Japanese Regional Football League Competition

Japan Regional Football League Competition
Japan Regional Football Champions League
Founded	1977; 45 years ago
Region	Japan
Confederation	AFC (Asia)
Number of teams	12
Promotion to	Japan Soccer League (1977–1991) ; Japan Football League (1992–1998) ; Japan Football League (1999–present)
Current champions	Criacao Shinjuku ; (1st title) ; ()
Most championships	Yamaha Motor ; Daikyo Oil Yokkaichi/Kosmo Daikyo ; Nippon Denso ; (2 titles each)
	Current:

The Japanese Regional Football League Competition (Japanese: 全国地域サッカーリーグ決勝大会), since 2016 renamed Japan Regional Football Champions League (Japanese: 全国地域サッカーチャンピオンズリーグ, Zenkoku Chiiki Sakkā Championzu Rīgu), is a nationwide play-off tournament meant as a transition for Japanese football clubs competing in regional leagues to the Japan Football League.

History[]

Until 1976, the main entrance route for regional clubs to the Japan Soccer League was the All Japan Senior Football Championship, a cup competition. In 1977, to test clubs in a league environment before entrance to the league, the Japan Football Association devised this tournament.

In 1984 and 1985 more promotion places were added due to the JSL, expanding its divisions. In 1992 it began promoting clubs to the former JFL's second division and, from 1994 to 1998, to its single division. In 1999 and 2000 it added extra promotion places due to the formation and expansion of the new JFL.

Yamaha Motors (Júbilo Iwata) are, thus far, the only Regional Series champions to later become First Division champions. They are also the only club to retain the title, as they failed to be promoted in their first attempt due to losing a playoff series. Since 1980 every champion has been automatically promoted, exceptions being made at the champion's request in 1993 (Nippon Denso/FC Kariya) and 2002 (Ain Foods) as they lacked the resources to compete at the national level.

Qualification[]

Until 2009, the number of places in the tournament was 16, distributed as follows:

All regional league champions (9 clubs)
4 regional league runners-up (4 clubs)
University club recommended by the university association (1 club)
Club recommended by the JFA (1 club)
All Japan Senior Cup winner (1 club)
Other clubs (other league runners-up, Senior Cup runners-up or third places, etc.) (0-3 clubs) – more allowed if Senior Cup holder has won a regional league or been runner-up

As of 2010, the regional league runners-up are no longer eligible and the university association is no longer allowed to make recommendations, reducing the number of places to 12.

All regional league champions (9 clubs)
Club recommended by the JFA (at most 1 club)
All Japan Senior Cup winners and runners-up (at most 2 clubs)
- This may replaced by 3rd- and/or 4th-placed team if the winners and/or runners-up win a regional league or recommended by the JFA.
Regional league runners-up (0-3 clubs)
- This number of clubs changes by the result of "Club recommended by the JFA" and "All Japan Senior Cup".

Format[]

Preliminary round[]

The clubs are grouped in round-robin groups of 4, playing at a single city per group (no home-and-away format is followed). Only 3 matches are played per club, since the match location is the same. The winners of each group qualify for the final round.

Final round[]

As of 2010, the three group winners plus the highest-scoring runner-up are grouped in a final group in a single locale, with three matches played per club. The top two places are guaranteed promotion and the third place may play a promotion/relegation series against one of the three bottom JFL clubs (subject to JFL place availability).

Round-robin rules[]

The usual 3-1-0 system is used; however, in case of a draw, a penalty shootout is added and the winner gets one extra point.

Winners[]

Teams in bold were promoted.

