Japan Soccer League Cup

The Japan Soccer League Cup was the original league cup for clubs in the top levels of Japanese football before the creation of the J. League and its cup. The cup was first played in 1973, but did not become an annual tournament until 1976.

The JSL cup included clubs from both the First Division and the Second Division. The format varied; sometimes the clubs played small group stages, other times it was a downright elimination including only the clubs that were not recent promotions to the Second Division. During the season timeframe change of 1985, the cup was played within the year, a rule that stayed until the advent of the J. League.

Winners

Year Winner Score Runner-up
1973 Towa Real Estate (shared) 1-1 Yanmar Diesel (shared)
1976 Hitachi 1-0 Eidai Industries
1977 Furukawa Electric 4-0 Yanmar Diesel
1978 Mitsubishi Motors 2-1 Fujita Industries
1979 Yomiuri FC 3-2 Furukawa Electric
1980 Nippon Kokan 3-1 Hitachi
1981 Mitsubishi Motors (shared) 4-4 Toshiba (shared)
1982 Furukawa Electric 3-2 Yanmar Diesel
1983 Yanmar Diesel 1-0 Nissan Motors
1984 Yanmar Diesel 3-0 Toshiba
1985 Yomiuri FC 2-0 Nissan Motors
1986 Furukawa Electric 4-0 Nissan Motors
1987 Nippon Kokan 3-0 Sumitomo
1988 Nissan Motors 3-0 Toshiba
1989 Nissan Motors 1-0 Yamaha Motors
1990 Nissan Motors 3-1 Furukawa Electric
1991 Yomiuri FC 4-3 Honda Giken

Sources