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A promise of many emotions
To have the fans aware of the competition’s rules should be a fundamental requirement for any successful tournament. And the Japanese soccer is quite concerned about fulfilling it. Thus, whoever read the rules in our website’s coverage for the 2003 season do not have to worry about getting up to date: nothing changed.
Two teams were relegated, two promoted and the championship’s main division remains with 16 teams, that will play a two stage championship. The current champion is the Yokohama Marinos. Albirex Niigata, the J-2’s attendance leader, and Sanfreece Hiroshima were the last year’s promoted teams. The second division will also follow the same rhythm.
Along the whole last season, both divisions were very exciting. There is no doubt that the same will happen in 2004, since the championship is getting more competitive every day. And there is still the League’s Cup and the Emperor’s Cup! Our website will follow it all!
This is a special year, a year in which we will have the World Cup’s Qualifyings, the Asian Cup and Olympic Games, too. So, the schedules were adjusted to not conflict with the dates reserved to the National
Team’s matches.
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ORIGIN - The Japan Soccer League (JSL) was founded in 1965, to organize the country’s soccer competitions. After the mid-eighties, when the first two Japanese professional soccer players were officially registered, the competitive soccer was stirred up only by private companies and universities, whose teams were formed by amateur players, employees and students.
In 1988, JSL sees on the increasing number of practitioners a perfect opportunity to reorganize itself for complete. So, it sends to the national federation, the Japan Football Association (JFA), a proposal for the creation of a league that would be responsible for the modality’s professionalization on every level. JFA bought the idea, and soon began an extensive work of research, discussion and planning, culminating in the creation of Japan Professional Football League, also know as the J-League, at November 1st of 1991.
J-League’s first championship took place in 1993. Around 60 thousand viewers watched the inaugural match between the Yokohama Marinos and the Verdy Kawasaki (currently known as Tokyo Verdy 1969) at may 3rd, on the field of Tokyo National Stadium. Champions on that year and on the year after, Verdy won the tournament’s two first editions, but the overall smasher would be Kashima Antlers, the former Zico’s Sumitomo Metals, with four titles: 1996, 1998, 2000 and 2001. |
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RULES - J-League’s two divisions have different rules, but equally easy to understand. The first division’s 16 teams play a two-stage championship, in which both stages’ champions play a final match. If a same team wins both stages, it is declared champion. The two teams with fewer points at the end of the tournament, save each stage’s champions, are relegated. The tie breaking criteria obey the following order: points, goal difference, goals pro, direct confrontation and extra match. The current champion is the Jubilo Iwata.
The second division holds 12 teams and does not have relegation. The championship is longer. It has four stages, and the champion is the team with more points achieved. Last year, the champion of J-League 2 was Oita Trinita, and Cereso Osaka finished in second. They are both playing at the main league. The two relegated teams of 2002 were the Sanfreece Hiroshima and the Consadole Sapporo. |
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