List of 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 J1 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
18 (2019 season)
Current Champions
Kawasaki Frontale (2020)
Most successful club
Kashima Antlers and Sanfrecce Hiroshima
(8 championships)

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).

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.

Japan Soccer League (1965–1971)

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.

Year Champions
(number of titles)
Runners-up Third place Leading goalscorer Goals
1965
Toyo IndustriesYawata SteelFurukawa Electric Mutsuhiko Nomura (Hitachi)15
1966
Toyo Industries (2)Yawata SteelFurukawa Electric Aritatsu Ogi (Toyo Industries)14
1967
Toyo Industries (3)Furukawa ElectricMitsubishi Heavy Industries Takeo Kimura (Furukawa Electric)15
1968
Toyo Industries (4)Yanmar DieselMitsubishi Heavy Industries Kunishige Kamamoto (Yanmar Diesel)14
1969
Mitsubishi Heavy IndustriesToyo IndustriesYawata Steel Hiroshi Ochiai (Mitsubishi Motors)12
1970
Toyo Industries (5)Mitsubishi Heavy IndustriesHitachi SC Kunishige Kamamoto (Yanmar Diesel)16
1971
Yanmar DieselMitsubishi Heavy IndustriesNippon Steel Kunishige Kamamoto (Yanmar Diesel)11

Japan Soccer League Division 1 (1972–1992)

Year Champions
(number of titles)
Runners-up Third place Leading goalscorer Goals
1972
Hitachi SCYanmar DieselToyo Industries Akira Matsunaga (Hitachi)12
1973
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (2)Hitachi SCYanmar Diesel Akira Matsunaga (Hitachi)11
1974
Yanmar Diesel (2)Mitsubishi Heavy IndustriesHitachi SC Kunishige Kamamoto (Yanmar Diesel)21
1975
Yanmar Diesel (3)Mitsubishi Heavy IndustriesHitachi SC Kunishige Kamamoto (Yanmar Diesel)17
1976
Furukawa ElectricMitsubishi Heavy IndustriesFujita Industries Kunishige Kamamoto (Yanmar Diesel)15
1977
Fujita IndustriesMitsubishi Heavy IndustriesHitachi SC Carvalho (Fujita Industries)23
1978
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (3)Yanmar DieselFujita Industries Kunishige Kamamoto (Yanmar Diesel)
Carvalho (Fujita Industries)
15
1979
Fujita Industries (2)Yomiuri SCHitachi SC Ruy Ramos (Yomiuri)14
1980
Yanmar Diesel (4)Fujita IndustriesFurukawa Electric Hiroyuki Usui (Hitachi)14
1981
Fujita Industries (3)Yomiuri SCMitsubishi Heavy Industries Hiroshi Yoshida (Furukawa Electric)14
1982
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (4)Yanmar DieselFurukawa Electric Hiroyuki Usui (Hitachi)13
1983
Yomiuri SCNissan MotorsFujita Industries Ruy Ramos (Yomiuri)10
1984
Yomiuri SC (2)Nissan MotorsYamaha Motors Tetsuya Totsuka (Yomiuri)14
1985–86
Furukawa Electric (2)NKK SCHonda Motors Hiroshi Yoshida (Furukawa Electric)16
1986–87
Yomiuri SC (3)NKK SCMitsubishi Heavy Industries Toshio Matsuura (NKK)17
1987–88
Yamaha MotorsNKK SCMitsubishi Heavy Industries Toshio Matsuura (NKK)11
1988–89
Nissan MotorsANA SCYamaha Motors Adílson (Yamaha Motors)11
1989–90
Nissan Motors (2)Yomiuri SCANA SC Renato (Nissan Motors)17
1990–91
Yomiuri SC (4)Nissan MotorsHonda Motors Tetsuya Totsuka (Yomiuri)
Tsuyoshi Kitazawa (Honda Motor)
Renato (Nissan Motors)
10
1991–92
Yomiuri SC (5)Nissan MotorsYamaha Motors Toninho (Yomiuri)18

J.League (1993–1998)

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 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
1992
Transition period; top flight clubs only play the J.League Cup, but Japan Football League plays inaugural season
1993
Verdy Kawasaki (6)Kashima AntlersShimizu S-Pulse Ramón Díaz (Yokohama Marinos)28
1994
Verdy Kawasaki (7)Sanfrecce HiroshimaKashima Antlers Frank Ordenewitz (JEF United Ichihara)30
1995
Yokohama F. Marinos (3)Verdy KawasakiNagoya Grampus Eight Masahiro Fukuda (Urawa Red Diamonds)32
1996
Kashima AntlersNagoya Grampus EightYokohama Flügels Kazuyoshi Miura (Verdy Kawasaki)23
1997
Júbilo Iwata (2)Kashima AntlersYokohama F. Marinos Patrick Mboma (Gamba Osaka)25
1998
Kashima Antlers (2)Júbilo IwataShimizu S-Pulse Masashi Nakayama (Júbilo Iwata)36

J.League Division 1 (1999–2014)

Top flight becomes J.League Division 1 in 1999.

