The J. League first division brought down the curtain Saturday on a 2020 season marked by unprecedented challenges stemming from the coronavirus pandemic, and a record-breaking march to the title by three-time champion Kawasaki Frontale.
The season's fate looked uncertain when the league suspended play with the J1 and J2 barely under way in February, before a wave of coronavirus infections spread across Japan.
Teams returned to the pitch some four months later — initially without spectators — playing twice a week as part of a tightly packed, redrawn schedule.