Japan Soccer League


Japan Soccer League; 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.

History

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 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, 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

Division 1

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.
ClubWinnersRunners-upWinning seasonsRunners-up seasons
Yomiuri FC531983, 1984, 1986–87, 1990–91, 1991–921979, 1981, 1989–90
Mazda SC511965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 19701969
Mitsubishi Motors461969, 1973, 1978, 19821970, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977
Yanmar Diesel441971, 1974, 1975, 19801968, 1972, 1978, 1982
Fujita SC311977, 1979, 19811980
Nissan Motor241988–89, 1989–901983, 1984, 1990–91, 1991–92
JR East Furukawa211976, 19851967
Hitachi1119721973
Yamaha Motor101987–88
NKK SC031985, 1986–87, 1987–88
Nippon Steel Yawata021965, 1966
All Nippon Airways SC011988–89

Division 2

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.
ClubWinnersRunners-upWinning seasonsRunners-up seasons
Yomiuri FC221974, 19771975, 1976
Sumitomo Metal221984, 19861983, 1991–92
Toshiba SC211979, 1988–891982
Honda Motors201978, 1980
NKK SC201981, 1983
Toyota Motor1219721986, 1989–90
Fujitsu1219761974, 1980
[Tanabe Urawa Red Diamonds|Mitsubishi Pharma SC|Tanabe Pharmaceutical]1119751972
Yamaha Motor1119821979
Matsushita Electric1119851987
All Nippon Airways SC1119871984
Hitachi111990–911988–89
Eidai Industries101973
Mitsubishi Motors101989–90
Fujita SC101991–92
Nissan Motor031977, 1978, 1981
Mazda SC021985, 1990–91
Kofu SC011973

League Cup

''See JSL Cup.''

Konica Cup

''See Konica Cup (football).''

All-time JSL member clubs

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

Original clubs

Other First Division Clubs

In order of their promotion to the top-flight:

Notable Second Division clubs

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

All-time JSL First Division table

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.ClubSeasonsPtsGPWDLGFGAGDBest
finish		Current divisionTier
1Mitsubishi267504602111171326825071751stJ1 League1
2Furukawa277314822031221577055961091stJ2 League2
3Yanmar267034601951181476795701091stJ1 League1
4Hitachi2454341615190175581608-271stJ1 League1
4Mazda22543376149961315264241021stJ1 League1
6Fujita18520340144881084953721231stJ1 League1
7Yomiuri1450328014471654812861951stJ2 League2
8NKK2139637898102178404601-1972nddefunct–
9Nippon Steel1738527411055109433406272nddefunct–
10Nissan123842441095778315284311stJ1 League1
11Yamaha1132222686647625524961stJ2 League2
12Honda11289226727381251267-163rdJFL4
13ANA5139110382547131145-142nddefunct–
14Matsushita5128110313544122152-305thJ1 League1
15Toyota8105156243399128363-2355thJ1 League1
16Toshiba382661925227276-44thJ1 League1
17Eidai369541912236783-165thdefunct–
18Sumitomo3606615153650101-5110thJ1 League1
19Nagoya Bank638849116476210-1346thAichi Prefectural D39
20Fujitsu22836610203267-359thJ1 League1
21Toyota ALW32042483038112-746thAichi Prefectural D17
22Tanabe14181116751-4410thdefunct–

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.