2020 Nadeshiko League

The 2020 Nadeshiko League was the 32nd season of the Nadeshiko League, the main league for women's association football in Japan. It was also the 16th season in its current format.

The league was originally scheduled to begin on 2 May 2020 but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The league was finally rescheduled to begin on 18 July 2020 with the first two rounds of matches played behind closed doors.^[1]

Division 1

Nadeshiko League Division 1

Season	2020
Dates	18 July 2020 – 21 November 2020
Champions	Urawa Reds Ladies (4th title)
Relegated	Cerezo Osaka Iga Kunoichi Ehime
AFC Women's Club Championship	Urawa Reds Ladies
Matches played	90
Goals scored	273 (3.03 per match)
Top goalscorer	Yuika Sugasawa (17 goals)
Biggest home win	Mynavi Vegalta Sendai 5–0 Ehime (1 November 2020) INAC Kobe Leonessa 5–0 Ehime (30 August 2020)
Biggest away win	Cerezo Osaka 1–10 NTV Beleza (15 August 2020)
Highest scoring	Cerezo Osaka 1–10 NTV Beleza (15 August 2020)
Longest winning run	Urawa Reds Ladies (6 matches)
Longest unbeaten run	Urawa Reds Ladies (8 matches)
Longest winless run	Ehime (9 matches)
Longest losing run	Iga FC Kunoichi (6 matches)
← 2019 2021–22 (WE) 2021 (N) → All statistics correct as of 21 November 2020.

The season started on 18 July 2020 and ended in November 2020 with the play-offs to be held days later. Prior to the league start date, PCR were carried out on all the players and staffs of the teams participating in the leagues to check their health conditions, almost all test cases came out negative.^{[citation needed]}

Urawa Reds Ladies won their fourth Nadeshiko League title and therefore will earn the right to participate in the 2021 AFC Women's Club Championship.

This is its final year as the highest division of the Japan women's football league system as the WE League is set to commence next year. Similar to the men's J. League in 1992 and the English women's FA WSL in 2011, not all Division 1 clubs will be admitted to the new league.^[2]

Teams

The league was contested by 10 teams, debutants Ehime winners of the 2019 Nadeshiko League Division 2 and runners up Cerezo Osaka replaced Nittidai and AC Nagano Parceiro Ladies, who were relegated from the 2019 Nadeshiko League Division 1.

Club Hometown(s) First Season in Top Flight Current Spell in Top Flight NTV Beleza Inagi, Tokyo 1989 1989–present INAC Kobe Leonessa Kobe, Hyogo 2005 2005–present Mynavi Vegalta Sendai Sendai, Miyagi 2013 2013–present Albirex Niigata Niigata Prefecture 2007 2007–present Cerezo Osaka Osaka 2018 2020–present Ehime Matsuyama 2020 2020–present JEF United Chiba Chiba, Chiba 2000 2009–present Urawa Reds Ladies Saitama, Saitama 1999 1999–present Nojima Stella Sagamihara, Kanagawa 2017 2017–present Iga Kunoichi Iga, Mie 1989 2019–present

Beleza INAC Urawa Reds Ladies Albirex Iga Vegalta Sendai Nojima JEF Cerezo Ehime Locations of 2020 Nadeshiko League Division 1 teams

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Urawa Reds Ladies	18	14	2	2	37	17	+20	44	Champions, form WE League
2	INAC Kobe Leonessa	18	11	2	5	33	19	+14	35	Form WE League
3	NTV Beleza	18	9	4	5	45	22	+23	31
4	Cerezo Osaka	18	8	6	4	32	36	−4	30
5	Albirex Niigata	18	8	3	7	19	17	+2	27	Form WE League
6	JEF United Chiba	18	6	5	7	30	29	+1	23
7	Mynavi Vegalta Sendai	18	6	4	8	26	24	+2	22
8	Nojima Stella	18	4	3	11	18	30	−12	15
9	Iga Kunoichi	18	4	2	12	17	33	−16	14
10	Ehime	18	3	3	12	16	46	−30	12

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored; 4) Head-to-head points; 5) Head-to-head goal difference; 6) Head-to-head away goals scored

