1996 Japan Football League

Japan Football League

Season	1996
Champions	Honda
Promoted	Vissel Kobe
Relegated	Tosu Futures Cosmo Oil Yokkaichi (both were folded after the season)
Matches	240
Goals	825 (3.44 per match)
← 1995 1997 →

Statistics of Japan Football League in the 1996 season.

Overview

It was contested by 16 teams, and Honda won the championship. However, citing continuing corporate ownership, they were refused promotion by the J.League, who took in the runner-up, Vissel Kobe, instead.

Newly promoted before the season were Nippon Denso, later known as FC Kariya, and Oita Trinity, later known as Oita Trinita.

Clubs

The following sixteen clubs participated in Japan Football League Division 1 during the 1996 season.

• Brummell Sendai
• Consadole Sapporo
• Cosmo Oil Yokkaichi
• Denso
• Fujitsu Kawasaki
• Fukushima
• Honda
• Montedio Yamagata
• NTT Kanto
• Oita Trinity
• Otsuka Pharmaceutical
• Seino Transportation
• Tokyo Gas
• Tosu Futures
• Ventforet Kofu
• Vissel Kobe

Personnel

Club	Head coach
Brummell Sendai	Choei Sato
Consadole Sapporo	Takeo Takahashi
Cosmo Oil Yokkaichi	Yoshihiko Yamamoto
Denso
Fujitsu Kawasaki
Fukushima
Honda
Montedio Yamagata	Nobuhiro Ishizaki
NTT Kanto
Oita Trinity	Moon Jung-sik
Otsuka Pharmaceutical	Edinho
Seino Transportation
Tokyo Gas	Kiyoshi Okuma
Tosu Futures	Chang Woe-ryong
Ventforet Kofu	Yuji Tsukada
Vissel Kobe	Stuart Baxter

Foreign players

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	Player 5	Non-visa foreign	Former players
Brummell Sendai	Edmar	František Mysliveček	Frank Ordenewitz	Pierre Littbarski	Reinhard Stumpf
Consadole Sapporo	Pereira	Luboš Zákostelský	Pavel Řehák	Raul Otero		Kim Jong-song David Soria Yoshinari	Alcindo
Cosmo Oil Yokkaichi	Kim Byung-soo
Denso
Fujitsu Kawasaki	André Paus	Momodu Mutairu
Fukushima	Gwak Kyung-keun
Honda	Wagner Lopes	Walter
Montedio Yamagata	Aldro	Angelo
NTT Kanto
Oita Trinity	Choi Dae-shik	Hwangbo Kwan	Lee Woo-young				Lee Young-jin
Otsuka Pharmaceutical	Almir
Seino Transportation
Tokyo Gas	Amaral	João Cavalo	Júnior	Edwin Ifeanyi
Tosu Futures	Stephen Tataw	Jorge Dely Valdés				Edwin Uehara Hector Takayama
Ventforet Kofu	Baron	Mario López
Vissel Kobe	Michael Laudrup	Lee Baxter	Jan Jönsson	Thomas Bickel	Ziad Tlemçani	Cho Kwi-jae

League standings

Pos	Club	P	W	L	F	A	GD	Pts	Notes
1	Honda	30	25	5	83	35	48	75	Champions (Refused promotion)
2	Vissel Kobe	30	25	5	78	32	46	75	Promoted to J.League
3	Tokyo Gas	30	24	6	63	28	35	73
4	Tosu Futures	30	20	10	68	43	25	62	Folded
5	Consadole Sapporo	30	20	10	60	43	17	62
6	Brummell Sendai	30	18	12	67	52	15	56
7	Otsuka Pharmaceutical	30	18	12	56	41	15	55
8	Montedio Yamagata	30	16	14	45	49	-4	49
9	Fujitsu Kawasaki	30	15	15	48	45	3	45
10	Oita Trinity	30	13	17	42	52	-10	39
11	Ventforet Kofu	30	11	19	50	56	-6	33
12	Cosmo Oil Yokkaichi	30	11	19	31	49	-28	33	Folded
13	NTT Kanto	30	7	23	36	55	-19	23
14	Fukushima	30	7	23	30	63	-33	22
15	Denso	30	5	25	40	90	-50	16
16	Seino Transportation	30	5	25	28	82	-54	15

Updated to match(es) played in November 1996. Source:
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

• Notes:
• Teams in Bold are the J.League associate members
• After the season Tosu Futures & Cosmo Oil Yokkaichi folded