Japan Soccer League

Japan Soccer League (JSL)

Founded	1965
Folded	1992
Replaced by	J.League
Country	Japan
Confederation	AFC
Divisions	1 (1965–1971) 2 (1972–1992)
Number of clubs	12
Level on pyramid	1 (1965–1971) 1–2 (1972–1992)
Relegation to	Regional Leagues
Domestic cup(s)	Emperor's Cup JSL Cup
International cup(s)	Asian Club Championship Asian Cup Winners' Cup
Last champions	Yomiuri (1991–92)
Most championships	Mazda Yomiuri (5 titles each)

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.

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.

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

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

See JSL Cup.

See Konica Cup (football).

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

• Furukawa Electric (1965–1992), became JEF United Chiba
• Hitachi SC (1965–1992), became Kashiwa Reysol
• Mitsubishi Motors (1965–1992), became Urawa Red Diamonds
• Toyota Industries (1965–1968, 1972–1973), became Toyota Industries SC
• Nagoya Mutual Bank (1965–1966, 1968–1971), became Nagoya WEST FC
• Yanmar Diesel (1965–1992), became Cerezo Osaka
• Toyo Industries / Mazda (1965–1992), became Sanfrecce Hiroshima
• Yawata Steel / Nippon Steel (1965–1991), became Nippon Steel Yawata SC, defunct

In order of their promotion to the top-flight:

• Nippon Kokan (Nippon Steel Piping) / NKK SC (1967–1992), defunct
• Towa Real Estate / Fujita Industry / Fujita (1972–1992), became Shonan Bellmare
• Toyota Motor (1972–1992), became Nagoya Grampus
• Tanabe Pharmaceutical (1972–1992), became Tanabe Mitsubishi Pharma SC, defunct
• Eidai Industries (1972–1977), became Eidai SC, defunct
• Fujitsu SC (1972–1992), became Kawasaki Frontale
• Yomiuri FC (1972–1992), became Tokyo Verdy
• Nissan Motor (1976–1992), became Yokohama F. Marinos
• Yamaha Motor (1979–1992), became Júbilo Iwata
• Honda (1975–1992), became Honda FC
• Sumitomo Metal (1973–1992), became Kashima Antlers
• Yokohama Tristar / All Nippon Airways SC (1983–1992), became Yokohama Flügels, defunct
• Yokohama Tristar / All Nippon Airways SC (1983-1992), became Yokohama Flugels, a moment now,

Yokohama Football Club

• Matsushita Electric (1984–1992), became Gamba Osaka
• Toshiba (1978–1992), became Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo

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

• Kofu Club (1972–1992), became Ventforet Kofu
• Kyoto Shiko Club (1972–1978, 1988–1992), became Kyoto Purple Sanga and then Kyoto Sanga. Note that phoenix Kyoto Shiko Club was formed in 1993 and now competes in the Kansai Soccer League.
• Kawasaki Steel (1986–1992), became Vissel Kobe
• NTT Kanto (1987–1992), became Omiya Ardija
• Otsuka Pharmaceutical (1990–1992), became Tokushima Vortis
• Tokyo Gas (1992), became FC Tokyo
• Chūō Bohan (Central Crime Prevention, 1992), became Avispa Fukuoka
• TDK SC (1985–1987), became Blaublitz Akita

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.

• Category:Japan Soccer League players
• Category:Japan Soccer League seasons

• Final tables from 1965 on (First Division only) at rsssf.com
• Soccerphile: History of Japanese football
• BBC Sport: "How football went Japanese"
• Contents of Domestic Competition of Football in Japan
• JSL Ganbare! Archived 2020-08-18 at the Wayback Machine