Results

Home \ Away	ALB	CER	EHI	INA	IGA	JEF	NTV	NOJ	URA	VEG
Albirex Niigata	—	0–1	2–0	2–1	1–1	2–0	0–0	1–0	2–3	0–1
Cerezo Osaka	2–1	—	3–2	2–0	2–1	2–2	1–10	3–1	0–0	2–2
Ehime	1–0	3–2	—	0–1	2–1	1–5	1–5	2–2	0–1	0–2
INAC	2–0	3–1	5–0	—	2–1	2–0	4–1	2–1	0–1	3–0
Iga Kunoichi	0–1	2–2	3–0	0–1	—	0–5	1–6	3–1	0–1	0–2
JEF United	1–2	3–3	0–0	2–1	2–1	—	1–3	1–2	2–4	1–1
NTV Beleza	2–2	1–1	2–2	1–2	3–0	0–1	—	1–0	3–2	4–1
Nojima Stella	0–1	0–3	2–1	1–1	0–1	1–3	2–1	—	2–3	2–1
Urawa Reds Ladies	2–1	0–1	5–1	4–1	2–1	2–0	1–0	1–1	—	2–1
Vegalta Sendai	0–1	5–1	5–0	2–2	0–1	1–1	0–2	1–0	1–2	—

Source: Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Positions by round

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Urawa Reds Ladies	1	1	1	3	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
INAC Kobe	5	4	2	2	3	4	3	3	3	4	4	4	3	2	2	2	2	2
NTV Beleza	3	2	4	4	4	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	3	3	3	3
Cerezo Osaka	2	3	3	1	2	3	4	4	4	3	3	3	4	4	4	5	4	4
Albirex Niigata	4	6	6	5	5	5	6	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	4	5	5
JEF United	10	5	7	7	6	8	8	8	9	9	7	8	6	6	7	7	6	6
Vegalta Sendai	8	10	10	10	10	7	7	9	8	8	6	6	7	7	6	6	7	7
Nojima Stella	9	9	8	9	9	6	5	6	6	7	9	7	8	8	8	8	8	8
Iga FC	7	8	9	8	7	10	9	7	7	6	8	9	9	9	9	9	9	9
Ehime	6	7	5	6	8	9	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10

Source: Soccerway
  = Leader;   = To Relegation Series;   = Relegation to Nadeshiko League Division 2

Attendance

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Average attendance

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Highest attendance

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1. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, spectators were not allowed into stadiums.

Statistics

Topscorers

As of matches played on 21 November 2020.

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Yuika Sugasawa	Urawa Reds Ladies	17
2	Haruka Hamada	Vegalta Sendai	15
3	Mina Tanaka	INAC Kobe Leonessa	13
4	Rikako Kobayashi	NTV Beleza	9
	Ami Otaki	JEF United
6	Jun Endo	NTV Beleza	8
7	Yui Hasegawa	NTV Beleza	7
	Honoka Hayashi	Cerezo Osaka
	Arisa Minamino	Nojima Stella
10	4 players		6

Awards

Best XI

Division 2

Nadeshiko League Division 2

Season	2020
Dates	18 July – 21 November 2020
Matches played	90
Goals scored	225 (2.5 per match)
Biggest home win	Harima 4–0 Nittaidai (24 October 2020) Elfen Saitama 4–0 Nittaidai (26 July 2020) Kamogawa 4–0 Bunnys Kyoto (20 September 2020)
Highest scoring	Sfida Setagaya 5–2 Jumonji Ventus (20 September 2020)
← 2019 2021 → All statistics correct as of 15 November 2020.

The season began on 18 July 2020.

