The J.League Championship is a two-legged championship series which determined the season champion for the first 12 J.League seasons (1993–2004) excluding the 1996 season. In the early years, the J.League seasons were divided into two halves , the first and second stages, and the champions of each stage participated in the series. The competition did not take place in 1996, since the single season format was used in that year. Japanese beer company Suntory sponsored the championship, thus the name Suntory Championship was used in the media and among the general public.
27-402: As mentioned, the winners of this competition became the champions of the respective season, while the finalist became the runners-up. As for the rest of the table, points from both stages were summed up to rank the clubs from 3rd place down. In 2000, this format created an unusual situation where the 3rd place club, Kashiwa Reysol , had more points than both the season champion and runners-up in
54-631: A bye to the final. The remaining teams playoff for the other spot in the final. Kashiwa Reysol Kashiwa Reysol ( 柏レイソル , Kashiwa Reisoru ) is a Japanese professional football club based in Kashiwa , Chiba Prefecture , part of the Greater Tokyo Area . The club plays in the J1 League , which is the top tier of football in the country. Their home stadium is Sankyo Frontier Kashiwa Stadium , also known as "Hitachidai". Reysol
81-594: A founding member of the newly formed professional league. Instead, the club joined the Japan Football League Division 1 in 1992 , the second tier of the Japanese football hierarchy at the time, below the J.League. The club changed its name to Kashiwa Reysol in 1993. Reysol added Careca of the Brazil national football team to their squad in the autumn of this year with the aim of winning
108-662: A semifinalist after defeating Auckland City and Monterrey . During the period from 2010 through 2014, Reysol won six different titles in five consecutive seasons; the J2 League in 2010, the J1 League in 2011, the Emperor's Cup and the Super Cup in 2012, the J.League Cup in 2013 and the Suruga Bank Championship in 2014. Historically, Kashiwa Reysol's fiercest rivals have been JEF United Chiba and
135-453: A wolf named Lobby (from Spanish lobo , meaning wolf) and Madame Lobina , Lobby's mother. On February 22, 2020, host and TV personality Roland was appointed Cerezo's "Official CereMan". Cerezo's biggest rival is fellow Osaka club Gamba Osaka . The matches played between Cerezo and Gamba are referred to as the Osaka derby . Cerezo's club colour is pink , like the cherry blossoms that
162-519: Is We Are Reysol, which is sung by anime singer Hironobu Kageyama . The song released in 1994, the same year Reysol got promoted to J1. Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules . Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules . Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. The main U-18 team of Kashiwa Reysol currently plays in
189-810: Is a portmanteau of the Spanish words Rey and Sol , meaning "Sun King". The name alludes to their parent company Hitachi , whose name means "rising sun" in Japanese. The club was formed in 1940 and was a founding member ("Original Eight" ) of the Japan Soccer League (JSL) in 1965. Since the league's inception, they have spent the majority of their existence in the top tier of Japanese football. They have been Japanese League champions twice in 1972 and 2011 , and have won three League Cups in 1976 , 1999 and 2013 , and three Emperor's Cups in 1972 , 1975 and 2012 . The club started in 1939 and
216-418: Is the only top division club in the country to wear yellow-black. Cerezo Osaka Cerezo Osaka ( セレッソ大阪 , Seresso Ōsaka ) is a Japanese professional football club based in Osaka . The club currently plays in the J1 League , which is the top tier of football in the country. The club's name Cerezo (Spanish for cherry blossom ) is also the flower of the city of Osaka. The official hometowns of
243-505: The Bulgaria national football team . In 1999 Hong Myung-bo of the Korea national football team was added to the squad. The team won the J.League Cup in 1999 , their first title as Kashiwa Reysol. However, their next manager, Englishman Steve Perryman , unsettled the team and the club struggled over the next several seasons. After finishing at the 16th place out of 18 clubs in 2005 ,
270-544: The JFL champion and winning promotion to the J1 League . The club struggled in the 1993 season. However, with the help of Careca and Brazilian manager Zé Sérgio , they secured the 2nd place in the JFL in 1994 , earning promotion to the top league. Reysol debuted in the J1 League in 1995 . In 1998 they welcomed Akira Nishino , the former manager of Japan's Olympic team as their new manager, along with player Hristo Stoichkov of
297-486: The Japanese national team . The club relocated from Kodaira to Kashiwa in 1986, but it took a while to adapt to the new town, as they were relegated to the JSL Division 2 at end of the 1986. They made it back to the top flight in 1989–90 , but dropped back in 1990–91 and returned again in 1991–92 . As the J.League was formed while they were not strong enough, the club abandoned any attempt to once again be
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#1732780923140324-565: The Prince Takamado U-18 Premier League . Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules . Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. Club staff 2024 Kashiwa Reysol's main colour is yellow , like sunshine that is based on the club's name "Sun King". The uniform is yellow-black (called Aurinegro in Spanish) reminiscent of Peñarol or Borussia Dortmund . Reysol
351-764: The Urawa Reds , both close neighbors. The three were co-founders of the Japan Soccer League (JSL) in 1965, and spent most seasons in the top tier through the JSL era. Because of their former parent companies' headquarters all being based in Marunouchi , Tokyo , the three clubs were known as the Marunouchi Gosanke (丸の内御三家, "Marunouchi Big Three" ) and fixtures among them were known as the Marunouchi derbies. Reysol and JEF United Chiba first met in 1941 in
