, commonly known as or Japan FA Cup, and rebranded as The JFA Emperor's Cup from 2024 onwards, is a Japanese annual football competition. It has the longest tradition of any football tournament in Japan, dating back to 1921, before the formation of the J.League, current JFL (not former JFL) and their predecessor,

Japan Soccer League ; JSL) was the top flight association football league in Japan between 1965 and 1992, and was the precursor to the current professional league, the J.League. JSL Cup, JSL was the second national league of a team sport in Japan after the professi ...

. Before

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, teams could qualify not only from Japan proper but also from

Empire of Japan The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From Japan–Kor ...

's colonies such as

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

, and sometimes

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially known as the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of Great Manchuria thereafter, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China that existed from 1932 until its dissolution in 1945. It was ostens ...

. The winning club qualifies for the

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club association football, football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's List of top-division football clubs i ...

and the

Japanese Super Cup The , the for sponsorship reasons, is an annual one-match association football competition in Japan organised by J.League and the Japan Football Association. This competition serves as the season opener and is played between the reigning J1 Leag ...

. The tournament's equivalent in women's football is the Empress's Cup. The current holders are

Vissel Kobe is a Japanese professional football club based in Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. They are currently the J1 League champions. The club's home stadium is Noevir Stad ...

, having won their second cup in the 2024 edition, having previously won their first in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Overview

As it is a competition to decide the "best soccer club in Japan", the cup is now open to every member club of the

Japan Football Association The Japan Football Association (JFA, ) is the Sport governing body, governing body responsible for the administration of Association football, football, futsal, beach soccer and Esports, efootball in Japan. It is responsible for the Japan national ...

, from J1 and J2 (J.League Divisions 1 and 2) down to teams from J3 (J3 League), JFL, regional leagues, and top college and high school teams from around the country. The Emperor's Cup is one of two well-known national football tournaments named after a monarch (the other is Spain's

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

). The holder can wear a

Yatagarasu is a mythical crowThe Book of Ancient Matters, The Book of Ancient Matters, Gakken, pp. 130, 138, 139. and guiding Kami, god in Shinto mythology. He is generally known for his three-legged figure, and his picture has been handed down since an ...

emblem (the ordinary winner wears one, the ''E'' letter and the purple line above the bird, the league-cup double winner can wear the gold star and line above the Yatagarasu) and obtains an

spot for the next season. Since the creation of the J.League in 1992, the professional teams have dominated the competition, although doubles, once common in the JSL, have become very rare. However, because the Emperor's Cup is contested in a

knockout tournament A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

format, "giant-killers" from the amateur ranks upsetting a top J.League squad is a very real possibility. For example, a major upset almost occurred in the 2003/04 competition, when Funabashi Municipal High School took the 2003 J.League champion Yokohama F. Marinos to a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

Waseda University Waseda University (Japanese: ), abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the Tōkyō Professional School by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the fifth Prime Minister of Japan, prime ministe ...

was the last non-league winner in 1966, and the previous non-top tier winner was in 2011 (contested by two second-tier teams, FC Tokyo and

Kyoto Sanga is a Japanese professional football club based in Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Ho ...

, with FC Tokyo winning 4–2). Since 1969, the Emperor's Cup final had traditionally been played on

New Year's Day In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Day is the first day of the calendar year, January 1, 1 January. Most solar calendars, such as the Gregorian and Julian calendars, begin the year regularly at or near the December solstice, northern winter ...

of the following year at the

National Stadium Many countries have a national sport stadium, which typically serves as the primary or exclusive home for one or more of a country's national representative sports teams. The term is most often used in reference to an association football ...

in Tokyo and is regarded as the traditional closing match of the season. Since 2014, the venue has varied due to the stadium's renovation for the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

. The 2014 Emperor's Cup Final was not held on New Year's Day, but 13 December 2014, due to the

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

's qualification to the

2015 AFC Asian Cup The 2015 AFC Asian Cup was the 16th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international association football, football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held in Australia from 9 to 31 January 201 ...

. The 2018 final was held on 9 December 2018. Although an official reason has not been given, it was suspected due to the national team's involvement in

2019 AFC Asian Cup The 2019 AFC Asian Cup (or commonly called the Asian Cup 2019) was the 17th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international association football, football championship of Asia organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) ...

. On 1 January 2020, first time finalist

beat

Kashima Antlers The are a professional association football, football club based in Kashima, Ibaraki, Japan. They currently play in the J1 League, the top tier of Japanese professional football leagues. The club has financial backing from Mercari, a Japanese ...

in the 2019 Emperor's Cup Final at the recently built new National Stadium to win the first title in their 54-year club history. This was the first professional match in Japan

video assistant referee The video assistant referee (VAR) is a Assistant referee (association football), match official in association football who assists the referee by reviewing decisions using video footage and providing advice to the referee based on those revi ...

(VAR) being used.

