1997 J.League

The 1997 J.League season was the fifth season of the J.League. The league began in March and ended in November. For this year, the league was contested by 17 teams. Kashima Antlers won the 1st stage and Júbilo Iwata won the 2nd stage. Júbilo won the J.League title after winning both matches in the Suntory Championship.

J.League

Season	1997
Champions	Júbilo Iwata 1st J.League title
Asian Club Championship	Júbilo Iwata
Matches played	272
Goals scored	898 (3.3 per match)
Top goalscorer	Patrick Mboma (25 goals)
Highest attendance	38,707 - Reds vs. Sanfrecce (April 19)
Lowest attendance	2,245 - JEF Utd. vs. Sanfrecce (May 7)
Average attendance	10,131
← 1996 1998 →

Foreign players

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	Player 5	Former players
Avispa Fukuoka	Julio Hernán Rossi	Sergio Vázquez	Michael Obiku	Pablo Maqueda		Marcelo Carracedo Rodrigo Riep
Bellmare Hiratsuka	Cláudio	Simão	Hong Myung-bo
Cerezo Osaka	Alex	Claudinho	Gilmar	Jean Elias	Ko Jeong-woon	Sérgio Manoel
Gamba Osaka	Patrick Mboma	Nebojša Krupniković	Boban Babunski	Amir Karić		Mladen Mladenović
JEF United Ichihara	Nenad Maslovar	Arnold Scholten	Peter Bosz			Rade Bogdanović
Júbilo Iwata	Adilson Batista	Alessandro Cambalhota	Dunga			Marcelo Mabilia Salvatore Schillaci
Kashima Antlers	Bismarck	Jorginho	Mazinho	Rodrigo Mendes
Kashiwa Reysol	Edílson	Elpídio Silva	Paulo Jamelli	Valdir		Antônio Carlos Zago
Kyoto Purple Sanga	Capone	Daniel	Luiz Carlos	Mineiro		Cléber Arado Edmílson Matias
Nagoya Grampus Eight	Alexandre Torres	Ricardinho	Valdo	Dragan Stojković		Donald-Olivier Sié
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Graham Arnold	Tony Popovic	Antônio Carlos Santos	Ian Crook	Noh Jung-yoon
Shimizu S-Pulse	Fernando Oliva	Alessandro Santos	Carlos Alberto Santos			Mark Bowen
Urawa Red Diamonds	Basile Boli	Guido Buchwald	Alfred Nijhuis	Txiki Begiristain		Michael Baur
Verdy Kawasaki	Alcindo	Argel Fuchs	Carlos Alberto Dias	Magrão
Vissel Kobe	Matthew Bingley	Budimir Vujačić	Cho Kwi-jae			Michael Laudrup Lee Baxter Thomas Bickel Ziad Tlemcani
Yokohama Flügels	César Sampaio	Fernando	Marcelo	Válber		Zinho
Yokohama Marinos	Julio César Baldivieso	Dušan Petković	Julio Salinas

Standings

First stage

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	PKW	OTL	PKL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Kashima Antlers	16	12	0	1	0	0	3	32	15	+17	37
2	Yokohama Flügels	16	11	1	0	0	0	4	35	16	+19	35
3	Kashiwa Reysol	16	10	1	0	1	1	3	34	18	+16	32
4	Bellmare Hiratsuka	16	8	2	0	0	0	6	25	20	+5	28
5	Yokohama Marinos	16	7	3	1	0	0	5	31	31	0	28
6	Júbilo Iwata	16	8	1	0	3	0	4	32	21	+11	26
7	Shimizu S-Pulse	16	7	2	0	2	0	5	25	24	+1	25
8	Gamba Osaka	16	8	0	0	0	0	8	28	23	+5	24
9	Urawa Red Diamonds	16	6	1	1	0	0	8	25	24	+1	21
10	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	16	6	1	1	2	0	6	22	23	−1	21
11	Cerezo Osaka	16	6	0	1	2	1	6	21	26	−5	19
12	Nagoya Grampus Eight	16	6	0	0	1	0	9	18	24	−6	18
13	Kyoto Purple Sanga	16	6	0	0	1	1	8	19	32	−13	18
14	Vissel Kobe	16	5	1	0	2	0	8	24	34	−10	17
15	JEF United Ichihara	16	3	2	0	0	0	11	21	34	−13	13
16	Verdy Kawasaki	16	2	2	0	1	2	9	16	27	−11	10
17	Avispa Fukuoka	16	3	0	0	2	0	11	11	27	−16	9

