2018 J.League Cup

2018 J. League Cup
2018 JリーグYBCルヴァンカップ
Tournament details
Country	Japan
Dates	7 March – 27 October 2018
Teams	20
Final positions
Champions	Shonan Bellmare (1st title)
Runner-up	Yokohama F. Marinos
Tournament statistics
Matches played	69
Goals scored	207 (3 per match)
Top goal scorer(s)	Sho Ito
	← 2017 2019 →

The 2018 J.League Cup (2018 Jリーグカップ), or officially the 2018 J.League YBC Levain Cup (2018 JリーグYBCルヴァンカップ), is the 43rd edition of the Japanese football league cup tournament and the 26th edition under the current J. League Cup format.

The winners earned the right to play against the winners of the 2018 Copa Sudamericana in the 2019 J.League Cup / Copa Sudamericana Championship.

Format

^[1]

Byes

Teams that qualified for 2018 AFC Champions League group stage (3 or 4 teams) are given byes to the quarterfinals.

Group stage

The group stage is played by 16 teams, consisting of all other 2018 J1 League participants (14 or 15 teams) plus top 1 or 2 2018 J2 League participants based on the ranking of the previous season (i.e., 16th-placed team, and 17th-placed team if applicable, of 2017 J1 League).

Play-off stage

Play-off stage is played as four or five two-legged ties (number depending on the number of teams given byes to the quarterfinals so that eight teams play the quarterfinals).

If four teams are given byes to the quarterfinals, eight teams (top two teams of each group) advances to the play-off stage and composes four ties.
If three teams are given byes to the quarterfinals, ten teams (top two teams of each group, plus two best third-placed teams among four groups) advances to the play-off stage and composes five ties.

After the play-off stage where eight teams are active, quarterfinals (two-legged), semi finals (two-legged) and the final (single match) are played.

Group stage

Played between March 7 & May 16.

Tiebreakers

^[1]

To determine the ranking of a group, teams with the same points are ranked by the following criteria:

Points in the matches between the teams in question,
Goal differences in the matches between the teams in question,
Number of goals in the matches between the teams in question,
Number of away goals in the matches between the teams in question.
In case there are still two or more tied teams by the criteria above, re-apply them for only the tied teams. If the process does not classify teams anymore, see the following criteria.
Goal differences in all group matches,
Number of goals in all group matches,
Penalty shoot-out (only if just two teams are tied, and they play the last group match)
Fewer disciplinary points,
Drawing of lots.

To determine the best third-placed teams (if needed), teams with the same points are ranked by the following criteria:

Goal differences in all group matches,
Number of goals in all group matches,
Fewer disciplinary points,
Drawing of lots.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	VEG	YMA	ALB	TOK
1	Vegalta Sendai	6	3	2	1	10	6	+4	11	—	4–2	1–1	3–0
2	Yokohama F. Marinos	6	3	2	1	10	8	+2	11	0–0	—	2–1	1–0
3	Albirex Niigata	6	2	1	3	9	10	−1	7	3–1	1–3	—	3–2
4	FC Tokyo	6	1	1	4	5	10	−5	4	0–1	2–2	1–0	—

Source: Group A League table

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	JÚB	VEN	SSP	CON
1	Júbilo Iwata	6	4	0	2	9	7	+2	12	—	3–2	2–1	2–3
2	Ventforet Kofu	6	3	1	2	10	5	+5	10	0–1	—	1–0	3–0
3	Shimizu S-Pulse	6	3	1	2	8	5	+3	10	1–0	1–1	—	2–1
4	Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo	6	1	0	5	4	14	−10	3	0–1	0–3	0–3	—

Source: Group B League table

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	RED	GAM	SFR	GRA
1	Urawa Red Diamonds	6	4	1	1	9	5	+4	13	—	1–4	1–0	2–0
2	Gamba Osaka	6	3	0	3	12	13	−1	9	0–1	—	0–4	1–4
3	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	6	2	1	3	9	7	+2	7	0–0	2–3	—	2–1
4	Nagoya Grampus	6	2	0	4	9	14	−5	6	1–4	1–4	2–1	—

Source: Group C League table

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	VIS	BEL	VVN	SAG
1	Vissel Kobe	6	3	2	1	14	8	+6	11	—	3–4	2–2	1–1
2	Shonan Bellmare	6	3	1	2	8	8	0	10	0–3	—	2–0	1–0
3	V-Varen Nagasaki	6	2	1	3	9	11	−2	7	1–2	2–1	—	3–2
4	Sagan Tosu	6	1	2	3	5	8	−3	5	0–2	0–0	2–1	—

Source: Group D League table

Bracket

Play-off stage					Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Final

1	Ventforet Kofu	2	1	3

16	Urawa Red Diamonds	0	2	2
					Ventforet Kofu	2	1	3

					Kashiwa Reysol (a)	2	1	3
8	Kashiwa Reysol

9	Bye
									Kashiwa Reysol	1	2	3 (4)

									Shonan Bellmare (p)	1	2	3 (5)
5	Shonan Bellmare	3	1	4

12	Vegalta Sendai	0	3	3
					Shonan Bellmare	3	2	5

					Cerezo Osaka	0	2	2
4	Cerezo Osaka

13	Bye
													Shonan Bellmare	1

													Yokohama F. Marinos	0
6	Kashima Antlers

11	Bye
					Kashima Antlers	1	3	4

					Kawasaki Frontale	1	1	2
3	Kawasaki Frontale

14	Bye
									Kashima Antlers	1	2	3

									Yokohama F. Marinos	2	2	4
7	Gamba Osaka	1	3	4

10	Júbilo Iwata	0	2	2
					Gamba Osaka	0	1	1

					Yokohama F. Marinos	4	3	7
2	Yokohama F. Marinos	4	1	5

15	Vissel Kobe	2	1	3

Play-off stage

In each tie (two-legged tie) of play-offs, quarterfinals or semifinals, away goals rule is applied for goals in the regular playing time, but not in the extra time.^[1]

