Vissel Kobe were the defending champions, having won their first ever league title with one match to spare in the previous season.
The first club promoted was Tokyo-based Machida Zelvia, debuting in the J1 as the J2 champions following a seven-year run in the Japanese second tier.
[5][6] Another automatic promotion spot was obtained by Júbilo Iwata, who made a swift comeback after just a single season absence by finishing second, thus marking the return of a team from Shizuoka in the Japanese first division since 2022.
The league began on 23 February and is scheduled to end on 8 December; it is played in a double round-robin format with 38 fixtures in total.
[25] Players from J.League partner nations (Thailand, Vietnam, Morocco, Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia) were exempted from these restrictions.