Football in Japan

Japan football association is founded in 1921 year, and since then this is the organization which determine Japan football league system and leads national football team of Japan. Also Japan is Asian country with most achievements in international football competitions.

As part of Asian football confederation, national football team of Japan participate in AFC Cup, Asian Cup and FIFA World Cup. In FIFA World Cup, Japan reaches round of 16 - 3 times and this is their best performance. In AFC Asian Cup, Japan have 4 titles and one time were on second place. Japan takes 30th place in FIFA all-time table.

Japanese football league system is built by hierarchical connected football divisions. Top three of them are professional, the other are semi-professional and amateur. Top three football leagues in Japan are:

J1 League – highest football league in Japan – contains 18 clubs
J2 League – second-highest football league – 22 clubs
J3 League – last professional football league – 18 clubs

Every year from 1921 year till now, Japan football association organize national football competition named Emperor Cup. This is a knockout football competition, open for all registered football teams in Japan. The winner obtains the right to participate in AFC Champions League.