List of Japanese football champions

(Redirected from Japanese football champions)

The Japanese football champions are the winners of the top league in Japan, the Japan Soccer League from 1965 to 1992 and the J.League since then.

Japanese League (1st tier)
Japan Soccer League (1965–1971)
Japan Soccer League Division 1 (1972–1992)
J.League (1993–1998)
J.League Division 1 (1999–2014)
J1 League (2015–present)
Country
 Japan
Founded
1965
Number of teams
20 (2024)
Current champions
Vissel Kobe (2023)
Most successful club
Kashima Antlers
Sanfrecce Hiroshima
(8 titles each)

Sanfrecce Hiroshima and Tokyo Verdy are the only teams that have won the title four times in a row (in 1965–1968 as Toyo Industries and in 1991–1994 as Yomiuri S.C./Verdy Kawasaki, respectively). Notice that from 1985 to 1992 Japanese football adjusted to the "fall-spring" season schedule (common in most of Europe) but after establishment of J.League switched back to "spring-fall" scheme (common in North America, East Asia, and Nordic European latitudes).

List of champions

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Teams in bold have completed the double of the title and the Emperor's Cup in the same season. In 1985 no double was possible due to the season's timeframe change; thus, the doubles completed between then and 1992 are won in the middle of the season.

Numbers in parentheses indicate number of wins at the date. Leading goalscorer's nationality is at the time of award and does not necessarily indicate the national team played for.

Japan Soccer League (1965–1971)

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Year Champions
(number of titles)
Runners-up Third place Leading goalscorer Goals
Toyo Industries Yawata Steel Furukawa Electric   Mutsuhiko Nomura (Hitachi) 15
Toyo Industries (2) Yawata Steel Furukawa Electric   Aritatsu Ogi (Toyo Industries) 14
Toyo Industries (3) Furukawa Electric Mitsubishi Heavy Industries   Takeo Kimura (Furukawa Electric) 15
Toyo Industries (4) Yanmar Diesel Mitsubishi Heavy Industries   Kunishige Kamamoto (Yanmar Diesel) 14
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Toyo Industries Yawata Steel   Hiroshi Ochiai (Mitsubishi Motors) 12
Toyo Industries (5) Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Hitachi SC   Kunishige Kamamoto (Yanmar Diesel) 16
Yanmar Diesel Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nippon Steel   Kunishige Kamamoto (Yanmar Diesel) 11

Japan Soccer League Division 1 (1972–1992)

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Year Champions
(number of titles)
Runners-up Third place Leading goalscorer Goals
Hitachi SC Yanmar Diesel Toyo Industries   Akira Matsunaga (Hitachi) 12
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (2) Hitachi SC Yanmar Diesel   Akira Matsunaga (Hitachi) 11
Yanmar Diesel (2) Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Hitachi SC   Kunishige Kamamoto (Yanmar Diesel) 21
Yanmar Diesel (3) Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Hitachi SC   Kunishige Kamamoto (Yanmar Diesel) 17
Furukawa Electric Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Fujita Industries   Kunishige Kamamoto (Yanmar Diesel) 15
Fujita Industries Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Hitachi SC   Carvalho (Fujita Industries) 23
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (3) Yanmar Diesel Fujita Industries   Kunishige Kamamoto (Yanmar Diesel)
  Carvalho (Fujita Industries)
15
Fujita Industries (2) Yomiuri SC Hitachi SC   Ruy Ramos (Yomiuri) 14
Yanmar Diesel (4) Fujita Industries Furukawa Electric   Hiroyuki Usui (Hitachi) 14
Fujita Industries (3) Yomiuri SC Mitsubishi Heavy Industries   Hiroshi Yoshida (Furukawa Electric) 14
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (4) Yanmar Diesel Furukawa Electric   Hiroyuki Usui (Hitachi) 13
Yomiuri SC Nissan Motors Fujita Industries   Ruy Ramos (Yomiuri) 10
Yomiuri SC (2) Nissan Motors Yamaha Motors   Tetsuya Totsuka (Yomiuri) 14
Furukawa Electric (2) NKK SC Honda Motors   Hiroshi Yoshida (Furukawa Electric) 16
Yomiuri SC (3) NKK SC Mitsubishi Heavy Industries   Toshio Matsuura (NKK) 17
Yamaha Motors NKK SC Mitsubishi Heavy Industries   Toshio Matsuura (NKK) 11
Nissan Motors ANA SC Yamaha Motors   Adílson (Yamaha Motors) 11
Nissan Motors (2) Yomiuri SC ANA SC   Renato (Nissan Motors) 17
Yomiuri SC (4) Nissan Motors Honda Motors   Tetsuya Totsuka (Yomiuri)
  Tsuyoshi Kitazawa (Honda Motors)
  Renato (Nissan Motors)
10
Yomiuri SC (5) Nissan Motors Yamaha Motors   Toninho (Yomiuri) 18

