Japan: Clubs Ranked - 1965 to 2023

Football's evolution in Japan has been gradual. A semi professional Japan Soccer League started in 1965, moving on to the fully professional J League in 1993. 

The cup gets more difficult. The JSL Cup started from the 1970's and it also became the J League Cup in 1993. The Emperor Cup is the longest competition but I decided to start counting from 1965 in line with the Japan Soccer League's inception.

Before the J League, clubs were connected to companies and carried their names too. When the J League was initiated, most club names were changed and they are the ones used here. 

Some clubs have been introduced during this period under consideration and a few have folded. With the introduction of the professional J League, the amount of success a club enjoyed changed too. So no club really dominates the list above. 

The chart to the right / top shows points for the Japanese domestic competition (Jap) and then includes Asia (Tot). The points are: J League (Division 1) the top four are rewarded with 6, 3, 2 and 1. The two cup competitions 4 and 2 points for the finalists only. In the Asia Club Championship, it's 8, 4 and 2 points.

For the J League (plus JSL) the most successful club is the Urawa Red Diamonds and a recently successful club the Kashmiri Antlers third. The Kawasaki Frontale club won in 2020 and 2021, the Yokohama F Marinos 2022 and Vissel Kobe in 2023. Most recent winners are not in the list to the right.

The J League Cup is not old (mid 1970's) so the points are not high. The Kashmira Antlers are the most successful. The last eleven trophies have been awarded to eleven different clubs. The last six are for clubs not on the list to the left. That's another reason why the points aren't too high. They are well spread around. 

The Emperor's Cup dates back to 1921 but I only counted from 1965 when the sport was getting more professional. There have been 22 different winners over this time, the Urawa Red Diamonds is the most successful with eight wins in twelve finals appearances. They last won in 2021, Sanfrecce Hiroshima in 2022 and Kashiwa Reysol in 2023.  

The Asia Club Championship started in earnest in the 1985-86 season. Of the 38 times it has been held, Japanese clubs have won it on eight different occasions and is the current holder. 

Urawa Red Diamonds is that club and it has won three trophies. Four others once each. 

All put together, the clubs are below. The grand total is shown for each club, divided into regions with a ranking number (Rk) which gives their place compared to all the other clubs. Any suggestions? Please leave a comment. 

Kantō covers Tokyo and the surrounding area so there is no surprise it has won 62.9% of all points among Japanese clubs. Kansai is two regions down from there and is next (14.7%). Chūbu is between them and third with 11.6%. The south is whatever is below Chūbu (9.5%) and the north is above Kantō.