378-473: The 1996 J.League regular season as well as the finalists of the J.League Cup took part. Nagoya Grampus Eight won and qualified for the 1997 Sanwa Bank Cup . Participating clubs Results The Championship stage consisted of a knockout tournament involving the champions of the First and Second Stages, and any team that finishes in the top 3 of the overall table. The team with the best aggregate record earned
405-667: The 96th and 101st minutes of the match to give the opponent the J.League Cup. On 1 February 2023, Cerezo signed former Borussia Dortmund and Manchester United player, Shinji Kagawa on a two-years contract. The hometowns of the club are Osaka and Sakai . The club plays at the Yodoko Sakura Stadium , with some bigger matches played at the Yanmar Stadium Nagai . The club practices at Minami Tsumori Sakura Sports Park, Maishima Sports Island, and Amagasaki Yanmar Diesel Ground. The club's mascots are
432-476: The J1 league. The club had an impressive third-place finish in the 2017 season . On 4 November 2017, Cerezo won the 2017 J.League Cup , the first major title in their club history, defeating Kawasaki Frontale 2–0. On 1 January 2018, Cerezo won the 2017 Emperor's Cup , securing their second major title. The final match was against Yokohama F. Marinos , where Cerezo won 2–1 in extra time with Kota Mizunuma scoring
459-602: The J2 League led by Nelsinho Baptista in and returned to the top flight. The club immediately won the J1 League in 2011 with talented footballers such as Hiroki Sakai , Junya Tanaka , Jorge Wagner and Leandro Domingues , and became the first Japanese club to win the second tier and the top tier back to back. The club qualified for the FIFA Club World Cup as the host nation's league champion and became
486-668: The ancient Kanto regional football league. The two clubs are both now based in Chiba Prefecture , and their rivalry is known as the Chiba derby. They play a pre-season friendly match every year, popularly known as the Chibagin Cup (i.e., Chiba Bank Cup ) since 1995. Reysol also has a rivalry with Kashima Antlers (commonly called Tonegawa clásico), FC Tokyo (commonly called Kanamachi derby) and Omiya Ardija (commonly called Nodasen derby). Kashiwa Reysol's anthem
513-405: The club are Osaka and Sakai . They form a local rivalry with Suita -based Gamba Osaka . The club, originally called Yanmar Diesel , started in 1957 as the company team of Yanmar and was an original founder ("Original Eight" ) of the now-disbanded Japan Soccer League (JSL) in 1965. With four Japanese league titles to its credit, it was a mainstay of the JSL Division 1 until 1990 when it
540-416: The club lost the promotion/relegation play-offs against Ventforet Kofu , the 3rd placed team in the J2 League that year, and was relegated to the J2 League. A new manager, Nobuhiro Ishizaki , led an almost entirely new squad in 2006 and the club secured automatic promotion to the J1 League in the last game of the season. The club was relegated again at the end of 2009 . However, in 2010 they won
567-455: The club that won the most points in the season also won the championship. They are the 1993 and 1994 seasons, both won by Verdy Kawasaki . The following table shows the clubs that won the most points through a season. In the 2000 season, although Kashiwa Reysol won the most points through the season, they could not take part in the J.League Championship because they failed to win either stage. In fact, Júbilo Iwata also won more points through
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#1732780923140594-799: The club's name is based on. Combination colours have been navy blue and black. This year, the uniform colour is pink (home) and white (away) for the outfield players and black (home), pink (away) and green for the goalkeepers. During the Yanmar Diesel days in the late 1970s to mid-1980s, the uniform was all-red reminiscent of Deportivo Toluca . As both Yanmar Diesel (1957–1993) and Cerezo Osaka (1993–present) Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules . Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules . Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. Club officials for 2024. In
621-487: The final standing. The series usually took place at the beginning of December, with the exception of the 1993 season, when it was held, due to the 1993 World Cup Qualifiers, in January. The league adopted a single season format starting with the 2005 season. The J.League Championship returned for the 2015 season and 2016 season in a heavily modified format to previous incarnations. There are only two occurrences where
648-561: The season than Yokohama F. Marinos and Kashima Antlers who qualified for the Championship. According to the regulation, the official league rankings of Kashiwa and Iwata of that season are third and fourth respectively. As the 1996 season wasn't divided into stages, the J.League Championship did not take place. Instead, the competition titled the Suntory Cup '96 J.League Champions' Finals was held. The champions and runners-up of
675-436: The winner. On 10 February 2018, Cerezo won the 2018 Japanese Super Cup winning 3–2 against Kawasaki Frontale . In May 2018, the club changed its incorporated name from Osaka Football Club Co., Ltd. to Cerezo Osaka Co., Ltd. In 2022, the club got close to winning the J.League Cup for their second title, but blew a 1–0 lead to Sanfrecce Hiroshima in injury time after Hiroshima player Pieros Sotiriou scored two goals in
702-589: Was first relegated, and joined the former Japan Football League (JFL) in 1992 . In 1993, the club incorporated as Osaka Football Club Co., Ltd. and adopted the name Cerezo Osaka after a public contest. In 1994, they won the Japan Football League championship and was promoted to the J1 League in 1995. This also coincided with a run to the finals of the Emperor's Cup , which they lost to Bellmare Hiratsuka . Cerezo has been relegated from J1 to J2 on three occasions, but are currently playing in
729-472: Was officially formed as the company team , Hitachi, Ltd. Soccer Club in 1940 in Kodaira , Tokyo . The club formed the Japan Soccer League (JSL) in 1965, along with today's Urawa Reds , JEF United Chiba , Cerezo Osaka , Sanfrecce Hiroshima and three other clubs ( "Original Eight" ). They had some successes during the mid-1970s, winning Emperor's Cups and JSL titles and contributing several players to
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