X-League

X-League

Formerly	Japan American Football League (1971-1997)
Sport	American football
Founded	1971
No. of teams	52 (X1:18, X2:16, X3:19)
Country	Japan
Most recent champion(s)	Panasonic Impulse (7th title)
Most titles	Obic Seagulls (8 titles)
Official website	Official website

The X-League (Xリーグ) is the top-level American football league in Japan. It was founded in 1971 as the Japan American Football League, and changed its name to the X League in 1997. There are three divisions (X1, X2, and X3) among which there is promotion and relegation.^[1] Teams in the three-tier league are split into East, West, and Central divisions. There are two types of teams, one being a company team in which only employees of that particular sponsoring company may participate as a player, and the other classified as a club team for which anyone can try out.

Game rules are based on those of the NCAA college division in America, with the exception of the length of quarters, which are 12 minutes (the same as the NBA) instead of 15. The regular season consists of the First Stage, Second Stage and Final Stage. Teams play five matches in the First Stage, after which the top and bottom three teams are separated into two groups; in the Second Stage there is round robin play within each group of three teams. During this stage, the length of quarters is extended from 12 to 15 minutes. The winners of the Second Stage advance to the Final Stage to determine the teams for the Japan X Bowl. There is a spring tournament as well called the Pearl Bowl which is used by teams to ready themselves and evaluate new players before the fall season.

The Japanese national team, which has won the first and second editions of the American Football World Cup and was runner-up, finishing second to the American team, in the 2007 installment of the tournament, was made up almost entirely of players from this league.

Americans are often recruited to play for X League teams, with a strict rule of four per team. No more than two foreign players per team are allowed on the field of play at a time.

Season Format

1st Stage

The 18 top tier teams are divided into 3 divisions of 6 teams each. The East and Central Divisions are made up of teams from the Kanto (East Japan) region while the West Division teams are from the Kansai (West Japan) region. The teams play a league schedule of 5 games each. After divisional play, the teams are regrouped based on their divisional standings for the 2nd stage.

2nd Stage

The top 3 teams from each division advance to the Super9 division while the bottom 3 are relegated to the Battle9 division.

The nine teams in the Super 9 are aligned into three new groups, with each group consisting of a 1st-place team, a 2nd-place team and a 3rd-place team from separate divisions. Each team plays the other two teams in its group. The top four teams in the Super 9, based on combined results from both divisional and second-stage play, advance to the Final Stage (semifinals).

In the Battle 9, the three groups each have a 4th-place team, a 5th-place team and a 6th-place team. The top two teams at the end of the stage advance to the Battle 9 Playoff Game.

Final Stage

The top four teams from the Super 9 are paired up in a random draw, with the two winners advancing to the Japan X Bowl to decide the championship.

X2-X1 Promotion/Replacement games

The 6th place team from each division of X1 is paired up against the 1st place team of each division of X2. If the X2 team defeats the X1 team, that team is promoted up to X1 while the X1 team is demoted to X2 for the following season.

2016 X-League team organization

X1

X2

East

• Yokohama Harbors
• Dentsu Club Caterpillars
• Club Blue Thunders
• Warriors
• Hurricanes
• Zero Fighters AFC

Central

• Fuji Xerox Minerva AFC
• Sony Solidstate
• Club Barbarian
• AFC Cranes
• ラWranglers
• Ox Kawasaki AFC

West

• Fuji Xerox J-Stars
• Asahi Pretec Golden Fighters
• Club Hawkeye
• Nishinomiya Bruins
• Kirix Toyota Bull Fighters
• Iso Superstars

X3

East

• Club Triax
• Mitsui & Co., Ltd. Seagulls
• Itochu Wings
• Club Steelers
• Marubeni Cougars

West

A Block

• Kakogawa Ozunas
• Wako Raiders
• Club Islands
• Tri-stars
• Hiroshima UCS Hawks
• Osaka Prefectural Police Shields

B Block

• Aichi Golden Wings
• Club Bears
• Osaka Gas Skunk Scans
• Okayama Standing Bears
• Triple Fire Birds
• Masahide Blazers

Past League Results

X-League Divisional Standings since 1997

Notations

Advanced to Final6 or Super9	Promoted from X2	Demoted to X2 at the end of the season.	Team Folded at the end of the season.

