The J.League Cup (Jリーグカップ) is a Japanese football (soccer) competition organised by J.League, the men's association football league in Japan. It has been sponsored by Yamazaki Biscuits (YBC) of Yamazaki Baking (formerly Yamazaki Nabisco) since its inception in 1992. It is a.k.a. J.League YBC Levain Cup (JリーグYBCルヴァンカップ) or YBC Levain Cup (ルヴァンカップ、ルヴァン杯) (Levain is one of YBC's products). It was a.k.a. J.League Yamazaki Nabisco Cup (Jリーグヤマザキナビスコカップ) or Nabisco Cup (ナビスコカップ、ナビスコ杯) 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 (see the Format section below). 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)

As tournaments for J1 and J2 (1999–2001)

As tournaments for only J1 (2002–2017)

As tournaments for J1 and J2 (2018–2023)

0 to 2 clubs (varies depending on the number of J1 teams participating in the ACL group stage) 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 (i.e. Kawasaki Frontale, Yokohama F. Marinos and Ventforet Kofu) 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 (known as the "first stage") 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 (known locally as the "prime stage"), in which the format was unchanged.

Prizes

Trophy

The trophy has been produced by Tiffany & Co. since the third tournament in 1994. The sterling silver trophy, about 56cm tall, includes a soccer ball motif at the tip as a design feature. The tournament names "J.LEAGUE" and "YBC Levain CUP" are engraved on a silver plate attached to its ebony wood base.

Finals

Performances by team

Most valuable players

New Hero Award

This award is presented to an under-23 player who made the biggest contribution to his team in the competition. The winner is decided based on votes from football journalists.

Broadcasters

Japan

All matches of the competition is currently broadcast live by Fuji TV and SKY PerfecTV! respectively.

Outside Japan

YouTube only broadcast live coverage in prime stage matches through J.League International channel (exc. China, Hong Kong, and Thailand).