Overview

After the dissolution of former Japan Football League in order to form J. League Division 2

1999 J. League Division 2

-Final table:...

, the new Japan Football League

Japan Football League

The is the 3rd tier of the Japanese association football league system, following J. League Division 1 and J. League Division 2. Also known as the JFL, it is generally considered as the top amateur league in Japan although in reality it is a semi-professional league as many full-time footballers...

 was established from this season as the nation-wide top division for amateur clubs. It was originally planned to have 8 clubs, including seven former JFL clubs and , promoted from Kantō Soccer League, one of nine Japanese Regional Leagues

Japanese Regional Leagues

Japanese Regional Leagues are a group of parallel association football leagues in Japan that are organized on the regional basis...

. But it eventually became nine-club structure by accepting , which was established by supporters of defunct , 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.

Table

Results

Round 1

















































































Round 2

















































































Round 3

Top scorers

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals
1	Marcus		22
2	Kenji Arima		19
3	Mitsunori Yabuta		12
4	Hiroyasu Ibata		11
	Hiroaki Tajima		11

Attendances

Promotion and relegation

No relegation has occurred because the league was expanding to 12 teams. At the end of the season, the winner and runner-up of All Japan Regional Football Promotion League Series

All Japan Regional Football Promotion League Series

The All Japan Regional Promotion League Series is a play-off tournament meant as a transition for Japanese football clubs competing in regional leagues to the bottom national tier .-History:Until 1976, the main entrance route for regional clubs to the Japan Soccer League was...

, and were promoted automatically. In addition, and were included by JFA

Japan Football Association

The Japan Football Association, sometimes known as the Japan Soccer Association , is the governing body responsible for the administration of association football in Japan. It is responsible for the national team as well as club competitions....

and College FA recommendations.