| Top Challenge League | |
| Current Season: | 2020 Top Challenge League |
| Pixels: | 250px |
| Sport: | Rugby union |
| Founded: | 2003 |
| Inaugural: | 2004 |
| Folded: | 2021 |
| Replaced: | Japan Rugby League One |
| Teams: | 8 |
| Promotion: | Top League |
| Country: | Japan |
| Gov Body: | Japan Rugby Football Union |
| Website: | Top League |
| Related Comps: | Top League |
The Top Challenge League was a professional rugby union competition in Japan. It was the second-highest level of rugby competition in the country and is a companies league; all the teams are owned by major companies and the players are generally employees of their company. The Japan Rugby Football Union created the Top League Challenge Series in 2003 in order to give teams playing in the second-tier regional leagues a pathway to progress to the top tier Top League; this became the Top Challenge League in 2017 when a second-tier league was introduced. The competition was disbanded following the creation of the fully-professional Japan Rugby League One ahead of 2022, with the Top League and Top Challenge League being absorbed together to form one three division tournament.[1]
For the 2003–04 season, a Top League competition was created as the top-tier competition in Japan, consisting of twelve teams. All remaining teams were placed in one of three regional leagues, as follows:
The Top League Challenge Series was introduced as a post-season competition for the leading teams from these three regional leagues to win promotion to the Top League for the following season.
In August 2016, the JRFU announced that the Top League Challenge Series would become a second-tier league from 2017 onwards, known as the Top Challenge League.[2]
Between 2003–04 and 2016–17, the Top League Challenge Series consisted of two divisions – the Challenge 1 and the Challenge 2 series. The three teams that won the regional leagues progressed to the Challenge 1 series, while the runners-up progressed to the Challenge 2 series. In both divisions, teams played in a round-robin format to determine the final standings.
While the exact format varied from season to season, a number of top-placed teams in the Challenge 1 won automatic promotion to the next season's Top League each season, while the next-best teams qualified for promotion play-off matches against teams that finished towards the bottom of that season's Top League. The top teams from Challenge 2 would either qualify to the promotion play-off matches, or progress to the same season's Challenge 1 series.
The following Top League Challenge Series were played as post-season play-offs:
| Top League Challenge Series | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Automatically promoted | Promoted via play-offs | Failed to win promotion via play-offs | |
| 2004[3] | — | Kyuden Voltex, Toyota Industries Shuttles | ||
| 2005[4] | — | Honda Heat, Toyota Industries Shuttles | ||
| 2006[5] | Coca-Cola West Red Sparks, IBM Big Blue | — | Honda Heat, Kintetsu Liners, Kyuden Voltex, NTT Communications Shining Arcs | |
| 2007[6] | — | Honda Heat, Kintetsu Liners | ||
| 2008[7] | — | Mazda Blue Zoomers, World Fighting Bull | ||
| 2009[8] | — | Mazda Blue Zoomers, Toyota Industries Shuttles | ||
| 2010[9] | NTT Shining Arcs, Toyota Industries Shuttles | — | Mazda Blue Zoomers, Yokogawa Musashino Atlastars | |
| 2010–11[10] | — | Canon Eagles, Kyuden Voltex | ||
| 2011–12[11] | Canon Eagles, Kyuden Voltex | — | Kubota Spears, Toyota Industries Shuttles | |
| 2012–13[12] | Coca-Cola West Red Sparks, Kubota Spears | Toyota Industries Shuttles | Mitsubishi Dynaboars | |
| 2013–14[13] | Fukuoka Sanix Blues | — | Honda Heat, Mitsubishi Dynaboars, Yokogawa Musashino Atlastars | |
| 2014–15[14] | Honda Heat | — | Kamaishi Seawaves, Kyuden Voltex, Mitsubishi Dynaboars | |
| 2015–16[15] | — | Kyuden Voltex, Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars, Osaka Police | ||
| 2016–17[16] | NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes | — | Hino Red Dolphins, Kyuden Voltex, Mitsubishi Dynaboars |
The following Top Challenge League seasons were played as a round-robin league:
| Top Challenge League | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Automatically promoted | Promoted via play-offs | Failed to win promotion via play-offs | |
| 2017[17] | Honda Heat | Hino Red Dolphins | Kyuden Voltex, Mitsubishi Dynaboars | |
| 2018[18] | — | Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars, NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes | Kintetsu Liners, Kurita Water Gush |