Teams and format

10 teams contested the league, Jumonji Ventus were promoted while Shizuoka Sangyo were relegated from the previous season, additionally Nittaidai and Nagano Parceiro Ladies also joined from the Nadeshiko League Division 1.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Sfida Setagaya	18	11	4	3	34	18	+16	37
2	Elfen Saitama	18	11	3	4	33	13	+20	36	Promoted to WE League
3	Kamogawa	18	10	4	4	37	18	+19	34
4	Yokohama	18	8	8	2	29	8	+21	32
5	Nagano Parceiro	18	8	4	6	22	13	+9	28	Promoted to WE League
6	Harima	18	8	2	8	25	22	+3	26
7	Yamato Sylphid	18	7	5	6	15	16	−1	26
8	Jumonji Ventus	18	3	4	11	15	40	−25	13	Promoted to WE League
9	Nittaidai	18	2	3	13	7	46	−39	9
10	Bunnys Kyoto	18	1	5	12	8	31	−23	8

Source: Soccerway

Results

Home \ Away	KYO	ELF	HAR	JUM	KAM	NIT	NAG	SET	YAM	YOK
Bunnys Kyoto	—	0–3	1–3	0–1	0–3	0–1	0–3	1–2	2–1	0–1
Elfen Saitama	2–1	—	4–1	1–0	5–1	4–0	1–2	1–1	0–1	0–0
Harima	0–0	0–1	—	2–1	0–1	4–0	1–2	3–0	2–1	1–0
Jumonji Ventus	2–2	1–2	2–1	—	1–4	2–0	0–5	0–5	0–2	0–5
Kamogawa	4–0	2–2	3–0	3–0	—	4–1	0–0	0–1	2–1	0–0
Nittaidai	0–0	1–0	0–5	1–1	0–5	—	1–3	0–2	1–1	0–5
Nagano Parceiro	1–1	0–1	0–1	1–0	1–2	2–0	—	1–1	0–1	0–0
Sfida Setagaya	3–0	0–3	2–0	5–2	3–1	2–1	2–0	—	1–2	2–2
Yamato Sylphid	1–0	0–3	0–0	0–0	1–0	2–0	0–1	1–1	—	0–3
Yokohama	0–0	2–0	4–1	1–1	2–2	3–0	1–0	0–1	0–0	—

Source: Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Statistics

Top scorers

Awards

Challenge League

Challenge League (Division 3)

Season	2020
Champions	JFA Academy
← 2019 2021 → All statistics correct as of 30 December 2020.

12 teams contested the third tier, divided into two groups of 6 each for East and West. Newly promoted clubs were Shizuoka SSU Asregina (formerly Iwata Bonita) and Fukuoka J. Anclas, both returning to the national tiers, and Cerezo Osaka Sakai Girls, Cerezo Osaka Sakai Ladies's B-team.

Teams

Clubs (East)	Hometown(s)
Norddea Hokkaido	Sapporo, Hokkaido
Tsukuba FC Ladies	Tsukuba, Ibaraki
Niigata University of Health and Welfare LSC	Niigata, Niigata
JFA Academy Fukushima LSC	Susono, Shizuoka[3]
Shizuoka SSU Asregina	Iwata, Shizuoka
NGU Loveledge Nagoya	Nagoya, Aichi
Clubs (West)	Hometown(s)
Speranza Osaka Takatsuki	Takatsuki, Osaka
Cerezo Osaka Sakai Girls	Osaka
KIU Charme	Takahashi, Okayama
Yunogo Belle	Mimasaka, Okayama
Angeviolet Hiroshima	Hiroshima
Fukuoka J. Anclas	Fukuoka

Challenge League Championship

Angeviolet Hiroshima	0–0	JFA Academy Fukushima LSC

December 12, 2020

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JFA Academy Fukushima LSC	1–0	Angeviolet Hiroshima
Numao 77'

December 20, 2020

JFA Academy wins the title.

Challenge League Third Place

Speranza Osaka-Takatsuki	0–0	NGU Loveledge Nagoya

December 12, 2020

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NGU Loveledge Nagoya	0–1 (a.e.t.)	Speranza Osaka-Takatsuki
		Sakanaka 106'

December 19, 2020

Speranza is promoted to the Nadeshiko League.

References

1. "Nadeshiko League to finally kick off on 18 July". Japantimes.com. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
2. "Japan unveils professional WE league". AFC. 3 June 2020.
3. Due to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, the team has relocated from Naraha, Fukushima to sport facilities in Shizuoka Prefecture. http://www.jfa.jp/youth_development/jfa_academy/fukushima/operation.html

External links

• 2020 Nadeshiko League Division 1 at Soccerway.