The J.League Championship is a two-legged championship series which determined the season champion for the first 12

J.League The , officially is Japan's professional football league including the first division J1 League, second division J2 League and third division J3 League of the Japanese association football league system. J1 League is one of the most successfu ...

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 (commonly referred to as simply Suntory) is a Japanese multinational brewing and distilling company group. Established in 1899, it is one of the oldest companies in the distribution of alcoholic beverages in Japan, and makes Japanese whisky. Its ...

sponsored the championship, thus the name Suntory Championship was used in the media and among the general public. 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 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 Stadiu ...

, had more points than both the season champion and runners-up in 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.

Results

*The winners are in bold. *Venues are indicated in brackets after the score line.

Clubs who won the most points through a season

There are only two occurrences where 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

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 is a professional Japanese association football team that currently play in the J2 League. The team name ''Júbilo'' means 'joy' in Spanish and Portuguese. The team's hometown is Iwata, Shizuoka prefecture and they play at Yamaha Stadium. For ...

also won more points through the season than Yokohama F. Marinos and

Kashima Antlers are a football club in Kashima, Ibaraki, currently playing in the J1 League, top tier of Japanese professional football leagues. The name ''Antlers'' is derived from the city name, Kashima, which literally means "deer island". The club has fi ...

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.

Suntory Cup '96 J.League Champions' Finals

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 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 The Sanwa Bank Cup was a football competition unofficial organised by J.League and sponsored by the Sanwa Bank (predecessor of current MUFG Bank). The competition was held between 1994 and 1997 and played two weeks before the opening of J. League ...

. Participating clubs *

(J.League champions) *

Nagoya Grampus Eight (formerly known as ) is a Japanese association football club that plays in the J1 League, following promotion from the J2 League in 2017. Based in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture and founded as the company team of the Toyota Motor Corp. in 1939, the c ...

(J.League runners-up) *

Shimizu S-Pulse is a professional Japanese football club. Located in Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, S-Pulse currently competes in the J2 League (J2). The club was formed in 1991 as a founding member of the J.League (''"Original Ten"''), which began ...

(J.League Cup winners) * Verdy Kawasaki (J.League Cup runners-up) Results

Meiji Yasuda 2015 J.League Championship

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 a bye to the final. The remaining teams playoff for the other spot in the final. ---- ---- ----

Meiji Yasuda 2016 J.League Championship

Results

Clubs who won the most points through a season

Suntory Cup '96 J.League Champions' Finals

Meiji Yasuda 2015 J.League Championship

Meiji Yasuda 2016 J.League Championship

References

See also