J.League Cup
The J.League Cup, a.k.a. J.League YBC Levain Cup or YBC Levain Cup is a Japanese football knockout tournament organised by J.League, the men's association football league in Japan. It has been sponsored by Yamazaki Biscuits of Yamazaki Baking since its inception in 1992. It was known as the J.League Yamazaki Nabisco Cup or Nabisco Cup until August 2016.
It is generally regarded as the Japanese equivalent to league cup competitions played in many countries, such as the Football League Cup in England, as complementary to the Emperor's Cup competed between clubs from all divisions of professional football in Japan. Before the J. League Cup was created, the old Japan Soccer League had its own Japan Soccer League Cup since the 1976 season.
The tournament format varies almost each year largely depending on the schedule of international matches such as the Olympic Games and World Cup games.
From 2007 to 2023, the winners qualified for the J.League Cup / [Copa Sudamericana Championship] held in the following summer, where they played against the winners of the Copa Sudamericana. The tournament was cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but was not held for 2021 and 2022, before ultimately being cancelled in 2023.
Format
Early years (1992–1998)
;1992;1993
;1994
;1995
;1996
;1997
;1998
As tournaments for J1 and J2 (1999–2001)
;1999;2000
;2001
As tournaments for only J1 (2002–2017)
;2002;2003
;2004
;2005
;2006
;2007
;2008
Image:Nabisco [Cup Final 2008 November 1st 2008.JPG|thumb|The 2008 Final]
;2009
;2010
;2011
;2012–2017
As tournaments for J1 and J2 (2018–2023)
0 to 2 clubs that were relegated to J2 last year and all J1 clubs can now participate. This is last season of group stage format in 2023.As tournaments for J1, J2 and J3 (2024–present)
All of the 60 J. League clubs participated in a full knockout format which started from 2024.For the 2024 season, the three Japanese clubs qualified for the 2023–24 [AFC Champions League knockout stage] received a bye to the knockout phase, while the remaining 57 J.League clubs were split into 10 groups of five or six for the first three rounds based on their performance in the 2023 league season, with the winners of each single leg single-elimination group advanced to the two-legged play-off round. The five winners of the play-off round will join the three aforementioned clubs in the knockout stage, in which the format was unchanged.
Prizes
- Champions: J. League Cup, YBC Levain Cup, Champion medals and 150 million yen
- Runners-up: J. League Commemorative Plaque, Runner-up medals, and 50 million yen
- 3rd place : J. League Commemorative Plaque and 20 million yen to each 3rd placed club