J.League Championship

The J. League Championship is a two-legged championship series which determined the season champion for the first 12 J.League seasons (19932004) 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 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, 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 will return for the 2015 season in a heavily modified format to previous incarnations.

Results

Season1st stage
winners
Aggregate
(Extra time & PK)
1st leg
score
2nd leg
score
2nd stage
winners
Note
1993 Kashima Antlers 1-3 0-2
(National)
1-1
(National)
Verdy Kawasaki
1994 Sanfrecce Hiroshima 0-2 0-1
(Hiroshima)
0-1
(National)
Verdy Kawasaki
1995 Yokohama Marinos 2-0 1-0
(National)
1-0
(National)
Verdy Kawasaki
1997 Kashima Antlers 2-4 2-3v
(Iwata)
0-1
(Kashima)
Jubilo Iwata A draw decided who would play the home game first.
1998 Jubilo Iwata 2-4 1-2v
(National)
1-2
(Kashima)
Kashima Antlers
1999 Jubilo Iwata 3-3
PK 4-2
2v-1
(Iwata)
1-2v
(Nihondaira)
Shimizu S-Pulse PK shoot-out was required to decide the winner.
(No extra time was played)
2000 Yokohama F. Marinos 0-3 0-0
(Yokohama)
0-3
(National)
Kashima Antlers
2001 Jubilo Iwata 2-2
ET 0-1v
2-2
(Shizuoka)
0-0
(Kashima)
Kashima Antlers Extra time (with the golden goal rule) was required
to decide the winner.
2002 No competition because Jubilo Iwata won both stages.
2003 No competition because Yokohama F. Marinos won both stages.
2004 Yokohama F. Marinos 1-1
ET 0-0
PK 4-2
1-0
(Yokohama)
0-1
(Saitama)
Urawa Red Diamonds Extra time (with the golden goal rule) and
PK shoot-out were required to decide the winner.

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.

SeasonClub
1993Verdy Kawasaki
1994Verdy Kawasaki
1995Verdy Kawasaki
1996Kashima Antlers
1997Kashima Antlers
1998Jubilo Iwata
1999Shimizu S-Pulse
2000Kashiwa Reysol
2001Jubilo Iwata
2002Jubilo Iwata
2003Yokohama F. Marinos
2004Urawa Red Diamonds
2015Sanfrecce Hiroshima

In the 2000 season, although Kashiwa Reysol 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, Jubilo Iwata also won more points through the season than Yokohama F. Marinos and Kashima Antlers 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.

Participating clubs

Results

RoundHomeScore
(Venue)
Away
Semi-finalsKashima Antlers1-1
PK 4-2
(Kashima)
Verdy Kawasaki
Shimizu S-Pulse0-0
PK 1-3
(Nihondaira)
Nagoya Grampus Eight
FinalKashima Antlers0-1v
(National)
Nagoya Grampus Eight

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.[1]

  Semifinal     Final
                     
     Sanfrecce Hiroshima 3 1 4
   Urawa Red Diamonds 1      Gamba Osaka 2 1 3
   Gamba Osaka (a.e.t.) 3  

28 November 2015
14:00
Urawa Red Diamonds 1 – 3 (a.e.t.) Gamba Osaka
Ljubijankić  72' Report  47' Konno
 117' Fujiharu
 120' Patric
Saitama Stadium 2002, Midori-ku, Saitama
Attendance: 40,696
Referee: Hajime Matsuo

2 December 2015
19:30
Gamba Osaka 2 – 3 Sanfrecce Hiroshima
Nagasawa  60'
Konno  82'
Report Douglas  80'
Sasaki  90+1'
Kashiwa  90+6'
Osaka Expo '70 Stadium, Suita
Attendance: 17,844
Referee: Kenji Ogiya

5 December 2015
19:30
Sanfrecce Hiroshima 1 – 1 Gamba Osaka
Asano  76' Report Konno  28'
Hiroshima Big Arch, Hiroshima
Attendance: 36,609
Referee: Yuichi Nishimura

References

See also

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