J. League Map

The 2008 season is well under way in Japan and Bill Turianski brings us up to date on its look and feel. We've got a map in the center, attendance figures in the bottom right, a detail map of the Greater Tokyo area and small profiles of each team - uniforms, emblems, titles and other info you'll need to know to follow the J. League.

To be specific this focuses on the J1 as the J. League encompasses a first and second division (the J2). And there's even a third tier (the JFL) that allows clubs to move up to the J2 and eventually the J1. But anyway most everyone around the world knows it as the J. League. Unsurprisingly a large number of clubs call the Greater Tokyo area home, in fact half the teams in the league. Most of the rest are strung along the south of the main island of Honshu while the final three are widely dispersed - Consadole Sapporo on the northern island of Hokkaido, Albirex Niigata in the northwest and Oita Trinita on the southern island of Kyushu. I'm thinking there's not too many away supporters for Oita Trinita-Consadole Sapporo!

Attendance figures show a pretty typical range. Urawa Reds (or Urawa Red Diamonds) boast an average crowd of 46,000 making them the country's most popular club. Meanwhile little Mito Hollyhock pulled in less than three thousand in the second division. One interesting thing to point out about the attendance was that second on the list was Albirex Niigata, a great number for a provincial side.

For more of this kind of thing take a look at Bill's website - Bill's Sports Maps.