Treble with the JSL Cup

J.League (1993–1998)

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In 1992, professional J.League was established. All teams elected to it stripped themselves of corporate identities and adopted their own names. From 1993 to 2005 (except for the 1996 season), and in 2015 and 2016, the league was contested in an Apertura and Clausura manner, thus the "runners-up" for these seasons are actually the winners of one of these tournaments which lost to the winners of the playoff. The "third places" are the highest-scoring teams in the aggregate table which were not involved in the playoff. If there was no playoff due to the champions winning both stages, the third place is the second-best points earning team who are not the champions.

Year Champions
(number of titles)
Runners-up Third place Leading goalscorer Goals
Transition period; top flight clubs only play the J.League Cup, but Japan Football League plays inaugural season
Verdy Kawasaki (6) Kashima Antlers Shimizu S-Pulse   Ramón Díaz (Yokohama Marinos) 28
Verdy Kawasaki (7) Sanfrecce Hiroshima Kashima Antlers   Frank Ordenewitz (JEF United Ichihara) 30
Yokohama Marinos (3) Verdy Kawasaki Nagoya Grampus Eight   Masahiro Fukuda (Urawa Red Diamonds) 32
Kashima Antlers Nagoya Grampus Eight Yokohama Flügels   Kazuyoshi Miura (Verdy Kawasaki) 23
Júbilo Iwata (2) Kashima Antlers Yokohama Marinos   Patrick M'Boma (Gamba Osaka) 25
Kashima Antlers (2) Júbilo Iwata Shimizu S-Pulse   Masashi Nakayama (Júbilo Iwata) 36

J.League Division 1 (1999–2014)

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Top flight becomes J.League Division 1 in 1999.

Year Champions
(number of titles)
Runners-up Third place Leading goalscorer Goals
Júbilo Iwata (3) Shimizu S-Pulse Kashiwa Reysol   Hwang Sun-hong (Cerezo Osaka) 24
Kashima Antlers (3) Yokohama F. Marinos Kashiwa Reysol   Masashi Nakayama (Júbilo Iwata) 20
Kashima Antlers (4) Júbilo Iwata JEF United Ichihara   Will (Consadole Sapporo) 20
Júbilo Iwata (4) Yokohama F. Marinos Gamba Osaka   Naohiro Takahara (Júbilo Iwata) 26
Yokohama F. Marinos (4) Júbilo Iwata JEF United Chiba   Ueslei (Nagoya Grampus Eight) 22
Yokohama F. Marinos (5) Urawa Red Diamonds Gamba Osaka   Emerson (Urawa Red Diamonds) 27
Gamba Osaka Urawa Red Diamonds Kashima Antlers   Araújo (Gamba Osaka) 33
Urawa Red Diamonds (5) Kawasaki Frontale Gamba Osaka   Washington (Urawa Red Diamonds)
  Magno Alves (Gamba Osaka)
26
Kashima Antlers (5) Urawa Red Diamonds Gamba Osaka   Juninho (Kawasaki Frontale) 22
Kashima Antlers (6) Kawasaki Frontale Nagoya Grampus   Marquinhos (Kashima Antlers) 21
Kashima Antlers (7) Kawasaki Frontale Gamba Osaka   Ryoichi Maeda (Júbilo Iwata) 20
Nagoya Grampus Gamba Osaka Cerezo Osaka   Joshua Kennedy (Nagoya Grampus)
  Ryoichi Maeda (Júbilo Iwata)
17
Kashiwa Reysol (2) Nagoya Grampus Gamba Osaka   Joshua Kennedy (Nagoya Grampus) 19
Sanfrecce Hiroshima (6) Vegalta Sendai Urawa Red Diamonds   Hisato Satō (Sanfrecce Hiroshima) 22
Sanfrecce Hiroshima (7) Yokohama F. Marinos Kawasaki Frontale   Yoshito Ōkubo (Kawasaki Frontale) 26
Gamba Osaka (2) Urawa Red Diamonds Kashima Antlers   Yoshito Ōkubo (Kawasaki Frontale) 18

Treble with the J.League Cup

J1 League (2015–present)

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The league was renamed to J1 League in 2015.

