The season commenced on 9 March and will finish on November 23,[1] with a 3-week break after the 17th week matches on 21 and 22 June (except one on 25 June), then will resume from 19 and 20 July, due to prefectural qualifiers, followed by the 1st and 2nd round matches of the 2014 Emperor's Cup scheduled during the intermission.
League Council in July decided that inaugural season of J3 will feature 12 teams.
Two foreign players are allowed per team, plus 1 more from the ASEAN partner country of J. League.
[1] Rules for promotion to J2 will be largely similar to those of Japan Football League in the recent seasons: in order to be promoted, a club must hold a J2 license and finish in top 2 of the league.
If either or both top 2 finishers are ineligible for promotion, the playoffs and/or direct exchange will not be held in accordance to the exact positions of promotion-eligible clubs.
Note: ^1 A special team, composed of best J1 and J2 youngsters in order to prepare them to 2016 Olympics 2014 J2/J3 Play-Offs (2014 J2・J3入れ替え戦) J3 runners-up Nagano Parceiro played the 21st-placed J2 club Kamatamare Sanuki in a two-legged playoffs.