East/Central

Year	Division	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
1997	East	Asahi Beer Silver Star	Onward Oaks	Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Apricot	Fujitsu Frontiers	Tokai Bank Red Wave	Renown Rovers
	Central	Kajima Deers	Nissan Prince Tokyo	Recruit Seagulls	Skylark Co.,Ltd. Skylarks	Sanwa Bank Lark Hills	Sakura Bank Dainosu
1998	East	Nissan Prince Tokyo	Asahi Beer Silver Star	Skylark Co.,Ltd. Skylarks	Tokai Bank Red Wave	Sumitomo Bank Springs	Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Apricot
	Central	Kajima Deers	Recruit Seagulls	Onward Oaks	Fujitsu Frontiers	Renown Rovers	Sanwa Bank Lark Hills
1999	East	Onward Oaks	Recruit Seagulls	Nissan Prince Tokyo	Tokyo Marine Dolphins	Tokyo-Mitsubishi Bank Apricot	Sankura Bank Dainosu
	Central	Kajima Deers	Asahi Beer Silver Star	Fujitsu Frontiers	Skylark Co.,Ltd. Skylarks	Tokyo Marine Dolphins	Sanwa Bank Lark Hills
2000	East	Fujitsu Frontiers	Asahi Beer Silver Star	Onward Oaks	Skylark Co.,Ltd. Skylarks	Club Dainosu	Renown Rovers
	Central	Recruit Seagulls	Nissan Prince Tokyo	Kajima Deers	Tokyo-Mitsubishi Bank	Tokyo Marine Dolphins	Tokyo Skyliners
2001	East	Kajima Deers	Fujitsu Frontiers	Nissan Prince Tokyo	Gakusei-Engokai Rocbull	Club Dainosu	Club Huskies
	Central	Recruit Seagulls	Asahi Beer Silver Star	Onward Oaks	Lions	Renown Rovers	Penta-Ocean Construction Co. Pirates
2002	East	Fujitsu Frontiers	Kajima Deers	Lions	Nissan Skyliners	IBM Big Blue	Sakura Bank Dainosu
	Central	Seagulls	Onward Skylarks	Asahi Beer Silver Star	Gakusei-Engokai Rocbull	Renown Rovers	Club Huskies
2003	East	Onward Skylarks	Asahi Beer Silver Star	Fujitsu Frontiers	Nissan Skyliners	Tokyo Gas Creators	Club Huskies
	Central	Kajima Deers	Obic Seagulls	Penta-Ocean Construction Co. Pirates	All Mitsubishi Lions	Gakusei-Engokai Rocbull	IBM Big Blue
2004	East	Kajima Deers	Asahi Beer Silver Star	All Mitsubishi Lions	IBM Big Blue	Gakusei-Engokai Rocbull	Penta-Ocean Construction Pirates
	Central	Onward Skylarks	Obic Seagulls	Nissan Skyliners	Fujitsu Frontiers	Tokyo Gas Creators	Club Huskies
2005	East	Obic Seagulls	Onward Skylarks	Fujitsu Frontiers	Yasuda L.A. Pirates	Tokyo Gas Creators	All Mitsubishi Lions
	Central	Kajima Deers	Asahi Beer Silver Star	IBM Big Blue	Nissan Skyliners	Gakusei-Engokai Rocbull	Renesas Hurricanes
