J1 League

J1 League
Founded	1993;23 years ago
Country	Japan
Level on pyramid	1
Most championships	Kashima Antlers (8 titles)
Website	Official site

The J1 League (J1リーグ, J1 Rīgu), in the past known as J. League Division 1 (Jリーグ・ディビジョン1, J Rīgu Dibijon1), is part of the Japanese football club system.

J1 League is the top grouping of the Japan Professional Football League (日本プロサッカーリーグ, Nippon Puro Sakkā Rīgu).

It is one of the three major titles in Japan, along with J. League Cup and Emperor's Cup.

The second tier is represented by the J2 League.

Champions[change | change source]

Season	Champions	Runner-up	Third place
1993	Verdy Kawasaki	Kashima Antlers	Shimizu S-Pulse
1994	Verdy Kawasaki	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Kashima Antlers
1995	Yokohama Marinos	Verdy Kawasaki	Nagoya Grampus
1996	Kashima Antlers	Nagoya Grampus	Yokohama Flügels
1997	Júbilo Iwata	Kashima Antlers	Yokohama Marinos
1998	Kashima Antlers	Júbilo Iwata	Shimizu S-Pulse
1999	Júbilo Iwata	Shimizu S-Pulse	Kashiwa Reysol
2000	Kashima Antlers	Yokohama F. Marinos	Kashiwa Reysol
2001	Kashima Antlers	Júbilo Iwata	JEF United Ichihara
2002	Júbilo Iwata	Yokohama F. Marinos	Gamba Osaka
2003	Yokohama F. Marinos	Júbilo Iwata	JEF United Ichihara
2004	Yokohama F. Marinos	Urawa Red Diamonds	Gamba Osaka
2005	Gamba Osaka	Urawa Red Diamonds	Kashima Antlers
2006	Urawa Red Diamonds	Kawasaki Frontale	Gamba Osaka
2007	Kashima Antlers	Urawa Red Diamonds	Gamba Osaka
2008	Kashima Antlers	Kawasaki Frontale	Nagoya Grampus
2009	Kashima Antlers	Kawasaki Frontale	Gamba Osaka
2010	Nagoya Grampus	Gamba Osaka	Cerezo Osaka
2011	Kashiwa Reysol	Nagoya Grampus	Gamba Osaka
2012	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Vegalta Sendai	Urawa Red Diamonds
2013	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Yokohama F. Marinos	Kawasaki Frontale
2014	Gamba Osaka	Urawa Red Diamonds	Kashima Antlers

Split-season era (2015–present)[change | change source]

Season	First stage	Second stage	Champions
2015	Urawa Red Diamonds	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Sanfrecce Hiroshima

League Format[change | change source]

As of the 2015 season, and continuing through at least the 2019 season, the league uses a multi-stage format.

The regular season is split into two stages. In each stage, each team plays one match against every other team. As in almost all association football leagues worldwide, teams receive 3 points in the standings for a win, 1 point for a draw, and none for a loss, and teams are ranked by points earned.

After the second stage of the regular season, an overall table is calculated. The champions of each stage of the regular season, plus any team finishing in the top three of the overall table, advance to a championship playoff. The team that finishes on top of the overall table receives a place in the championship final, while the other teams play off for the other spot in the final.