Japan Soccer League

Japan Soccer League (JSL)
Founded	1965
Folded	1992
Country	Japan
Confederation	AFC
Divisions	1 (1965–1971); 2 (1972–1991/92)
Number of teams	12
Level on pyramid	1 (1965–1971); 1–2 (1972–1991/92)
Relegation to	Regional Leagues
Domestic cup(s)	Emperor's Cup; JSL Cup
International cup(s)	Asian Club Championship; Asian Cup Winners' Cup
Last champions	Yomiuri ; (1991/92)
Most championships	Mazda, Yomiuri (5 titles)

Japan Soccer League (日本サッカーリーグ, Nihon Sakkā Rīgu), or JSL, was the top flight football league in Japan between 1965 and 1991/92, and was the precursor to the current professional league, the J.League. JSL was the second national league of a team sport in Japan after the professional Japanese Baseball League that was founded in 1936. JSL was the first-ever national league of an amateur team sport in Japan.

History[]

Each JSL team represented a corporation, and like Japanese baseball teams, went by the name of the company that owned the team. Unlike in baseball, however, promotion and relegation was followed, as J.League follows today. The players were officially amateur and were employees of the parent corporations, but especially in later years, top players were generally paid strictly to play soccer.

Originally the JSL consisted of a single division only, but in 1972 a Second Division was added. Clubs could join in by winning the All Japan Senior Football Championship cup competition and then winning a promotion/relegation series against the bottom teams in the JSL. From 1973 to 1980, both the champions and runners-up of the Second Division had to play the promotion/relegation series against the First Division's bottom clubs; afterwards and until 1984, only the runners-up had to play the series.

Top JSL teams included Hitachi Ltd., Furukawa Electric, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Nissan Motors, Toyo Industries (Mazda) and Yomiuri Shimbun, which are now, respectively, Kashiwa Reysol, JEF United Chiba, Urawa Red Diamonds, Yokohama F. Marinos, Sanfrecce Hiroshima and Tokyo Verdy. Furukawa/JEF United was the only one never to be relegated to the Second Division and kept this distinction until 2009.

JSL played its final season in 1991/92 and the J.League began play in 1993. Top nine JSL clubs, (along with the independent Shimizu S-Pulse) became the original J.League members. The others except Yomiuri Junior who merged with their parent club Yomiuri Club joined the newly formed Japan Football League.

Champions[]

First Division[]

All clubs are listed under the names they were using in 1991/92, when the league ceased to exist. Clubs in italic no longer exist.

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Winning Seasons	Runners-up Seasons
Yomiuri SC	5	3	1983, 1984, 1986/87, 1990/91, 1991/92	1979, 1981, 1989/90
Mazda SC	5	1	1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1970	1969
Mitsubishi Motors	4	6	1969, 1973, 1978, 1982	1970, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977
Yanmar Diesel	4	4	1971, 1974, 1975, 1980	1968, 1972, 1978, 1982
Fujita SC	3	1	1977, 1979, 1981	1980
Nissan Motors	2	4	1988/89, 1989/90	1983, 1984, 1990/91, 1991/92
JR East Furukawa	2	1	1976, 1985	1967
Hitachi	1	1	1972	1973
Yamaha Motors	1	0	1987/88
NKK SC	0	3		1985, 1986/87, 1987/88
Nippon Steel Yawata	0	2		1965, 1966
ANA SC	0	1		1988/89

Second Division[]

All clubs are listed under the names they were using in 1991/92, when the league ceased to exist. Clubs in italic no longer exist.

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Winning seasons	Runners-up seasons
Yomiuri SC	2	2	1974, 1977	1975, 1976
Sumitomo Metal Industries	2	2	1984, 1986	1983, 1991/92
Toshiba SC	2	1	1979, 1988/89	1982
Honda Motors	2	0	1978, 1980
NKK SC	2	0	1981, 1983
Toyota Motors	1	2	1972	1986, 1989/90
Fujitsu	1	2	1976	1974, 1980
Tanabe Pharmaceuticals	1	1	1975	1972
Yamaha Motors	1	1	1982	1979
Matsushita Electric	1	1	1985	1987
ANA SC	1	1	1987	1984
Hitachi	1	1	1990/91	1988/89
Eidai Industries	1	0	1973
Mitsubishi Motors	1	0	1989/90
Fujita SC	1	0	1991/92
Nissan Motors	0	3		1977, 1978, 1981
Mazda SC	0	2		1985, 1990/91
Kofu SC	0	1		1973

League Cup[]

See Japan Soccer League Cup.

Konica Cup[]

See Konica Cup (football).

All-time JSL member clubs[]

Current J.League identity and/or standing in the Japanese football league system follows each name.

Original 8 Clubs[]

Furukawa Electric (1965–1992) – JEF United Ichihara Chiba
Hitachi Head Office / Hitachi (1965–1992) – Kashiwa Reysol
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries / Mitsubishi Motors (1965–1992) – Urawa Red Diamonds
Toyoda Automatic Loom Works (1965–1968, 1972–1973) – Toyota Industries S.C. in Aichi Prefectural Div. 1
Nagoya Sogo Ginko (Mutual Bank)(1965–1966, 1968–1971) – Nagoya WEST FC in Aichi Prefecture Div. 3
Yanmar Diesel (1965–1992) – Cerezo Osaka
Toyo Industries / Mazda (1965–1992) – Sanfrecce Hiroshima
Yawata Steel F.C. / Nippon Steel (1965–1991) – defunct

Other First Division Clubs[]

In order of their promotion to First Division.

