up for grabs. Incredibly, Vegalta Sendai blew a season of efforts with a home loss against Iwaki FC, who were definitely on form, but didn’t have anything to play for. It seemed incredible – Sendai came close to a return to J1 last year, but they lost the play-offs final against Fagiano Okayama. Now they’re out of the play-offs completely, and next year’s J2 will be competitive, because I don’t see Shonan Bellmare and Albirex Niigata just rolling over.
And the benefiters of this? Well… Jubilo Iwata, who incredibly won in injury time at Sagan Tosu to deny them a spot in the play-offs and clinch a last shred of hope of an immediate return to J1. They conceded the draw in minute 87, but a late winner by Ricardo Graca (like a striker on counterattack) granted him the place. I personally hope that they won’t come back for a third time to J1 only to disappoint everyone, but they’re gonna face JEF United Chiba away next week… and I wouldn’t rule them out.
Avoiding the drop
Coming into the last round, three teams could still secure the last spot in J2. The least hopeful were Renofa Yamaguchi (33 points), hosting RB Omiya Ardija. They were three points adrift from Roasso Kumamoto (36), who hosted Ventforet Kofu to look for a point and avoid the worst. In the middle, Kataller Toyama (34) were still holding some hope to avoid the drop back to J3, but they needed to win against Blaublitz Akita at home with a certain margin and hope for Kofu to do… something.
We’ll talk probably further along the road around Yamaguchi’s relegation, but they didn’t have the pace, and probably the squad didn’t have enough quality. They won 3-2 at home, granting them a last hope, but in the end, it was more of a thank-you win for the fans. After 10 seasons, Renofa go back to J3, and it’s hard to tell if they’ll have the strength to go up. But at least they fought until the end… unlike someone else.
Roasso had a margin to manage, but they basically put the second gear and went on auto-mode for a long part of the season. We plauded the talent lab of Takeshi Oki several times, but results were also needed. And even if the quota to avoid relegation was higher this season, Kumamoto’s roster should have been enough to avoid the worst. Instead, Roasso won the last game in September (!) and then proceeded to gather just 4 points in the last 8 games. Others had another pace…
In fact, what happened with Kataller Toyama is amazing. They lost in Yamaguchi against Renofa on Round 34, and they were eight points shy of Kumamoto. They instead gathered 10 points from the last four games, including an injury-time win in Kofu, and the 4-1 home success against Akita. But even more incredibly… they were 2-1 up at the 88th minute, two goals away from promotion. Then a final stretch – with goals from veteran Nobuyuki Shiina and youngster Ayumu Kameda made the miracle true. It’s incredible – almost on par with what Mito did.
And now breathe: what’s next?
Now we have the play-off semifinals. In one week, Chiba will host Iwata, and Vortis will receive Ardija in Tokushima. I hope Chiba will go up, because they generally deserve the promotion, but we know their history of bottling incredibly at the final hurdle (look at their play-off history). A final between Chiba and Vortis would be a good spectacle on the pitch. But Jubilo might be on their way to another smooth operation (and then do 15 points next season).
With J2 over, there’s a “regrets” column. No doubt Chiba are in that one – you can’t begin the season with 10 consecutive wins and not getting directly promoted. But that’s what happened, in classic JEF-fashion. Sendai are another one: they’ve been in the play-off zone for 30 rounds out of 38. It’s a terrible mess, and Sendai deserves way better than this. Last but not least, Roasso definitely need a reshuffle, although talent and youngsters were always there. A squad with Ryo Shiohama and Keito Kumashiro can’t go down, especially in this J2.
About the “hope” category, Tokushima Vortis definitely can be happy. Head coach Kosaku Masuda definitely needs a prop because he’s kept a squad highly functional throughout the season, and gave new life to the senators (Daiki Watari, Taru Sugimoto, Ken Iwao, Elsinho). Kataller Toyama are the second-best story of this season just because Mito did what they could to outshine them; their “great escape” is historical. Probably, they’ll fight again to avoid the drop next season, but it’s a start. And finally, Jubilo Iwata made it to the play-offs, and they are the only relegated team to qualify for a shot at J1.
Last but not least, it’s been a transformative season. 2026-27 will be the first season in the second tier without Mito since 2000, and it could be the first one without JEF Chiba since 2009 (if they’re able to win the play-offs). In general, the best image from this final day came from Mito: former keeper and club legend Koji Homma – “Mr. Mito” – and head coach Naoki Mori hugging together and saluting the stands. They really did a number, didn’t they?