Source:

Second stage

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	PKW	OTL	PKL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Júbilo Iwata	16	12	2	0	0	0	2	40	14	+26	40
2	Gamba Osaka	16	10	2	0	1	0	3	38	23	+15	34
3	Yokohama Marinos	16	8	4	0	0	0	4	42	28	+14	32
4	Kashima Antlers	16	9	2	0	1	0	4	46	23	+23	31
5	Nagoya Grampus Eight	16	10	0	0	0	0	6	23	24	−1	30
6	Shimizu S-Pulse	16	9	1	0	3	0	3	27	16	+11	29
7	Urawa Red Diamonds	16	8	1	0	2	0	5	26	21	+5	26
8	Cerezo Osaka	16	7	1	1	3	0	4	32	30	+2	24
9	Bellmare Hiratsuka	16	6	1	1	1	1	6	30	32	−2	21
10	Kashiwa Reysol	16	6	1	0	0	1	8	29	31	−2	20
11	Yokohama Flügels	16	5	1	1	2	0	7	23	27	−4	18
12	Verdy Kawasaki	16	4	2	0	0	0	10	22	38	−16	16
13	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	16	5	0	0	2	0	9	21	27	−6	15
14	JEF United Ichihara	16	3	3	0	3	1	6	22	32	−10	15
15	Avispa Fukuoka	16	3	0	1	3	0	9	18	31	−13	10
16	Kyoto Purple Sanga	16	3	0	0	2	1	10	21	38	−17	9
17	Vissel Kobe	16	1	2	0	0	0	13	19	44	−25	7

Source:

Key

• PLD = Games Played
• W = Games Won - 3 points for a win
• OTW = Games won in overtime - 2 points for overtime win
• PKW = Games won by penalty kicks after overtime played - 1 point for a win
• OTL = Games lost in overtime - zero points for overtime loss
• PKL = Games lost by penalty kicks after overtime played - zero points for a penalty loss
• GF = Goals scored for
• GA = Goals conceded
• GD = Goal difference - GF - GA = GD

Suntory Championship

December 6, 1997
15:03

Júbilo Iwata	3 – 2	Kashima Antlers
Nakayama 1', 46' Shimizu 119'		Bismarck 62' Mazinho 88'

Yamaha Stadium, Iwata

Attendance: 17,269

Referee: Masayoshi Okada

---

December 13, 1997
19:36

Kashima Antlers	0 – 1	Júbilo Iwata
		Nakayama 81'

Kashima Soccer Stadium, Kashima

Attendance: 15,276

Referee: Leslie Mottram

Top scorers

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals
1	Patrick Mboma	Gamba Osaka	25
2	Edílson	Kashiwa Reysol	23
3	Mazinho	Kashima Antlers	22
	Akihiro Nagashima	Vissel Kobe
5	Masahiro Fukuda	Urawa Red Diamonds	21
	Julio Salinas	Yokohama Marinos
7	Válber	Yokohama Flügels	20
8	Masashi Nakayama	Júbilo Iwata	18
	Wagner Lopes	Bellmare Hiratsuka
10	Paulo Jamelli	Kashiwa Reysol	14

Awards

Individual awards

Award	Recipient	Club
Most Valuable Player	Dunga	Júbilo Iwata
Rookie of the Year	Atsushi Yanagisawa	Kashima Antlers
Manager of the Year	João Carlos	Kashima Antlers
Top Scorer	Patrick Mboma	Gamba Osaka

Best Eleven

Pos	Footballer	Club	Nationality
GK	Tomoaki Ogami	Júbilo Iwata	Japan
DF	Masami Ihara	Yokohama Marinos	Japan
DF	Naoki Soma	Kashima Antlers	Japan
DF	Yutaka Akita	Kashima Antlers	Japan
MF	Bismarck	Kashima Antlers	Brazil
MF	Dunga	Júbilo Iwata	Brazil
MF	Hidetoshi Nakata	Bellmare Hiratsuka	Japan
MF	Hiroshi Nanami	Júbilo Iwata	Japan
MF	Motohiro Yamaguchi	Yokohama Flügels	Japan
FW	Patrick Mboma	Gamba Osaka	Cameroon
FW	Masashi Nakayama	Júbilo Iwata	Japan