| J.League Cup | |
| Year: | 2023 |
| Other Titles: | 2023 JリーグYBCルヴァンカップ |
| Dates: | 8 March – 4 November |
| Country: | Japan |
| Num Teams: | 20 |
| Winners: | Avispa Fukuoka |
| Count: | 1 |
| Second: | Urawa Red Diamonds |
| Matches: | 73 |
| Goals: | 190 |
| Prev Season: | 2022 |
| Next Season: | 2024 |
| Scoring Leader: | Noriyoshi Sakai Asahi Uenaka (4 goals each) |
The 2023 J.League Cup, known as the 2023 J.League YBC Levain Cup (ja|2023 JリーグYBCルヴァンカップ) for sponsorship reasons, was the 31st edition of J.League Cup, a Japanese association football cup competition.[1] Unlike previous editions, the competition did not use the away goals rule. No byes awarded for the knockout stage and thus no knockout round playoffs.
Sanfrecce Hiroshima were the defending champions, having beaten Cerezo Osaka 2–1 in the 2022 final to win their first J.League Cup title. They were unable to defend their title after their elimination in the group stage.
Avispa Fukuoka won their first ever major trophy by defeating two-time winners Urawa Red Diamonds in the final. They became the third consecutive new winners of the tournament, following Nagoya Grampus in 2021 and Sanfrecce Hiroshima in 2022.
All 18 teams in the 2023 J1 League participated as well as the top two relegated teams from the 2022 season. Different from the previous editions, no teams were awarded bye or a direct qualification for the knockout stage. The change was made due to AFC Champions League's calendar shift, as it adopted the spring-autumn season format from 2023 and got rid of the year-round format, thus having the 2023–24 group stage played from September 2023.[1]
Twenty teams played in the group stage, divided into five groups of four teams, allocated in each group by their finish on the 2022 J1 and J2 Leagues. Each group winners and the three best-placed runners-up qualified to the quarter-finals.[2]
This was the last edition to feature a group stage like the Scottish League Cup and Taça da Liga. From 2024, it would be held as a single knockout competition like the EFL Cup and would see all clubs from the season's J1, J2, and J3 Leagues participate, thus including the clubs from all J.League divisions for the first time since 2001.[3]
| League | Team | Final 2022 rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 J1 | Yokohama F. Marinos | 1st |
| Kawasaki Frontale | 2nd | |
| Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 3rd | |
| Kashima Antlers | 4th | |
| Cerezo Osaka | 5th | |
| FC Tokyo | 6th | |
| Kashiwa Reysol | 7th | |
| Nagoya Grampus | 8th | |
| Urawa Red Diamonds | 9th | |
| Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo | 10th | |
| Sagan Tosu | 11th | |
| Shonan Bellmare | 12nd | |
| Vissel Kobe | 13rd | |
| Avispa Fukuoka | 14th | |
| Gamba Osaka | 15th | |
| Kyoto Sanga | 16th | |
| Shimizu S-Pulse (2023 J2) | 17th | |
| Júbilo Iwata (2023 J2) | 18th | |
| 2022 J2 | Albirex Niigata (2023 J1) | 1st |
| Yokohama FC (2023 J1) | 2nd |
The schedule was confirmed along with the holding method of the competition on 20 December 2022.[1]
| Stage | Round | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Group stage | Matchday 1 | 8 March 2023 |
| Matchday 2 | 25–26 March 2023 | |
| Matchday 3 | 5 April 2023 | |
| Matchday 4 | 19 April 2023 | |
| Matchday 5 | 24 May 2023 | |
| Matchday 6 | 18 June 2023 | |
| Knockout stage | ||
| Quarter-finals | 6 September 2023 (first leg) 10 September 2023 (second leg) | |
| Semi-finals | 11 October 2023 (first leg) 15 October 2023 (second leg) | |
| Final | 4 November 2023 |
Each group had its matches played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. Each match lasted 90 minutes. Each team played six times, twice against each opponent at home and away.
In the group stage, teams in a group were ranked by points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If the points were tied, the following tiebreakers were applied accordingly:[1]
If more than two teams were tied, and applying all head-to-head criteria above remains a part of teams still tied, reapply the criteria above only for the tied teams.
The three best runners-up from the five groups advanced to the knockout stage along with the five group winners.
In the knockout stage (also called the "Prime Stage" in Japan), which started with the quarter-finals, the matches were played in two legs, except for the final. The aggregate winners of each tie would qualify for the next round. Should in the second leg of either the quarter-final or semi-final the aggregate score was tied, extra-time would have been played. Should the draw stood, penalty shoot-outs would have been played to determine the tie winners. From this season on, the away goals rule would not be applied under any circumstances throughout the entire competition.
The draw to decide the match-ups was held on 3 July 2023 at 12:00 JST.[4]
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Nagoya Grampus won 3–2 on aggregate.----Avispa Fukuoka won 2–1 on aggregate.----Urawa Red Diamonds won 4–0 on aggregate.----Yokohama F. Marinos won 5–3 on aggregate.
|}
Avispa Fukuoka won 2–0 on aggregate.----Urawa Red Diamonds won 2–1 on aggregate.
See main article: 2023 J.League Cup final. This was Avispa's first major tournament final, while for Urawa this was their seventh J.League Cup final, winning two from the previous six. Their most recent final was in 2016, which they won.[5]
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals[6] [7] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Noriyoshi Sakai | Nagoya Grampus | 4 |
| Asahi Uenaka | Yokohama F. Marinos | ||
| 3 | Bryan Linssen | Urawa Red Diamonds | 3 |
 Makoto Mitsuta | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | ||
| Kota Mizunuma | Yokohama F. Marinos | ||
| Sho Sasaki | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | ||
| Reiju Tsuruno | Avispa Fukuoka | ||
 Milan Tučić | Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo | ||
| Wellington | Avispa Fukuoka | ||
| Naoki Yamada | Shonan Bellmare< | --2 | |
| Alex Schalk | Urawa Red Diamonds | ||
| Alexander Scholz | Urawa Red Diamonds | ||
| Yuya Yamagishi | Avispa Fukuoka--> |