General This marked the first Japan Football League season scheduled with a summer-to-spring format with 16 teams will compete in the league – the thirteen teams from the previous season, one team relegated from the
J3 League and two teams promoted from
Regional Leagues. The league's champion team earns automatic promotion to the
J3 League, while the 2nd place team competes in a promotion/relegation play-off against the 19th-placed team from the J3 League. Meanwhile, the relegation playoff between the 15th-placed team in the JFL and the second-placed team in the
JRFCL has been abolished and starting from this season the bottom two teams (15th and 16th) will be relegated directly to the
fifth division depending on the region of origin of the team.
Teams promoted from Japanese Regional Leagues J-Lease became the first team to be promoted on 24 November 2025 after defeating
Tokyo United in the
final round and at the same time as
Veroskronos Tsuno lost to
Vonds Ichihara where both matches ended with a score of 1-0.
Vonds Ichihara became the second team to be promoted on 30 November 2025, after defeating
Atletico Suzuka in the JFL/Japanese Regional Leagues playoffs. Both promoted teams will compete in the fourth division for the first time in their respective histories.
Teams relegated to Japanese Regional Leagues Asuka became the first team to be relegated after a draw against
Maruyasu Okazaki on 15 November 2025. Asuka was relegated to
Kansai Soccer League Division 1 after spending one season in the fourth division. Atletico Suzuka became the second team to be relegated after losing to Vonds Ichihara in the JFL/Japanese Regional Leagues playoffs on 30 November 2025. Atletico Suzuka was relegated to the
Tōkai Soccer League Division 1 after spending six seasons in the fourth division.
Result from playoff Reilac Shiga became the only team to be promoted to the
J3 League because
Honda, who were last season's champions and does not intend to gain promotion to the J. League. Reilac Shiga ended their 12-season stay in the fourth division by defeating
Azul Claro Numazu in the J3/JFL playoffs with a 4-3 aggregate score on 14 December 2025. For Azul Claro Numazu, this result returned them to the fourth division after spending eight seasons in the third division. ==Teams==