2006	East	Onward Skylarks	Kajima Deers	IBM Big Blue	All Mitsubishi Lions	Meiji Yasuda Pirates	Gakusei-Engokai Rocbull
	Central	Asahi Beer Silver Star	Obic Seagulls	Fujitsu Frontiers	Nissan Skyliners	Tokyo Gas Creators	Renesas Hurricanes
2007	East	Fujitsu Frontiers	Obic Seagulls	Asahi Beer Silver Star	All Mitsubishi Lions	Renesas Hurricanes	Gakusei-Engokai Rocbull
	Central	Kajima Deers	Onward Skylarks	IBM Big Blue	Meiji Yasuda Pirates	Tokyo Gas Creators	Fuji Xerox Minerva
2008	East	Onward Skylarks	Fujitsu Frontiers	Asahi Beer Silver Star	Meiji Yasuda Pirates	Renesas Hurricanes	Fuji Xerox Minerva
	Central	Kajima Deers	Obic Seagulls	IBM Big Blue	All Mitsubishi Lions	All Tokyo Gas Creators	Gakusei-Engokai Rocbull
2009	East	Asahi Beer Silver Star	Obic Seagulls	Nihon Unisys Bulls	All Mitsubishi Lions	Fuji Xerox Minerva	All Tokyo Gas Creators
	Central	Fujitsu Frontiers	Kajima Deers	IBM Big Blue	Meiji Yasuda Pirates	Hurricanes AFC	Bullseyes Tokyo
2010	East	Kajima Deers	IBM Big Blue	Asahi Beer Silver Star	All Mitsubishi Lions	Bullseyes Tokyo	Fuji Xerox Minerva
	Central	Obic Seagulls	Fujitsu Frontiers	Meiji Yasuda Pirates	All Tokyo Gas Creators	Hurricanes AFC	Nihon Unisys Bulls
2011	East	Kajima Deers	Fujitsu Frontiers	All Mitsubishi Lions	Meiji Yasuda Pirates	Bullseyes Tokyo	Fuji Xerox Minverva
	Central	Obic Seagulls	Nojima Sagamihara Rise	Asahi Beer Silver Star	IBM Big Blue	All Tokyo Gas Creators	Nihon Unisys Bulls
2012	East	Kajima Deers	Nojima Sagamihara Rise	Asahi Beer Silver Star	Meiji Yasuda Pirates	Nihon Unisys Bulls	Bullseyes Tokyo
	Central	Obic Seagulls	Fujitsu Frontiers	IBM Big Blue	Tokyo Gas Creators	All Mitsubishi Lions	Fuji Xerox Minerva
2013	East	Fujitsu Frontiers	Kajima Deers	Asahi Beer Silver Star	Tokyo Gas Creators	Nihon Unisys Bulls	Hurricanes
	Central	Obic Seagulls	Nojima Sagamihara Rise	IBM Big Blue	All Mitsubishi Lions	Meiji Yasuda Pirates	Tokyo MPD Eagles
2014	East	Fujitsu Frontiers	IBM Big Blue	Nojima Sagamihara Rise	Tokyo Gas Creators	Meiji Yasuda Pirates	Hurricanes
	Central	LIXIL Deers	Obic Seagulls	Asahi Beer Silver Star	All Mitsubishi Lions	Bulls Football Club	Taiyo Building Mgmt. Cranes
2015	East	Fujitsu Frontiers	Nojima Sagamihara Rise	Obic Seagulls	All Mitsubishi Lions	Meiji Yasuda Penta-Ocean Pirates	Tokyo MPD Eagles
	Central	IBM Big Blue	LIXIL Deers	Asahi Beer Silver Star	Bulls Football Club	Tokyo Gas Creators	Hurricanes