Year Champions
(number of titles)
Runners-up Third place Leading goalscorer Goals
1999
Júbilo Iwata (3)Shimizu S-PulseKashiwa Reysol Hwang Sun-Hong (Cerezo Osaka)24
2000
Kashima Antlers (3)Yokohama F. MarinosKashiwa Reysol Masashi Nakayama (Júbilo Iwata)20
2001
Kashima Antlers (4)Júbilo IwataJEF United Ichihara Will (Consadole Sapporo)20
2002
Júbilo Iwata (4)Yokohama F. MarinosGamba Osaka Naohiro Takahara (Júbilo Iwata)26
2003
Yokohama F. Marinos (4)Júbilo IwataJEF United Chiba Ueslei (Nagoya Grampus Eight)22
2004
Yokohama F. Marinos (5)Urawa Red DiamondsGamba Osaka Emerson (Urawa Red Diamonds)27
2005
Gamba OsakaUrawa Red DiamondsKashima Antlers Araújo (Gamba Osaka)33
2006
Urawa Red Diamonds (5)Kawasaki FrontaleGamba Osaka Washington (Urawa Red Diamonds)
Magno Alves (Gamba Osaka)
26
2007
Kashima Antlers (5)Urawa Red DiamondsGamba Osaka Juninho (Kawasaki Frontale)22
2008
Kashima Antlers (6)Kawasaki FrontaleNagoya Grampus Marquinhos (Kashima Antlers)21
2009
Kashima Antlers (7)Kawasaki FrontaleGamba Osaka Ryoichi Maeda (Júbilo Iwata)20
2010
Nagoya GrampusGamba OsakaCerezo Osaka Joshua Kennedy (Nagoya Grampus)
Ryoichi Maeda (Júbilo Iwata)
17
2011
Kashiwa Reysol (2)Nagoya GrampusGamba Osaka Joshua Kennedy (Nagoya Grampus)19
2012
Sanfrecce Hiroshima (6)Vegalta SendaiUrawa Red Diamonds Hisato Satō (Sanfrecce Hiroshima)22
2013
Sanfrecce Hiroshima (7)Yokohama F. MarinosKawasaki Frontale Yoshito Ōkubo (Kawasaki Frontale)26
2014
Gamba Osaka (2)Urawa Red DiamondsKashima Antlers Yoshito Ōkubo (Kawasaki Frontale)18

J1 League (2015–present)

The league was renamed to J1 League in 2015.

Year Champions
(number of titles)
Runners-up Third place Leading goalscorer Goals
2015
Sanfrecce Hiroshima (8)Gamba OsakaUrawa Red Diamonds Yoshito Ōkubo (Kawasaki Frontale)23
2016
Kashima Antlers (8)Urawa Red DiamondsKawasaki Frontale Leandro (Vissel Kobe)
Peter Utaka (Sanfrecce Hiroshima)
19
2017
Kawasaki FrontaleKashima AntlersCerezo Osaka Yū Kobayashi (Kawasaki Frontale)23
2018
Kawasaki Frontale (2)Sanfrecce HiroshimaKashima Antlers (Nagoya Grampus)24
2019
Yokohama F. Marinos (6)FC TokyoKashima Antlers Teruhito Nakagawa (Yokohama F. Marinos)
Marcos Júnior (Yokohama F. Marinos)
15
2020
Kawasaki Frontale (3)Gamba OsakaNagoya Grampus Michael Olunga (Kashiwa Reysol)28

Total titles won

Location of Japanese football champions
Japanese football champions in the Greater Tokyo Area

Thirteen clubs have been champions, though only ten have won the title since the establishment of J. League. Of these ten, Kashima Antlers, Gamba Osaka, Nagoya Grampus and Kawasaki Frontale have never been Japan Soccer League champions.

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 2021 season; clubs in italic no longer exist.

ClubWinnersRunners-upWinning SeasonsRunners-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
Tokyo Verdy 7 4 1983, 1984, 1986–87, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1993, 1994 1979, 1981, 1989–90, 1995
Yokohama F. Marinos 6 7 1988–89, 1989–90, 1995, 2003, 2004, 2019 1983, 1984, 1990–91, 1991–92, 2000, 2002, 2013
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
Júbilo Iwata 4 3 1987–88, 1997, 1999, 2002 1998, 2001, 2003
Kawasaki Frontale 3 3 2017, 2018, 2020 2006, 2008, 2009
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
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

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 and Nagoya Grampus 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 36 Kashima Antlers (8), Tokyo Verdy (7), Yokohama F. Marinos (6), Urawa Red Diamonds (5), Kawasaki Frontale (3), Shonan Bellmare (3), JEF United Chiba (2), Kashiwa Reysol (2)
Chūgoku 8 Sanfrecce Hiroshima (8)
Kansai 6 Cerezo Osaka (4), Gamba Osaka (2)
Tōkai 5 Júbilo Iwata (4), Nagoya Grampus (1)

See also

Sources

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