V-Varen Nagasaki were hit with a ¥3 million yen for inflating attendance figures, the J. League announced Tuesday.
The second-division club padded its attendance in 45 of its 46 home games from the start of the 2015 season to April 2, the league said. Nagasaki added a total of 24,233 to the crowd figures.
Before the season opened this past February, a handful of executives left the club due to the team's dire financial circumstances. V-Varen are trying to rebuild by becoming a subsidiary of its chief stakeholder Japanet Holdings.
In 2010, J1 club Omiya Ardija were ordered to pay a ¥20 million fine for inflating its crowd figures by 111,737 over 58 games from 2007 to 2010.