Year Champions
(number of titles)
Runners-up Third place Leading goalscorer Goals
Sanfrecce Hiroshima (8) Gamba Osaka Urawa Red Diamonds   Yoshito Ōkubo (Kawasaki Frontale) 23
Kashima Antlers (8) Urawa Red Diamonds Kawasaki Frontale   Leandro (Vissel Kobe)
  Peter Utaka (Sanfrecce Hiroshima)
19
Kawasaki Frontale Kashima Antlers Cerezo Osaka   Yū Kobayashi (Kawasaki Frontale) 23
Kawasaki Frontale (2) Sanfrecce Hiroshima Kashima Antlers   (Nagoya Grampus) 24
Yokohama F. Marinos (6) FC Tokyo Kashima Antlers   Teruhito Nakagawa (Yokohama F. Marinos)
  Marcos Júnior (Yokohama F. Marinos)
15
Kawasaki Frontale (3) Gamba Osaka Nagoya Grampus   Michael Olunga (Kashiwa Reysol) 28
Kawasaki Frontale (4) Yokohama F. Marinos Vissel Kobe   Leandro Damião (Kawasaki Frontale)
  Daizen Maeda (Yokohama F. Marinos)
23
Yokohama F. Marinos (7) Kawasaki Frontale Sanfrecce Hiroshima   Thiago Santana (Shimizu S-Pulse) 14
Vissel Kobe Yokohama F. Marinos Sanfrecce Hiroshima   Anderson Lopes (Yokohama F. Marinos)
  Yuya Osako (Vissel Kobe)
22

Total titles won

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Greater Tokyo Area
 
Keihanshin
 
† Greater Tokyo teams
Location of Japanese football champions

Fourteen clubs have been champions, though only eleven have won the title since the establishment of J. League. Of these eleven, Kashima Antlers, Gamba Osaka, Nagoya Grampus, Kawasaki Frontale and Vissel Kobe have never been Japan Soccer League champions; Kobe never competed in the old JSL Division 1.

All Japanese champion clubs still exist and are competing in the J. League; however, some may have moved from their Japan Soccer League locations they won the title at, or may have cut off ties with their original parent company.

Years in italic indicate Japan Soccer League seasons. Clubs in bold compete in J1 as of the 2024 season; clubs in italic no longer exist.

Club Champions Runners-up Winning seasons Runners-up seasons
  Sanfrecce Hiroshima 8 3 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1970, 2012, 2013, 2015 1969, 1994, 2018
  Kashima Antlers 8 3 1996, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2016 1993, 1997, 2017
  Yokohama F. Marinos 7 9 1988–89, 1989–90, 1995, 2003, 2004, 2019, 2022 1983, 1984, 1990–91, 1991–92, 2000, 2002, 2013, 2021, 2023
  Tokyo Verdy 7 4 1983, 1984, 1986–87, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1993, 1994 1979, 1981, 1989–90, 1995
  Urawa Red Diamonds 5 11 1969, 1973, 1978, 1982, 2006 1970, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2014, 2016
  Cerezo Osaka 4 4 1971, 1974, 1975, 1980 1968, 1972, 1978, 1982
  Kawasaki Frontale 4 4 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021 2006, 2008, 2009, 2022
  Júbilo Iwata 4 3 1987–88, 1997, 1999, 2002 1998, 2001, 2003
  Shonan Bellmare 3 1 1977, 1979, 1981 1980
  Gamba Osaka 2 3 2005, 2014 2010, 2015, 2020
  JEF United Chiba 2 1 1976, 1985 1967
  Kashiwa Reysol 2 1 1972, 2011 1973
  Nagoya Grampus 1 2 2010 1996, 2011
  Vissel Kobe 1 0 2023
  NKK SC 0 3 1985, 1986–87, 1987–88
  Nippon Steel Yawata 0 2 1965, 1966
  Yokohama Flügels 0 1 1988–89
  Shimizu S-Pulse 0 1 1999
  Vegalta Sendai 0 1 2012
  FC Tokyo 0 1 2019

Wins by region

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This is a breakdown by Japanese region, as clubs have moved cities before and even during the J.League period. Sanfrecce Hiroshima, Júbilo Iwata, Yokohama F. Marinos, Cerezo Osaka, Nagoya Grampus and Kawasaki Frontale are the only champion clubs who have always been based in their respective cities.

Note that JFA divides Japan into nine regions rather than the more traditional eight, splitting Chūbu into Hokushin'etsu and Tōkai. See Japanese Regional Leagues for further detail.

Region Number of titles Clubs
Kantō 38 Kashima Antlers (8), Tokyo Verdy (7), Yokohama F. Marinos (7), Urawa Red Diamonds (5), Kawasaki Frontale (4), Shonan Bellmare (3), JEF United Chiba (2), Kashiwa Reysol (2)
Chūgoku 8 Sanfrecce Hiroshima (8)
Kansai 7 Cerezo Osaka (4), Gamba Osaka (2), Vissel Kobe (1)
Tōkai 5 Júbilo Iwata (4), Nagoya Grampus (1)

See also

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Sources

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