1994 J.League

The J.League 1994 season was the second season of the J.League. The league commenced on March 12 and completed on November 19. The Suntory Championship took place on November 26 and December 2.

Clubs

The following 12 clubs participated in J.League during 1994 season. Of these clubs, Bellmare Hiratsuka and Júblio Iwata were newly promoted teams from Japan Football League.

Club name	Hometown	Stadium (majority games)	Capacity	Notes	Head coach
Bellmare Hiratsuka	Hiratsuka, Kanagawa	Hiratsuka Stadium	15,380	Promoted	Japan Mitsuru Komaeda
Gamba Osaka	Osaka, Osaka	Osaka Expo '70 Stadium	21,000		Japan Kunishige Kamamoto
JEF United Ichihara	Chiba, Chiba	Ichihara Seaside Stadium	14,051		Japan Eijun Kiyokumo
Júbilo Iwata	Iwata, Shizuoka	Júbilo Iwata Stadium	15,165	Promoted	Netherlands Hans Ooft
Kashima Antlers	Kashima, Ibaraki	Kashima Soccer Stadium	37,638		Brazil Edu Coimbra
Nagoya Grampus Eight	Nagoya, Aichi	Paloma Mizuho Rugby Stadium	11,900		England Gordon Milne
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Hiroshima, Hiroshima	Hiroshima General Ground Main Stadium	13,800		Scotland Stuart Baxter
Shimizu S-Pulse	Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture	Nihondaira Sports Stadium	20,248		Brazil Rivellino
Urawa Red Diamonds	Saitama, Greater Tokyo Area	Urawa Komaba Stadium	21,500		Japan Kenzo Yokoyama
Verdy Kawasaki	Kawasaki, Kanagawa	Todoroki Athletics Stadium	26,232		Japan Yasutaro Matsuki
Yokohama Flügels	Yokohama	Yokohama Mitsuzawa Stadium	15,454		Japan Shu Kamo
Yokohama Marinos	Yokohama	Yokohama Mitsuzawa Stadium	15,454		Japan Hidehiko Shimizu

Foreign players

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	Player 5	Non-visa foreign	Former players
Bellmare Hiratsuka	Brazil Almir	Brazil Betinho	Brazil Edson	Brazil Mirandinha
Gamba Osaka	Belarus Sergei Aleinikov	Brazil Flávio Campos	Ukraine Akhrik Tsveiba	Ukraine Oleh Protasov			Bulgaria Kiril Metkov
JEF United Ichihara	Czech Republic František Mysliveček	Czech Republic Pavel Řehák	Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Nenad Maslovar	Germany Frank Ordenewitz	Germany Pierre Littbarski	Brazil Sandro South Korea Shin Che-bon
Júbilo Iwata	Brazil Walter	Italy Salvatore Schillaci	Netherlands André Paus	Netherlands Gerald Vanenburg
Kashima Antlers	Brazil Alcindo	Brazil Edinho	Brazil Leonardo	Brazil Santos			Brazil Zico
Nagoya Grampus Eight	Brazil Elivélton	Brazil Garça	Brazil Jorginho	Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Dragan Stojković	Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Dragiša Binić	Netherlands Dido Havenaar	England Gary Lineker
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Czech Republic Ivan Hašek	Czech Republic Pavel Černý	Norway Tore Pedersen	Scotland Lee Baxter	South Korea Noh Jung-yoon	Brazil Andrey
Shimizu S-Pulse	Brazil Djalminha	Brazil Ronaldão	Brazil Sidmar	Brazil Toninho		Brazil Ademir
Urawa Red Diamonds	Germany Guido Buchwald	Germany Michael Rummenigge	Germany Uwe Bein	Slovakia Ľubomír Luhový		Peru Edwin Uehara South Korea Cho Kwi-jae	Germany Uwe Rahn Slovakia Miroslav Mentel
Verdy Kawasaki	Brazil Bentinho	Brazil Bismarck	Brazil Capitão	Brazil Paulo	Brazil Pereira	Bolivia Ko Ishikawa
Yokohama Flügels	Argentina Fernando Moner	Brazil Aldro	Brazil Edu Marangon	Brazil Válber			Spain Raúl Amarilla
Yokohama Marinos	Argentina David Bisconti	Argentina Gustavo Zapata	Argentina Ramón Díaz	Argentina Ramón Medina Bello			Brazil Everton

Format

In the 1994 season, the league followed split-season format, just like the previous season. Each halves (or stages) were known as Suntory Series and NICOS Series for sponsorship purposes. In each series, twelve clubs played in double round-robin format with a total of 22 games per club (per series). The games then went to golden-goal extra time and penalties if needed after regulation. The clubs were ranked by number of wins, and tie breakers are, in the following order:

Goal differential
Goals scored
Head-to-head results
Extra match or a coin toss

The club that finished at the top of the table is declared stage champion and qualifies for the Suntory Championship. The first stage winner hosts the first leg in the championship series. If the same club win both stages, the runners-up of each stages plays against each other and the winners challenges the stage winner at the championship game.

Changes in competition format

Number of competing clubs increased from 10 to 12
Number of games per club in a series increased from 18 to 22 games and from 36 to 44 games per season.

