The 2017 J1 League (known as the Meiji Yasuda J1 League for sponsorship reasons) is the 25th season of the J1 League, the top Japanese professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1993. The season began on 25 February 2017 and is scheduled to end on 2 December. Fixtures for the 2017 season were announced on 26 January 2017. Kashima Antlers are the defending champions. Consadole Sapporo, Shimizu S-Pulse and Cerezo Osaka have entered as the three promoted teams from the 2016 J2 League.