West

Year	Division	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
1997	West	Matsushita Electric Works Impulse	Sunstar Finies	MYCAL Bears	Osaka Black Eagles	Iwatani Sidewinders	Asahi Soft Drinks Challengers
1998	West	Asahi Soft Drinks Challengers	Matsushita Electric Works Impulse	MYCAL Bears	Iwatani Sidewinders	Sunstar Finies	Iuchi Black Eagles
1999	West	Asahi Soft Drinks Challengers	MYCAL Bears	Matsushita Electric Works Impulse	Kohaku Finies	Iuchi Black Eagles	Iwatani Sidewinders
2000	West	Matsushita Electric Works Impulse	Asahi Soft Drinks Challengers	MYCAL Bears	Kohaku Finies	Iuchi Black Eagles	Iwatani Sidewinders
2001	West	Matsushita Electric Works Impulse	Asahi Soft Drinks Challengers	MYCAL Bears	Iwatani Sidewinders	Kohaku Finies	AS ONE Black Eagles
2002	West	Matsushita Denko Impulse	Asahi Soft Drinks Challengers	AS ONE Black Eagles	Iwatani Sidewinders	Hankyu Bruins	Kohaku Finies
2003	West	Matsushita Denko Impulse	Asahi Soft Drinks Challengers	AS ONE Black Eagles	Naigai Denki Marvies	Hankyu Bruins	Iwatani Sidewinders
2004	West	Matsushita Denko Impulse	Asahi Soft Drinks Challengers	AS ONE Black Eagles	Naigai Denki Marvies	Finies Football Club	Hankyu Bruins
2005	West	Matsushita Denko Impulse	Asahi Soft Drinks Challengers	Naigai Denki Marvies	AS ONE Black Eagles	Iwatani Sidewinders	Kobe Finies
2006	West	Matsushita Denko Impulse	Nagai Denki Marvies	Asahi Soft Drinks Challengers	SRC Kobe Finies	AS ONE Black Eagles	Iwatani Sidewinders
2007	West	Matsushita Denko Impulse	Asahi Soft Drinks Challengers	Naigai Denki Marvies	AS ONE Black Eagles	SRC Kobe Finies	Nagoya Cyclones
2008	West	Asahi Soft Drinks Challengers	Panasonic Denko Impulse	SRC Kobe Finies	Naigai Denki Marvies	Asahi Pretec Golden Fighters	AS ONE Black Eagles
2009	West	Panasonic Denko Impulse	Asahi Soft Drinks Challengers	Suita Marvies	Elecom Kobe Finies	Asahi Pretec Golden Fighters	AS ONE Black Eagles
2010	West	Panasonic Denko Impulse	Asahi Soft Drinks Challengers	Suita Marvies	Elecom Kobe Finies	AS ONE Black Eagles	Nagoya Cyclones
2011	West	Panasonic Impulse	Asahi Soft Drinks Challengers	AS ONE Black Eagles	Elecom Kobe Finies	Nagoya Cyclones	Fuji Xerox J-Stars
2012	West	Panasonic Impulse	Asahi Soft Drinks Challengers	AS ONE Black Eagles	Elecom Kobe Finies	Nagoya Cyclones	Nishinomiya Bruins
2013	West	Panasonic Impulse	Asahi Soft Drinks Challengers	AS ONE Black Eagles	Elecom Kobe Finies	Nishinomiya Bruins	Nagoya Cyclones
2014	West	Elecom Kobe Finies	Panasonic Impulse	Asahi Soft Drinks Challengers	AS ONE Black Eagles	Nagoya Cyclones	Nishinomiya Bruins
2015	West	Panasonic Impulse	Asahi Soft Drinks Challengers	Elecom Kobe Finies	AS ONE Black Eagles	Nagoya Cyclones	Fuji Xerox J-Stars

• Until 2008, the top 2 teams in each division qualified for the playoffs to the Japan X bowl known as the Final6. Starting 2009, the top 3 teams in each division qualified for the Super9 in the 2nd stage.

Playing Venues

Japan X Bowl

The two semifinal winners from the final stage meet for the league championship in the Japan X Bowl held at the Tokyo Dome. Since 1987, Japan X Bowl has decided the X League championship. Until 2002, it was known as the Tokyo Super Bowl. The winner of this game goes on to the Rice Bowl to face the winner of the Koshien Bowl, the national college championship game.

