Japan Soccer League (日本サッカーリーグ, Nihon Sakkā Rīgu); JSL) was the top flight association football league in Japan between 1965 and 1992, 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.

Japan Soccer League (JSL)
Founded1965
Folded1992
Replaced byJ.League
Country Japan
ConfederationAFC
Divisions1 (1965–1971)
2 (1972–1992)
Number of teams12
Level on pyramid1 (1965–1971)
1–2 (1972–1992)
Relegation toRegional Leagues
Domestic cup(s)Emperor's Cup
JSL Cup
International cup(s)Asian Club Championship
Asian Cup Winners' Cup
Last championsYomiuri
(1991–92)
Most championshipsMazda
Yomiuri
(5 titles each)

History

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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, 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, Furukawa Electric, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Nissan, 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

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Division 1

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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 FC 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 Motor 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 Motor 1 0 1987–88
NKK SC 0 3 1985, 1986–87, 1987–88
Nippon Steel Yawata 0 2 1965, 1966
All Nippon Airways SC 0 1 1988–89

Division 2

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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 FC
2
2
1974, 1977 1975, 1976
Sumitomo Metal
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 Motor
1
2
1972 1986, 1989–90
Fujitsu
1
2
1976 1974, 1980
Tanabe Pharmaceutical
1
1
1975 1972
Yamaha Motor
1
1
1982 1979
Matsushita Electric
1
1
1985 1987
All Nippon Airways 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 Motor 0 3 1977, 1978, 1981
Mazda SC
0
2
1985, 1990–91
Kofu SC
0
1
1973

League Cup

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See JSL Cup.

Konica Cup

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See Konica Cup (football).

All-time JSL member clubs

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

Original clubs

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Other First Division Clubs

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In order of their promotion to the top-flight:

Yokohama Football Club

Notable Second Division clubs

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

All-time JSL First Division table

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

Despite Mazda and Yomiuri's record five titles, Mitsubishi holds the record on points. Furukawa Electric holds the record for most seasons, all 27 the JSL played, 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. All statistics are within JSL First Division play except for "Current division" and "Tier", which denote standing in the Japanese league system as of 2023 season.

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

In this ranking, three points are awarded for a win, one for a draw, and zero for a loss, regardless of the transition of regulation through the time as follows:

  • 1965–1976, 1980 to 1987–88: 2 points for a win, 1 per draw, 0 per loss.
  • 1977–1979: 4 points for a regulation time win, 2 for winning penalty shoot-out after a draw, 1 for a penalty shoot-out loss, 0 for a regulation time loss.
  • 1988–89 to 1991–92: 3 points for a win, 1 per draw, 0 per loss.

See also

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References

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