On behalf of the entire J.LEAGUE, I wish everyone a very Happy New Year filled with more happiness and prosperity.

Last year in the 2019 season, the total attendance number reached a record high of 11,415,463 and the average attendance per match in the MEIJI YASUDA J1 LEAGUE was over 20,000. It is our great joy to see the growth since the league started and we would like to express our heartful thanks to everyone’s continuous support.

Looking ahead to our 28th season this year, we will step up our efforts to make the league more competitive and riveting.
We will accelerate our youth development with Project DNA, to become a league with promising talents by the year 2030.
The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system in all 321 matches will be introduced, to provide fans with more variety of angles to watch the matches.
We will invest on promoting our digital strategy, to increase the number of fans and offer the best hospitality at the stadiums.

A social platform will also be launched soon. The platform will be a hub, hoping for the league and the 56 J clubs, including FC. Imabari recently joined, to help develop collaborations among various sectors in their communities with social activities.

While we take our challenges as a football league, Japan will also host the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games this year. I would like to invite you to join us, in anticipating what will be accomplished this year. 2020 promises to be an exciting year!

Mitsuru Murai
Chairman
Japan Professional Football League