legs, Frontale didn't won any, either. At Cerezo, the match ended 1–1, giving a theoric relief for Frontale, who only needed a 0–0 draw or a win to proceed in the competition. Frontale started the second leg winning 2–0, with Marcinho scoring two goals at the 40th and 53rd minute. Surprisingly, Frontale collapsed at the dying minutes of the match, conceding two heading goals from Mutsuki Kato and Hiroto Yamada at the 90th and 95th minute, respectively. Following the elimination at the J.League Cup, only the J1 League title was then available for Frontale to chase. Oscillating placements throughout the campaign, the club still managed to finish five separate matchweeks at the top of the league in the first half of the season. On the second half of the season, though, never again did Frontale get past the second place. Serving as a minor consolation for their season, the club held to a hardly-fought title chase alongside Sanfrecce Hiroshima (until the closing matchweeks). On December, at the 38th round, the last round of the season, Frontale were narrow two points away from first-placed Yokohama F. Marinos. A 13-goal difference was also in Frontale's way, meaning that in the more realistic scenario, Frontale needed to win their match and expect Marinos to lose theirs. Playing the round against FC Tokyo, Frontale were early threatened with a red card, as Jung Sung-ryong was sent off a few minutes after Frontale's first goal. Despite playing the rest of the match with 10 players, Frontale still managed to win past FC Tokyo by 3–2. Playing against Vissel Kobe, Marinos won the match by 3–1, and then were handed the J1 League title. On the plus side, finishing as the league's runners-up led the club to qualify for the 2023–24 AFC Champions League, entering the competition in the group stage. Colour, sponsors and manufacturers Kit evolution Records and statistics Players Current squad . Out on loan Reserve squad (U-18s) ; Squad for the 2022 season: Personnel awards J.League Player of the Year Kengo Nakamura (2016) Yu Kobayashi (2017) Akihiro Ienaga (2018) Leandro Damião (2021) J.League Top Scorer Juninho (2008) Yoshito Ōkubo (2013, 2014, 2015) Yu Kobayashi (2017) Leandro Damião (2021) J.League Best Eleven Kengo Nakamura (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2016, 2017, 2018) Hiroyuki Taniguchi (2006) Juninho (2007) Eiji Kawashima (2009) Yoshito Ōkubo (2013, 2014, 2015) Yu Kobayashi (2016, 2017) Shintaro Kurumaya (2017, 2018) Elsinho