Japan: Clubs Ranked - 1965 to 2025 (Updated)

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

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 Emperor Cup competitions 4 and 2 points for the finalists only.  The JSL Cup is 3 and 1 points. The Asia Club Championship is 8, 4 and 2 points. The Asian CC includes 2026. 

For the J League (plus JSL) the most successful club is the Urawa Red Diamonds and a more recently successful club the Kashmiri Antlers second. The Yokohama Marinos are also proving competitive. Vissel Kobe won on 2023 and 2034. The Kashima Antlers are the current champions won in 2020 and 2021, the Yokohama F Marinos 2022 and Vissel Kobe in 2023. Most recent winners are the Kashima Antlers.

The Emperor's Cup dates back to 1921 but I only counted from 1965 when the sport was getting more professional. The Urawa Red Diamonds is the most successful with eight wins in twelve finals appearances since 1965. They last won in 2021. Recently the more successful clubs historically have not done so well. The Machiva Zelvia are the current holders. 

The J League Cup is not old (mid 1970's) so the points are not high. It's the equivalent of the league Cup in England. The Kashmira Antlers and Tokyo Verdy have each won it six times. As with the Emperor's Cup, the more successful clubs historically are not doing so well. The current holders is the Sanfrecce Hiroshima club.

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. They have also been losing finalists seven times. 

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 62.3% of all points among Japanese clubs. Kansai is two regions down from there and is next (15.5%). Chūbu is between them and third with 11.2%. The south is whatever is below Chūbu (9.8) and the north is above Kantō.