Format

The first matches to qualify for the Emperor's Cup begin anywhere from April to August of that year, and varies year to year. For the 104th Emperor's Cup (2024), the matches were played from 25 May 2024 to 23 November 2024. The knockout phase of the competition begins towards the end of the year. The Emperor's Cup is composed of all teams from J1 League (J1) and J2 (who are granted direct entry to the Cup's second round), the winners from each of the 47 prefectural championships (consist of professional and amateur teams, ranging from J3 League and below), and 1 specially designated team among all amateur teams (this was assigned to the collegiate champion until 2011, and nowadays it's commonly assigned to the JFL champions). The latter 48 starts the competition on the first round. On

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, an exception for the specially designated team from the JFL had to be made, as

Urawa Red Diamonds The or simply Urawa Reds (浦和レッズ, ''Urawa Rezzu''), also known as Mitsubishi Urawa Football Club from April 1992 to January 1996, are a professional association football, football club in the city of Saitama (city), Saitama, part of t ...

was banned from participating this year. Two teams were granted this automatic qualification (champions from the JFL and the University Championship), with the lower-ranked between the two assigned to the first round and the higher-ranked assigned to the second round, to replace the aforementioned excluded Urawa Reds. J1 teams, and sometimes J2 team(s) also receive bye(s) in the knockout phase. In 2016, all J1 teams and the previous year's J2 champions received a bye, and

participants received 3 byes. As of 2024, all J1 and J2 teams receives a bye from the first round, and are automatically assigned to the second round, with the higher ranked teams earning home advantage. However, they lose this home advantage from the third round onwards, unless they are facing a higher-tier or higher ranked team. From 1965 to 1971, the top 4 JSL clubs at the end of the season qualified for the Cup and the other four spaces allotted were taken by finalists from universities. From 1972 to 1995, as the League increased in size, the entire top division teams were entered automatically, while the second tier's member clubs participated in regional stages with other clubs. Beginning in 1996, the second-tier clubs (at the time, the old Japan Football League) began to be admitted automatically instead of having to play regional stages, which in turn became prefectural stages. Before 2008, 48 teams took part in the first two rounds – the winner from each of the 47 prefectural championships and the collegiate champion. The top team in the JFL standings and all thirteen J2 teams joined in the third round. Finally, the eighteen J1 teams joined in the fourth round, making a total of 80 participating teams.

Trophy

The original ''All Japan Championship Tournament'' trophy was awarded to the JFA by the English

Football Association A football association, also known as a football federation, soccer federation, or soccer association, is a governing body for association football. Many of them are members of the sport's regional bodies such as UEFA and CONMEBOL and the world gov ...

in 1919. This trophy was used until January 1945, when the militarist government confiscated it and melted down to procure additional metal for the war effort. When the tournament was reinstated, the present trophy, showing the Imperial chrysanthemum seal began to be awarded. In August 2011, the English FA presented its Japanese counterpart with a replica of the original trophy, made by London silversmiths Thomas Lyte. JFA President Junji Ogura expressed hope that the trophy, to be awarded at the 2011 final, would be "a symbol of peace".

Qualification to AFC Champions League

Kawasaki Frontale v Kashiwa Reysol 2023-12-09 IMG 5403

The cup winner qualifies for the

(ACL) since the 2001 tournament, where

Shimizu S-Pulse is a Japanese professional association football, football club located in Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka, Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka (city), Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture. S-Pulse is going to compete in the J1 League for the 2025 Season, after winning promotio ...

qualified for the ACL 2002–03. Before the establishment of ACL, the cup winner qualified for the Asian Cup Winners' Cup. From 2012, as a part of the requirement of AFC, the champion team must also hold a J1 Club License, later the ACL Club License in order to enter the ACL (but not necessary to be a Division 1/J1 team). From the 2002–03 to 2008 ACL editions, the cup winner participated in the ACL that began one year later; for example, the Emperor's Cup winner for the 2005 season (crowned on 1 January 2006) participated in the 2007 tournament. In November 2007, the JFA announced that the 2009 ACL spot would be given to the 2008 season's winner (crowned on 1 January 2009), not the 2007 winner. As a result, the 2007 winner,

, did not earn the 2009 ACL spot through the championship. (Nevertheless, Antlers eventually earned the 2009 ACL spot by winning the 2008 J.League Division 1.) With the reform of AFC Club Competitions starting from the 2024–25 season, the champions will be qualified for the brand-new top tier tournament named

AFC Champions League Elite The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club association football, football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's List of top-division football clubs i ...

, and they will be seeded into the League stage of that tournament. If the cup winner has already earned an AFC Champions League spot through finishing above third in

J1 League The , the J.League or the for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Japan and the highest level of the Japanese football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation ...

, the last spot will be given to J1's fourth-placed team.

List of Emperor's Cup finals

Teams in bold indicate doubles with the league title, while teams in ''italics'' indicate non-top flight clubs (both after 1965).

Performances

All-time

* University club's performance separated as follows: Players are enrolled students / Players are enrolled students and graduates.

J.League era (1992–present)

Other Emperor's Cups

The Emperor's Cup term is used for many national championships in other sports, including judo (the

All-Japan Judo Championships is a judo tournament held every year in Japan. The men's tournament is held in Nippon Budokan on 29 April and the women's tournament (dubbed "Empress cup All-Japan women's Judo championships") is held in Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium in April. Th ...

) and volleyball ( Emperor's Cup and Empress's Cup All Japan Volleyball Championship). The Emperor's Cup (天皇賜杯, Tennō shihai) is awarded to the top division

yūshō is the term for a championship in Japanese. This article focuses on championships in the sport of professional sumo. It is awarded in each of the six annual '' honbasho'' or official tournaments, to the wrestler who wins the most bouts. ''Yūs ...

winner of a sumo tournament.

References

External links

Official website
JFA.jp

{{National football Cups (AFC region) Football cup competitions in Japan

Recurring sporting events established in 1921 1921 establishments in Japan