J.League Board Announces Adjustment to Club A-Grade Contract Limits and Eases Loan Player Restrictions

On the 29th of this month, the J.League held a board meeting and announced adjustments to the limits on the number of A-Grade professional contracts for clubs, as well as the establishment of rules for domestic loan transfers. In the coming period, the J.League board will conduct further reviews of the revised regulations, which will take effect immediately upon formal approval.

Regarding the adjustment to the limit on the number of A-Grade professional contracts, the J.League board stated that the number will be increased from the current 25 (27 for teams participating in the AFC Champions League) to 27. Additionally, Urawa Red Diamonds, due to their participation in the FIFA Club World Cup, will have an additional special registration slot. It is worth noting that A-Grade contract players do not include young players promoted from the youth team or those specially designated from the school football system. Therefore, clubs will have more flexibility in personnel management than previously anticipated.

As for the adjustments to the domestic league loan transfer policy, the J.League has set the maximum number of players a club can loan in a season to 10 (this does not apply if the player has been on loan at a club for more than 990 days or if the player is under 21 years old). Furthermore, each loan contract can have a maximum duration of one year and a minimum duration of half a season (two consecutive registration windows). Under these conditions, loan periods can be extended without any limit on the number of extensions. Other loan policies remain unchanged.

However, it is important to note that the J.League’s decision to increase the number of loan players to 10 is more lenient than the FIFA-mandated limit of 6. The reasons for this include the higher number of university graduates in the Japanese league and the time restrictions on transfers to lower divisions in Japan. Therefore, the board’s decision to relax the loan player rules within the expected range is highly reasonable.