Japan Club Youth U-18 Football Championship Explained

Founded:	1977
Number Of Teams:	32
Current Champions:	Gamba Osaka (5th title)
Most Successful Club:	Tokyo Verdy (14 titles)
Website:	JFA
Current:	2024 Japan Club Youth U-18 Football Championship

The Japan Club Youth U-18 Championship (日本クラブユースサッカー選手権 (U-18)大会, Nihon kurabu yūsu sakkā senshuken U-18 taikai) is an annual nationwide association football tournament for youth clubs in Japan. It is restricted to members of the Japan Club Youth Football Federation.^[1]

Usually held during the summer, the competition's current format comprises 32 teams from 9 regions, which wins a spot in each competition through regional qualification. Similar to the FIFA World Cup, it starts on the group stage, with eight groups of four teams, with the best two of each advancing to the knockout stage.^[2]

Finals

Season	Winner ^[3] ^[4]	Score	Runners–up
1977	Hirakata FC	-	Yomiuri Club
1978	Kobe FC	-	Yomiuri Club
1979	Yomiuri A	-	Kobe FC
1980	Mitsubishi Yowa Yomiuri FC	-	Shared title
1981	Yomiuri A	-	Mitsubishi Yowa
1982		-	Mitsubishi Yowa
1983	Mitsubishi Yowa SC	-	Yokohama Three Star
1984	Hirakata FC	-	All-Japan Airways
1985	Yomiuri A	-	Hirakata FC
1986	Yomiuri A	-	Mitsubishi Yowa
1987	ANA Yokohama	-	Mitsubishi Yowa
1988	Yomiuri A	-	Mitsubishi Yowa
1989	Yomiuri	-	Mitsubishi Yowa
1990	Yomiuri	-	FC Machida
1991	Yomiuri	-	Hirakata FC
1992	Yomiuri	-	Matsushita FC
1993	Yomiuri	-	Mitsubishi Yowa
1994		-	Cerezo Osaka
1995	Yokohama Marinos	-	Panasonic Gamba Osaka
1996	Cerezo Osaka	-	Yokohama Marinos
1997	Urawa Red Diamonds	-	Kashima Antlers
1998	Gamba Osaka	-	JEF United Ichihara Chiba
1999		2–1	Bellmare Hiratsuka
2000		2–0	Kyoto Purple Sanga
2001		2–0	Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo
2002		1–0	Urawa Red Diamonds
2003		3–0	Urawa Red Diamonds
2004	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	4–1	Júbilo Iwata
2005	Tokyo Verdy	1–0	Yokohama F. Marinos
2006	Gamba Osaka	1–0	Tokyo Verdy
2007	Gamba Osaka	4–2	Júbilo Iwata
2008	FC Tokyo	1–0	Kashiwa Reysol
2009	Cerezo Osaka	1–0	FC Tokyo
2010	Tokyo Verdy	2–1	Kashiwa Reysol
2011	Tokyo Verdy	1–0	Vissel Kobe
2012	Kashiwa Reysol	3–2	Yokohama F. Marinos
2013	Yokohama F. Marinos	4–1	Sanfrecce Hiroshima
2014	Mitsubishi Yowa	1–0	FC Tokyo
2015	Yokohama F. Marinos	5–3	Omiya Ardija
2016	FC Tokyo	2–0	Shimizu S-Pulse
2017	FC Tokyo	2–0	Urawa Red Diamonds
2018	Shimizu S-Pulse	2–0	Omiya Ardija
2019		3–1	Sagan Tosu
2020	Sagan Tosu	3–2	FC Tokyo
2021	Nagoya Grampus	2–0	Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo
2022	Cerezo Osaka	3–1	Yokohama F. Marinos
2023 ^[5]	Gamba Osaka	3–3 (5–4 p.)	FC Tokyo
2024	Gamba Osaka	3–2	Kawasaki Frontale

Most successful clubs

P.	Team	Champions	Runners-up	Winning years
1		14	3	1979, 1980, 1981, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 2005, 2010, 2011
2		6	4	1987, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2013, 2015
3		5	2	1998, 2006, 2007, 2023, 2024
4		4	4	2001, 2008, 2016, 2017
5		3	7	1980, 1983, 2014
5		3	1	1996, 2009, 2022
7	Hirakata FC	2	2	1977, 1984
		2	1	2003, 2004
		2	1	2002, 2018
		2	0	2019, 2021
11		1	3	1997
	1	2	1978
	1	2	1999
	1	2	2012
	1	1	2020
	1	0	1982
18	All-Japan Airways Yokohama	0	2
		0	2
		0	2
		0	1
		0	1
		0	1
		0	1
		0	1

