J.League Cup / Copa Sudamericana Championship

J.League Cup / Copa Sudamericana Championship

Founded	2008
Region	South America (CONMEBOL) and Japan (JFA)
Number of teams	2
Current champions	Athletico Paranaense (1st title)
Most successful club(s)	Kashima Antlers (2 titles)
Television broadcasters	Fox Sports (Latin America) (until 2018) DirecTV Sports (South America) (from 2019) ESPN Brasil (from 2019) Fuji TV (Japan)
2019 J.League Cup / Copa Sudamericana Championship

The J.League Cup / Copa Sudamericana Championship is an annual intercontinental football match held in Japan, contested by the reigning champions of the J.League Cup and the Copa Sudamericana.

The tournament was previously officially called the Suruga Bank Championship between 2008 and 2018 as it was sponsored by Suruga Bank. Since 2019, it is officially called the J. League YBC Levain Cup / CONMEBOL Sudamericana Championship Final, using the official names of the two qualifying tournaments.^[1]

History[]

The J.League Cup / Copa Sudamericana Championship was established in early 2008 by the Japan Football Association (JFA), CONMEBOL, and J. League, and sponsored by Suruga Bank in Japan. The championship is hosted annually at the J. League Cup champion's home stadium.

The first match was played on July 30, 2008, at Nagai Stadium in Osaka where Argentina's Arsenal defeated Japan's Gamba Osaka by 1–0.

Finals[]

Season	Country	Winner	Score	Runner-up	Country	Venue	Attendance
2008	ARG	Arsenal	1–0	Gamba Osaka	JPN	Nagai Stadium, Osaka	19,728
2009	BRA	Internacional	2–1	Oita Trinita	JPN	Ōita Stadium, Ōita	16,505
2010	JPN	FC Tokyo	2–2 (4–3 pen.)	LDU Quito	ECU	National Stadium, Tokyo	19,423
2011	JPN	Júbilo Iwata	2–2 (4–2 pen.)	Independiente	ARG	Shizuoka Stadium, Fukuroi	19,034
2012	JPN	Kashima Antlers	2–2 (7–6 pen.)	Universidad de Chile	CHI	Kashima Soccer Stadium, Kashima	20,021
2013	JPN	Kashima Antlers	3–2	São Paulo	BRA	Kashima Soccer Stadium, Kashima	26,695
2014	JPN	Kashiwa Reysol	2–1	Lanús	ARG	Hitachi Kashiwa Stadium, Kashiwa	10,140
2015	ARG	River Plate	3–0	Gamba Osaka	JPN	Osaka Expo '70 Stadium, Osaka	12,722
2016	COL	Santa Fe	1–0	Kashima Antlers	JPN	Kashima Soccer Stadium, Kashima	19,716
2017	JPN	Urawa Red Diamonds	1–0	Chapecoense	BRA	Saitama Stadium 2002, Saitama	11,002
2018	ARG	Independiente	1–0	Cerezo Osaka	JPN	Yanmar Stadium Nagai, Osaka	10,035
2019	BRA	Athletico Paranaense	4–0	Shonan Bellmare	JPN	Shonan BMW Stadium, Hiratsuka	9,129
2020	Kawasaki Frontale vs Independiente del Valle not held due to 2020 Summer Olympics originally scheduled to be held at the same time, which ended up being suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[2]
2021	FC Tokyo vs Defensa y Justicia not held due to 2020 Summer Olympics scheduled to be held at the same time.[citation needed]
2022	Nagoya Grampus vs Athletico Paranaense

Performances[]

By club[]

Team	Won	Runner-up	Years won	Years runner-up
Kashima Antlers	2	1	2012, 2013	2016
Independiente	1	1	2018	2011
Arsenal	1	0	2008
Internacional	1	0	2009
FC Tokyo	1	0	2010
Júbilo Iwata	1	0	2011
Kashiwa Reysol	1	0	2014
River Plate	1	0	2015
Santa Fe	1	0	2016
Urawa Red Diamonds	1	0	2017
Athletico Paranaense	1	0	2019
Gamba Osaka	0	2		2008, 2015
Oita Trinita	0	1		2009
LDU Quito	0	1		2010
Universidad de Chile	0	1		2012
São Paulo	0	1		2013
Lanús	0	1		2014
Chapecoense	0	1		2017
Cerezo Osaka	0	1		2018
Shonan Bellmare	0	1		2019

By nation[]

Nation	Times won	Times runner-up	Winning clubs	Runners-up
Japan	6	6	Kashima Antlers (2), FC Tokyo (1), Júbilo Iwata (1), Kashiwa Reysol (1), Urawa Red Diamonds (1)	Gamba Osaka (2), Oita Trinita (1), Kashima Antlers (1), Cerezo Osaka (1), Shonan Bellmare (1)
Argentina	3	2	Arsenal (1), River Plate (1), Independiente (1)	Independiente (1), Lanús (1)
Brazil	2	2	Internacional (1), Athletico Paranaense (1)	São Paulo (1), Chapecoense (1)
Colombia	1	0	Santa Fe (1)
Ecuador	0	1		LDU Quito (1)
Chile	0	1		Universidad de Chile (1)

References[]

External links[]

• Official J. League website (in Japanese)
• Official JFA website (in Japanese)
• Official CONMEBOL website