Standings

Suntory Series (1st Stage) standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Qualification
1	Hiroshima Prefecture Sanfrecce Hiroshima	22	17	5	44	26	+18	1994 Suntory Series Champions Qualified to Suntory Championship '94
2	Shizuoka Prefecture Shimizu S-Pulse	22	16	6	41	25	+16
3	Ibaraki Prefecture Kashima Antlers	22	16	6	45	32	+13
4	Tokyo Verdy Kawasaki	22	14	8	43	21	+22
5	Kanagawa Prefecture Yokohama Flügels	22	13	9	36	27	+9
6	Chiba Prefecture JEF United Ichihara	22	10	12	34	43	−9
7	Shizuoka Prefecture Júbilo Iwata	22	9	13	27	32	−5
8	Aichi Prefecture Nagoya Grampus Eight	22	9	13	23	28	−5
9	Kanagawa Prefecture Yokohama Marinos	22	8	14	29	35	−6
10	Osaka Prefecture Gamba Osaka	22	7	15	37	46	−9
11	Kanagawa Prefecture Bellmare Hiratsuka	22	7	15	27	54	−27
12	Saitama Prefecture Urawa Red Diamonds	22	6	16	26	43	−17

NICOS Series (2nd stage) standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Qualification
1	Verdy Kawasaki	22	17	5	48	26	+22	1994 NICOS Series Champions Qualifies to Suntory Championship '94
2	Bellmare Hiratsuka	22	16	6	48	26	+22
3	Yokohama Marinos	22	14	8	44	26	+18
4	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	22	12	10	27	31	−4
5	Kashima Antlers	22	11	11	44	36	+8
6	Shimizu S-Pulse	22	11	11	28	31	−3
7	Júbilo Iwata	22	11	11	29	37	−8
8	Yokohama Flügels	22	9	13	31	33	−2
9	JEF United Ichihara	22	9	13	35	42	−7
10	Gamba Osaka	22	8	14	29	36	−7
11	Urawa Red Diamonds	22	8	14	33	51	−18
12	Nagoya Grampus Eight	22	6	16	33	54	−21

Suntory Championship '94

Sanfrecce Hiroshima	0 – 1	Verdy Kawasaki
		35' Kitazawa

Verdy Kawasaki	1 – 0	Sanfrecce Hiroshima
Ramos 80'

VERDY KAWASAKI won the series on 2-0 aggregate.

Overall standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Qualification
1	Verdy Kawasaki	44	31	13	91	47	+44	1994 J.League Champions Qualifies to 1995/96 ACC, 1995 Super Cup, and 1995 Sanwa Bank Cup
2	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	44	29	15	71	57	+14
3	Kashima Antlers	44	27	17	89	68	+21
4	Shimizu S-Pulse	44	27	17	69	56	+13
5	Bellmare Hiratsuka	44	23	21	75	80	−5
6	Yokohama Marinos	44	22	22	73	61	+12
7	Yokohama Flügels	44	22	22	67	60	+7
8	Júbilo Iwata	44	20	24	56	69	−13
9	JEF United Ichihara	44	19	25	69	85	−16
10	Gamba Osaka	44	15	29	66	82	−16
11	Nagoya Grampus Eight	44	15	29	56	82	−26
12	Urawa Red Diamonds	44	14	30	59	94	−35

Honours

Competition	Champion	Runner-up	3rd place
League Competition
J.League Suntory Series	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Shimizu S-Pulse	Kashima Antlers
J.League NICOS Series	Verdy Kawasaki	Bellmare Hiratsuka	Yokohama Marinos
Suntory Championship	Verdy Kawasaki	Sanfrecce Hiroshima
Cup Tournaments
Emperor's Cup	Bellmare Hiratsuka	Cerezo Osaka	Yokohama Marinos Gamba Osaka
Nabisco Cup	Verdy Kawasaki	Júbilo Iwata	Gamba Osaka Yokohama Marinos
XEROX Super Cup	Verdy Kawasaki	Yokohama Flügels

Top scorers

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals
1	Germany Frank Ordenewitz	JEF United Ichihara	30
2	Brazil Alcindo Sartori	Kashima Antlers	28
3	Brazil Betinho	Bellmare Hiratsuka	24
4	Argentina Ramón Díaz	Yokohama Marinos	23
Japan Nobuhiro Takeda	Verdy Kawasaki
6	Brazil Toninho	Shimizu S-Pulse	22
7	Japan Yoshiyuki Hasegawa	Kashima Antlers	21
8	Czech Republic Ivan Hašek	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	19
Japan Koji Noguchi	Bellmare Hiratsuka
10	Japan Kazuyoshi Miura	Verdy Kawasaki	16
Japan Toshihiro Yamaguchi	Gamba Osaka
12	Argentina Ramón Medina Bello	Yokohama Marinos	15
Czechoslovakia Pavel Černý	Sanfrecce Hiroshima
14	Brazil Bismarck	Verdy Kawasaki	14
Japan Takuya Takagi	Sanfrecce Hiroshima

Awards

Individual awards

Award	Recipient	Club
Most Valuable Player	Brazil Pereira	Verdy Kawasaki
Rookie of the Year	Japan Kazuaki Tasaka	Bellmare Hiratsuka
Manager of the Year	Japan Yasutaro Matsuki	Verdy Kawasaki
Top Scorer	Germany Frank Ordenewitz	JEF United Ichihara

Best Eleven

Position	Footballer	Club	Nationality
GK	Shinkichi Kikuchi	Verdy Kawasaki	Japan
DF	Pereira	Verdy Kawasaki	Brazil
DF	Masami Ihara	Yokohama Marinos	Japan
DF	Yoshihiro Natsuka	Bellmare Hiratsuka	Japan
MF	Betinho	Bellmare Hiratsuka	Brazil
MF	Bismarck	Verdy Kawasaki	Brazil
MF	Tetsuji Hashiratani	Verdy Kawasaki	Japan
MF	Tsuyoshi Kitazawa	Verdy Kawasaki	Japan
MF	Ruy Ramos	Verdy Kawasaki	Japan
FW	Takuya Takagi	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Japan
FW	Nobuhiro Takeda	Verdy Kawasaki	Japan

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