Awards and Honors

All X-League Team

Since 2000, the X-League honors outstanding players by electing them to the All X-League Team. 11 offensive players, 11 defensive players and 3 special team players are voted by the Head Coaches and 5 players on each of the 18 X1 teams to be selected for the team.

X-League Most Valuable Player (MVP) award

The X-League Most Valuable Player award (X-League MVP) is an award given to the Japanese American Football player who is considered most valuable to his team in the X-League. Started in 2012, the award was divided between the best player in each division until 2014 when one overall MVP was awarded.

Year	Division	Winner	Position	Team
2012	East	Yasuhiro Maruta	Running Back	Kajima Deers
	Central	Noriaki Kinoshita	Wide Receiver	Obic Seagulls
	West	Ryohei Imanashi	Cornerback	Panasonic Impulse
2013	East	Keiya Hiramoto	Quarterback	Fujitsu Frontiers
	Central	Noriaki Kinoshita	Wide Receiver	Obic Seagulls
	West	Tetsuo Takata	Quarterback	Panasonic Impulse

Year	Winner	Position	Team
2014	Gino Gordon	Running Back	Fujitsu Frontiers
2015	Tetsuo Takata[2]	Quarterback	Panasonic Impulse

X-League Rookie of the Year (ROY) award

The X-League Rookie of the Year award (X-League ROY) is an award given to the player who is considered have made a big impact during his first year with his team. Started in 2012, the award was divided between the best player in each division until 2014 when one overall ROY was awarded.

Year	Division	Winner	Position	Team
2012	East	Kohei Arai	Center	Kajima Deers
	Central	Kevin Craft	Quarterback	IBM Big Blue
	West	Hisashi Kurokawa	Offensive Tackle	Panasonic Impulse
2013	East	Jinpei Yoshimoto	Wide Receiver	Fujitsu Frontiers
	Central	Kealakai Maiava	Offensive Tackle	Obic Seagulls
	West	David Motu	Linebacker	Panasonic Impulse

Year	Winner	Position	Team
2014	Colby Cameron	Quarterback	Fujitsu Frontiers
2015	Mason Mills	Quarterback	Asahi Beer Silver Star

X-League Fairplay award

Since 2012, the X-League Fairplay award is awarded to the team that had accumulated the least amount of penalties during the 1st stage of the Fall season.

Year	Division	Team
2012	West	Panasonic Impulse
2013	Central	All Mitsubishi Lions
2014	East	Hurricanes (X-League)
2015	Central	Hurricanes (X-League)

Team names

• Silver Star → Asahi Beer Silver Star
• Matsushita Electric Works Impulse → Panasonic Electric Works Impulse
• Kohoku Finies → Sunstar Finies → Kohoku Finies → Finies Football Club → Kobe Finies → SRC Kobe Finies　→ Elecom Kobe Finies
• Recruit Seagulls → Seagulls → Obic Seagulls
• NEC Falcons (dissolved in 1997)
• Renoun Rovers (dissolved in 2003)
• Onward Oaks → Onward Skylarks(Combined with Skylark Skylarks in 2001) → Onward Oaks (dissolved in 2009)→ Sagamihara Rise (Remnants of the Onward Oaks formed a new team called the Sagamihara Rise (same uniforms and colors, although different logo) and played one level down in the X2 league through the 2010 season. They subsequently won the challenge game against the Renesas Hurricanes to move back up to X1 in December 2010, and will play again in the X1 Central Division for the 2011 season, with the Hurricanes moving down to X2)

References

1. "League Playoff Works". xleague.com. Retrieved January 6, 2016.
2. Nagatsuka, Kaz (February 2, 2016). "Takata named MVP; 8 Impulse make All X-League team". xleague.com. Retrieved March 4, 2016.

• X League homepage
• Japan's X-League Runs with the Ball
• X League's Road to the Rice Bowl
• American Football in Japan