Nippon Kokan (Nippon Steel Piping) / NKK F.C. (1967–1992)- defunct
Towa Real Estate / Fujita Industry / Fujita (1972–1992) – Shonan Bellmare
Toyota Motor Industry / Toyota Motor (1972–1992) – Nagoya Grampus
Tanabe Seiyaku (Pharmaceutical) (1972–1992) – defunct
Eidai Sangyo (Industries) (1972–1977) – defunct
Fujitsu (1972–1992) – Kawasaki Frontale
Yomiuri (1972–1992) – Tokyo Verdy
Nissan Motors (1976–1992) – Yokohama F. Marinos
Yamaha Motor (1979–1992) – Júbilo Iwata
Honda (1975–1992) – Honda FC in JFL
Sumitomo Metal Industries (1973–1992) – Kashima Antlers
Yokohama Tristar / ANA (1983–1992) – Yokohama Flügels, defunct
Matsushita Electric Industrial (1984–1992) – Gamba Osaka
Toshiba Horikawacho / Toshiba (1978–1992) – Consadole Sapporo

Famous Second Division Clubs[]

Many of these clubs would only be promoted to the top flight after the J.League was created.

Kofu Club (1972–1992) – Ventforet Kofu
Kyoto Shiko Club (1972–1978, 1988–1992) – Kyoto Purple Sanga – Kyoto Sanga FC (since 2007)
(splinter Kyoto Shiko Club formed 1993 now competes in Kansai Div. 2)
Kawasaki Steel (1986–1992) – Vissel Kobe
NTT Kanto (1987–1992) – Omiya Ardija
Otsuka Pharmaceutical (1990–1992) – Tokushima Vortis
Tokyo Gas (1992–1992) – FC Tokyo
Chūō Bohan (Central Crime Prevention)(1992–1992) – Avispa Fukuoka
TDK (1985–1987) – Blaublitz Akita

All-time JSL First Division table[]

A total of 22 teams played in the JSL First Division between 1965 and 1991/92. 15 of these became professional J.League clubs; the rest were relegated to the regional leagues and/or folded.

Despite Mazda and Yomiuri's record 5 titles, Mitsubishi holds the record on points. Furukawa Electric holds the record for most seasons, all 27 the JSL played, having never been relegated.

Name changes made outside First Division play and following the advent of the J.League system are not mentioned; see individual club pages for more information. "Current division" means standing in the Japanese league system as of 2021 season.

Pos.	Club	Seasons	Pts	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Titles	Current division	Tier
1	Mitsubishi	26	750	460	211	117	132	682	507	175	4	J1 League	1
2	Furukawa	27	731	482	203	122	157	705	596	109	2	J2 League	2
3	Yanmar	26	703	460	195	118	147	679	570	109	4	J1 League	1
4	Hitachi	24	543	416	151	90	175	581	608	-27	1	J1 League	1
4	Mazda	22	543	376	149	96	131	526	424	102	5	J1 League	1
6	Fujita	18	520	340	144	88	108	495	372	123	3	J1 League	1
7	Yomiuri	14	503	280	144	71	65	481	286	195	5	J2 League	2
8	NKK	21	396	378	98	102	178	404	601	-197	–	defunct	–
9	Nippon Steel	17	385	274	110	55	109	433	406	27	–	defunct	–
10	Nissan	12	384	244	109	57	78	315	284	31	2	J1 League	1
11	Yamaha	11	322	226	86	64	76	255	249	6	1	J2 League	2
12	Honda	11	289	226	72	73	81	251	267	-16	–	JFL	4
13	ANA	5	139	110	38	25	47	131	145	-14	–	defunct	–
14	Panasonic	5	128	110	31	35	44	122	152	-30	–	J1 League	1
15	Toyota	8	105	156	24	33	99	128	363	-235	–	J1 League	1
16	Toshiba	3	82	66	19	25	22	72	76	-4	–	J1 League	1
17	Eidai	3	69	54	19	12	23	67	83	-16	–	defunct	–
18	Sumitomo	3	60	66	15	15	36	50	101	-51	–	J1 League	1
19	Nagoya Bank	6	38	84	9	11	64	76	210	-134	–	Aichi Prefectural D3	9
20	Fujitsu	2	28	36	6	10	20	32	67	-35	–	J1 League	1
21	Toyota ALW	3	20	42	4	8	30	38	112	-74	–	Aichi Prefectural D1	7
22	Tanabe	1	4	18	1	1	16	7	51	-44	–	defunct	–

Points system:

In this ranking, 3 points are awarded for a win, 1 for a draw, and 0 for a loss, regardless of the transition of regulation through the time as below.

1965–1976, 1980–1987/88: 2 points for a win, 1 per draw, 0 per loss
1977–1979: 4 points for a regular time, 2 for winning penalty shootout after a draw, 1 for a penalty shootout loss, 0 for a regular time loss
1988/89–1991/92: 3 points for a win, 1 per draw, 0 per loss