Benutzer:Soccer-holic/Japan Soccer League
| Japan Soccer League | |
| Japan Soccer League logo.png | |
| Abkürzung | JSL |
| Erstaustragung | 1965 |
| Letztmalige Austragung | 1991/92 |
| Hierarchie | 1. und 2. Liga |
| Rekordsieger | Yomiuri SC und Mazda SC (je 5 Titel) |
Die Japan Soccer League (
, Nihon Sakkā Rīgu) war die oberste Liga des japanischen Fußballs zwischen 1965 und 1992 und der Vorgänger der heutigen Japan Professional Football League. Die JSL war nach der bereits 1936 gegründeten japanischen Baseballliga der zweite landesweit ausgetragene Vereinssportwettbewerb und der erste, bei dem ausschließlich Amateurmannschaften antraten.
Geschichte
Each JSL team represented a corporation, and like Japanese baseball teams, went by the name of the company that owned the team. Unlike in baseball, however, promotion and relegation was followed, as J. League follows today. The players were officially amateur and were employees of the parent corporations, but especially in later years, top players were generally paid strictly to play soccer.
Originally the JSL consisted of a single division only, but in 1972 a Second Division was added. Clubs could join in by winning the All Japan Senior Football Championship cup competition and then winning a promotion/relegation series against the bottom teams in the JSL. From 1973 to 1980, both the champions and runners-up of the Second Division had to play the promotion/relegation series against the First Division's bottom clubs; afterwards and until 1984, only the runners-up had to play the series.
Top JSL teams included Hitachi Ltd., Furukawa Electric, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Nissan Motors, Toyo Industries (Mazda) and Yomiuri Shimbun, which are now, respectively, Kashiwa Reysol, JEF United Ichihara Chiba, Urawa Red Diamonds, Yokohama F. Marinos, Sanfrecce Hiroshima and Tokyo Verdy. Furukawa/JEF United was the only one never to be relegated to the Second Division and kept this distinction until 2009.
. JSL played its final season in 1991/92 and the J. League began play in 1993. Top nine JSL clubs, (along with the independent Shimizu S-Pulse) became the original J. League members. The others except Yomiuri Junior who merged with their parent club Yomiuri Club joined the newly formed Japan Football League.