Individual awards

Year	MVP	Top Scorer
2001	Yuta Baba (FC Tokyo)	Tatsunori Arai (Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo)
2002
2003	Yusuke Tasaka (Sanfrecce Hiroshima)
2004	Shunsuke Maeda (Sanfrecce Hiroshima)	Shunsuke Maeda (Sanfrecce Hiroshima)
2005	Kohei Kiyama (Tokyo Verdy)	Kenta Hoshihara (Gamba Osaka)
2006	Shu Kurata (Gamba Osaka)	Shota Kimura (Yokohama F. Marinos)
2007	Kodai Yasuda (Gamba Osaka)	Yuki Oshitani (Júbilo Iwata)
2008	Hirotaka Mita (FC Tokyo)	Kentaro Shigematsu (FC Tokyo) Masato Kudo (Kashiwa Reysol)
2009	Kenyu Sugimoto (Cerezo Osaka)	Ryoga Sekihara (Yokohama F. Marinos) Sho Matsumoto (Yokohama F. Marinos)
2010	Yuki Kobayashi (Tokyo Verdy)	Kenshiro Kanemura (Yokohama FC)
2011	Ryuji Sugimoto (Tokyo Verdy)	Shuto Minami (Tokyo Verdy) Masato Tairaku (Kashiwa Reysol) Kosuke Kinoshita (Yokohama FC) Motoki Takahara (Nagoya Grampus)
2012	Hiroki Akino (Kashiwa Reysol)	Kosuke Kinoshita (Yokohama FC)
2013	Koya Yuruki (Yokohama F. Marinos)	Kota Kitagawa (Shimizu S-Pulse)
2014	Yuya Shimoda (Mitsubishi Yowa)	Yudai Hasukawa (FC Tokyo) Akira Silvano Disaro (Mitsubishi Yowa)
2015	Keita Endo (Yokohama F. Marinos)	Keita Endo (Yokohama F. Marinos)
2016	Yosuke Hanya (FC Tokyo)	Tsuyoshi Ogashiwa (Omiya Ardija) Yuta Taki (Shimizu S-Pulse) Takefusa Kubo (FC Tokyo)
2017	Kan Kobayashi (FC Tokyo)	Taichi Hara (FC Tokyo) Shogo Ikeda (Gamba Osaka)
2018	Togo Umeda (Shimizu S-Pulse)	Shoi Kobayashi (Omiya Ardija)
2019	Takeshi Ushizawa (Nagoya Grampus)	Ken Masui (Nagoya Grampus)
2020	Kodai Nagata (Sagan Tosu)	Zen Tanaka (Sagan Tosu)
2021	Gen Kato (Nagoya Grampus)	Hayato Manabe (Nagoya Grampus)
2022	Hinata Kawai (Cerezo Osaka)	Ota Yamamoto (Kashiwa Reysol)
2023	Rui Araki (Gamba Osaka)	Hikaru Muraki (Fagiano Okayama)

External links

Overview of 2023 Japan Club Youth U-18 Football Championship - JFA

Notes and References

Web site: 日本クラブユースサッカー選手権 U-18 2023. 2023 Japan Club Youth U-18 Football Championship. 27 August 2023. ja. jcy.jp. Japan Club Youth Soccer Federation.
Web site: 速報！【全試合ライブ配信しました】2023年度日本クラブユースサッカー選手権U-18 全国大会@群馬&東京 PK戦を制してガンバ大阪が優勝！各賞掲載！. Breaking news! (All games are live-streamed) 2023 Japan Club Youth U-18 Football Championship @Gunma & Tokyo; Gamba Osaka wins the title on penalty shoot-outs. Awards posted!. 27 August 2023. ja. juniorsoccer-news.com. Junior Soccer News.
Web site: 過去の大会結果　-日本クラブユース選手権(U-18大会). Past tournaments – Japan Club Youth U-18 Football Championship. 27 August 2023. ja. jcy.jp. Japan Club Youth Football Federation.
Web site: 第47回日本クラブユースサッカー選手権(U-18)大会歴代優勝チーム一覧. 2023 Japan Club Youth U-18 Football Championship – List of past winning teams. 27 August 2023. ja. jfa.jp. Japan Football Association.
Web site: 第47回日本クラブユースサッカー選手権(U-18)大会. 2023 Japan Club Youth U-18 Football Championship. 27 August 2023. ja. web.gekisaka.jp. Gekisaka.