Japanese Cocker League (JSL)

Each JSL team represented the company and, like the Japanese baseball teams, bore the name of the company that owned the team and consisted of employees of this company. Unlike baseball, the teams that occupied the last places left the league, and instead accepted new ones, as in the current J-League. Officially, the players were amateurs and, as a rule, most of the time they devoted to working in the company. In later years, the best football players were paid a salary directly for playing on the field.

Initially, the JSL consisted of only one division, but in 1972 a second division was added. Its winners could join the top one - the first division, winning in butt games with the clubs that finished last in the JSL. From 1973 to 1980, both the champions of the second division and the teams that took second places were supposed to play in butt games; subsequently, until 1984, the winners entered the top division directly, and only second teams played in butt games.

JSL's best teams included Hitachi , Furukawa Electric , Mitsubishi Motors , Nissan Motors , Toyo Industries / Mazda , and Yomiuri / Verdi Kawasaki , which later changed their names and even cities. Furukawa Electric was the only club not to leave the JSL top division.

As a result of the reform of the national league, it was decided to abolish the JSL, and instead create a new professional league, called the J-League. The last season of JSL was 1991/92 , and the J-League began to function only in 1993 . The nine best JSL clubs (along with the newly created Shimizu S-Pals ) and a member of the Sumitomo Division 2 were the first members of the new J-League. The rest - Yamaha Motors , Toshiba , Hitachi, Honda and six clubs of the second division became members of the semi-professional Japanese football league (JFL). And for the remainder of 1992, they played an 18-game championship in which Dzhubilo Ivata won. The remaining members of the second division of the JSL and the two clubs that won the regional leagues formed the second division of the Japanese football league JFL.

First Division

Clues in italics no longer exist.

Second Division

Clues in italics no longer exist.

League Cup

JSL Cup

The years of performance in the JSL First Division are shown in parentheses.

First 8 Clubs

• Furukawa Electric (1965-1992)
• Hitachi (1965-1992)
• Mitsubishi Motors (1965-1992)
• Toyoda Automatic Loom Works (1965-1968, 1972-1972)
• Nagoya Sogo Ginko (Mutual Bank) (1965-1966, 1968-1971)
• Yanmar Diesel (1965-1992)
• Toyo Industries / Mazda (1965-1992)
• Yawata Steele (1965-1991) - now does not exist

Other JSL Clubs

• Nippon Kokan (1967-1992) - now does not exist
• Towa Real Estate / Fujita (1972–1992)
• Toyota Motor (1972–1992)
• Tanabe Seiyaku (Pharmaceutical) (1972–1992)
• Eidai Sangyo (Industries) (1972-1977) - now does not exist
• Fujitsu (1972–1992)
• Yomiuri (1972–1992)
• Nissan Motors (1976–1992)
• Yamaha Motors (1979–1992)
• Honda (1975–1992)
• Sumitomo (1973–1992)
• All Nippon Airways / Yokohama Tristar / Yokohama Flyugels (1983–1992) - now does not exist
• Matsushita (1984–1992)
• Toshiba (1978–1992)

Japanese Soker League First Division (JSL)

Japanese Soker League Second Division (JSL)

• RSSSF
• Soccerphile: History of Japanese football
• BBC Sport: "How football went Japanese"