The Japan Professional League is the highest level of professional football league hosted by the Japan Football Association and one of the most influential and competitive football leagues in Asia. What are the formats and characteristics of the Japanese professional league?
The Japanese professional league is divided into two levels: J1 and J2. The J1 League is played by 18 teams and the J2 League is played by 22 teams. Each division of the league uses a home-and-away round-robin format, meaning that each team plays two matches against the other team, one at home and one away. A total of 34 rounds of matches were played in the J1 League and 42 rounds in the J2 League.
The top three teams from the J1 League will qualify for the AFC Champions League, the last two teams will be relegated to the J2 League, and the bottom three teams will play the relegation play-offs against the third team from the J2 League, with the winner staying or promoted to the J1 League and the loser being relegated or remaining in the J2 League. The top two teams in the J2 League will be promoted directly to the J1 League, the third-placed teams will play in the relegation play-offs, and the last two teams will be relegated to the J3 League.
One of the characteristics of the Japanese professional league is the use of two different point systems: the all-season point system and the season point system. The all-season points system refers to the calculation of points and rankings based on each team's wins, draws, losses and goals scored in all matches throughout the season, which is a common point system. The Season Segment Points System refers to the division of the season into two phases: Season 1 and Season 2, each with 17 rounds, and the points and rankings are calculated based on the results of each team in each season segment, which is a unique point system.
The second feature of the Japanese professional league is that there are two different ways in which the champion is decided: the league champion and the champion group winner. The league championship refers to the ranking according to the season-wide points system, and the team with the highest points at the end of the season wins the league championship, which is a traditional way of deciding the champion. The champion group refers to the ranking according to the season segment point system, the top four teams in the first season segment and the second season segment enter the championship group, the championship group will play a double round-robin system, each team will play home and away matches with 7 other teams, a total of 14 games, and the team with the highest final points will win the championship group, which is an innovative way to determine the champion.
The third feature of the Japanese professional league is that there are two different types of relegation: direct relegation and additional relegation. Outright relegation refers to the direct relegation of the two teams with the lowest points at the end of the season to the next league according to the ranking based on the season-wide points system, which is a common form of relegation. Play-off relegation refers to a two-legged play-off between the third-best team in the next division and the third-placed team in the next division at the end of the season according to the ranking of the season-wide points system, with the winner staying or promoted to the previous league and the loser relegated or staying in the next league, which is a way of relegation to increase the suspense.
The format and characteristics of the Japanese professional league reflect the characteristics and style of Japanese football, and also provide fans with more fun to watch and guess. The Japanese professional league is one game, two results, which one do you prefer?