Year	Winner	Runner-up	Third place	Also promoted
1977	Yamaha Motors	Toshiba Horikawa-cho	Toho Titanium
1978	Yamaha Motors	Toho Titanium	Dainichi Nippon Densen
1979	Cosmo Oil Yokkaichi	Kyoto Shiko Club	Furukawa Electric Chiba
1980	Nagoya S.C.	Furukawa Electric Chiba	Saitama Teachers
1981	Saitama Teachers	NTT West Japan Kyoto	Cosmo Oil Yokkaichi
1982	Toho Titanium	Seino Transportation	Hyōgo Teachers
1983	Yokohama TriStar	Matsushita	Teijin Matsuyama
1984	Seino Transportation	Kyoto Police Dept.	TDK SC	Osaka Gas
1985	Cosmo Oil Yokkaichi	Kawasaki Steel Mizushima	Toho Titanium	NTT Kansai
1986	NTT Kanto	Mazda Auto Hiroshima	Toyoda Machine Works
1987	Teijin Matsuyama	Fujieda City Hall	Matsushima S.C.
1988	Mazda Auto Hiroshima	Kyoto Shiko Club	Tokyo Gas
1989	Yomiuri S.C. Juniors	Otsuka Pharmaceutical	Seino Transportation
1990	Tokyo Gas	Chuo Bohan	Seino Transportation
1991	Osaka Gas	Osaka Taidai Kemari Club	Seino Transportation
1992	PJM Futures	Toyota Motors Higashifuji	NEC Yamagata
1993	Nippon Denso	NEC Yamagata	Jatco
1994	Brummell Sendai	Fukushima FC	Yokogawa Denki
1995	Nippon Denso	Ōita F.C.	Yokogawa Denki
1996	Jatco	Prima Ham	Mazda S.C.
1997	Sony Sendai FC	Albirex Niigata	Yokogawa Denki
1998	Yokogawa Denki	Hitachi Shimizu	Ehime FC
1999	Alo's Hokuriku	Tochigi SC	Honda Luminoso Sayama F.C.	F.C. Kyoken
2000	Sagawa Express Tokyo SC	YKK AP F.C.	NTT Kumamoto	S.C. Tottori Ehime FC
2001	Sagawa Express Osaka S.C.	Professor Miyazaki	Nangoku Kochi F.C.
2002	Ain Foods	Sagawa Printing SC	Shizuoka F.C.
2003	Thespa Kusatsu	Gunma F.C. Horikoshi	Shizuoka F.C.
2004	Mitsubishi Motors Mizushima F.C.	Ryutsu Keizai University FC	Honda Lock SC
2005	F.C. Ryukyu	JEF United Ichihara Chiba B	Rosso Kumamoto
2006	TDK SC	FC Gifu	Fagiano Okayama F.C.
2007	Fagiano Okayama	New Wave Kitakyushu	F.C. Mi-O Biwako Kusatsu
2008	Machida Zelvia	V-Varen Nagasaki	Honda Lock
2009	Matsumoto Yamaga	Hitachi Tochigi Uva	Zweigen Kanazawa
2010	Kamatamare Sanuki	Nagano Parceiro	Sanyo Electric Sumoto
2011	YSCC Yokohama	Fujieda MYFC	Hoyo AC Elan Ōita
2012	SC Sagamihara	Fukushima United	Norbritz Hokkaido
2013	Grulla Morioka	Fagiano Okayama Next	FC Kagoshima (merged with Volca Kagoshima to form Kagoshima United FC)	Vanraure Hachinohe Azul Claro Numazu Renofa Yamaguchi Maruyasu Okazaki
2014	Nara Club	FC Osaka	Club Dragons
2015	ReinMeer Aomori	Briobecca Urayasu	Saurcos Fukui
2016	FC Imabari	Veertien Mie	Suzuka Unlimited
2017	Cobaltore Onagawa	Tegevajaro Miyazaki	Vonds Ichihara
2018	Matsue City	Suzuka Unlimited	FC Kariya
2019	Iwaki FC	Kochi United SC	Ococias Kyoto AC
2020	FC Tiamo Hirakata	FC Kariya	Tochigi City FC
2021	Criacao Shinjuku	FC Ise-Shima	Ococias Kyoto AC

Wins by region[]

Clubs in bold compete in the J.League (any division) in the 2022 season. Clubs in italics no longer exist. A dagger (†) indicates clubs that moved away from the region after winning the title.

Region	Number of titles	Clubs
Kantō	13	Saitama SC, Toho Titanium SC, Yokohama Flügels, Omiya Ardija, Yomiuri S.C. Juniors, FC Tokyo, Yokogawa Musashino, Sagawa Express Tokyo, Thespa Kusatsu, Machida Zelvia, YSCC Yokohama, SC Sagamihara, Criacao Shinjuku
Tōkai	10	Júbilo Iwata (2), Cosmo Oil Yokkaichi (2), Nagoya S.C., Seino Transportation, Tosu Futures †, FC Kariya (2), Jatco SC
Tōhoku	7	Vegalta Sendai, Sony Sendai, Blaublitz Akita, Grulla Morioka, ReinMeer Aomori, Cobaltore Onagawa, Iwaki FC
Kansai	5	Osaka Gas, Sagawa Express Osaka, Ain Foods, Nara Club, FC Tiamo Hirakata
Chūgoku	4	Mazda Auto Hiroshima, Mitsubishi Motors Mizushima, Fagiano Okayama, Matsue City
Shikoku	3	Teijin SC, Kamatamare Sanuki, FC Imabari
Koshin'etsu	2	ALO's Hokuriku, Matsumoto Yamaga
Kyūshū	1	FC Ryukyu
Hokkaidō	–

References[]

Contents of Domestic Competition of Football in Japan