Fagiano Next finished at the bottom in the first stage of the season

The first stage of the Japan Football League ended this month. J league associate member, Vanraure Hachinohe won the first stage championship, defeating Next at the last sec on June 6. Okayama ended up at 16th position, the bottom of the leauge.

This first stage, the young team made only four points including one victory and one draw. They have only scored seven goals in 15 matches. Needless to say, Fagiano struggled to score goals. It seems that their performance was beyond expectation because last term, Next finished 11th position out of 14 clubs. 

This season, two worst performing teams by total results of both stages will be relegated to Regional Leagues and replaced by top two performers of Regional Promotion Series. However, if one or two teams will be admitted to J league division 3 at the end of the season, the number of relegated clubs will be reduced accordingly.

Fagiano has currently been relegation-threatened, therefore, at the second stage, they are expected to rise up to stay in the Japan Football League.