Played on June 2 & 9.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Shonan Bellmare	4–3	Vegalta Sendai	3–0	1–3
Gamba Osaka	4–2	Júbilo Iwata	1–0	3–2
Ventforet Kofu	3–2	Urawa Red Diamonds	2–0	1–2
Yokohama F. Marinos	5–3	Vissel Kobe	4–2	1–1

Quarterfinals

Played on September 5 & 9.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Shonan Bellmare	5–2	Cerezo Osaka	3–0	2–2
Ventforet Kofu	3–3 (a)	Kashiwa Reysol	2–2	1–1
Gamba Osaka	1–7	Yokohama F. Marinos	0–4	1–3
Kashima Antlers	4–2	Kawasaki Frontale	1–1	3–1

First leg

5 September 2018 (2018-09-05)	Shonan Bellmare	3–0	Cerezo Osaka	Shonan BMW Stadium, Hiratsuka
19:03	Matsuda 28' Umesaki 70' Kaneko 75'			Attendance: 5,896 Referee: M. Okabe

5 September 2018 (2018-09-05)	Ventforet Kofu	2–2	Kashiwa Reysol	Yamanashi Chuo Stadium, Kōfu
19:03	Nakayama 54' Soneda 69'		63' Nakagawa 85' Cristiano	Attendance: 4,157 Referee: M. Fukushima

5 September 2018 (2018-09-05)	Gamba Osaka	0–4	Yokohama F. Marinos	Panasonic Stadium Suita, Suita
19:03			2', 40' Ito 74' Ōtsu 75' Nakagawa	Attendance: 5,792 Referee: M. Nishimura

5 September 2018 (2018-09-05)	Kashima Antlers	1–1	Kawasaki Frontale	Kashima Soccer Stadium, Kashima
19:04	Nishi 19'		32' (pen.) Chinen	Attendance: 7,145 Referee: M. Īda

Second leg

9 September 2018 (2018-09-09)	Cerezo Osaka	2–2	Shonan Bellmare	Yanmar Stadium Nagai, Osaka
19:03	Takagi 25' Souza 35'		31' Kaneko 44' (pen.) Yamasaki	Attendance: 6,589 Referee: M. Iemoto

9 September 2018 (2018-09-09)	Yokohama F. Marinos	3–1	Gamba Osaka	Nissan Stadium, Yokohama
19:03	Nakagawa 12' Ito 20' (pen.), 85'		52' Ichimi	Attendance: 11,207 Referee: M. Araki

9 September 2018 (2018-09-09)	Kawasaki Frontale	1–3	Kashima Antlers	Ajinomoto Stadium, Chōfu
19:03	Abe 51' (pen.)		28', 37' Yamamoto 72' Serginho	Attendance: 19,214 Referee: M. Yamamoto

Semifinals

Played on October 10 & 14.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Kashiwa Reysol	3–3 (4–5 p)	Shonan Bellmare	1–1	2–2 (a.e.t.)
Kashima Antlers	3–4	Yokohama F. Marinos	1–2	2–2

First leg

10 October 2018 (2018-10-10)	Kashiwa Reysol	1–1	Shonan Bellmare	Hitachi Kashiwa Stadium, Kashiwa
19:04	Segawa 1'	Report	Kikuchi 9'	Attendance: 5,665 Referee: M. Nishimura

10 October 2018 (2018-10-10)	Kashima Antlers	1–2	Yokohama F. Marinos	Kashima Soccer Stadium, Kashima
19:03	Inukai 90+4'	Report	Amano 77' Vieira 90+5'	Attendance: 8,421 Referee: M. Matsuo

Second leg

14 October 2018 (2018-10-14)	Shonan Bellmare	2–2 (a.e.t.) (5–4 p)	Kashiwa Reysol	Shonan BMW Stadium, Hiratsuka
16:03	Ishikawa 28' Saka 93'	Report	Otani 70' Yamazaki 113'	Attendance: 13,018 Referee: M. Tōjō
	Penalties
	Sugioka Yamasaki Umesaki Saka Kaneko Takayama		Cristiano Nakayama Tezuka Esaka Suzuki Yamazaki

14 October 2018 (2018-10-14)	Yokohama F. Marinos	2–2	Kashima Antlers	Nissan Stadium, Yokohama
14:04	Vieira 20' Nakagawa 34'	Report	Doi 62' Serginho 70'	Attendance: 12,979 Referee: M. Satō

Final

27 October 2018 (2018-10-27)	Shonan Bellmare	1–0	Yokohama F. Marinos	Saitama Stadium 2002, Saitama
13:05	Sugioka 36'	Report		Attendance: 44,242 Referee: M. Kimura

Top goalscorers

As of match played 27 October 2018.^[2]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Sho Ito	Yokohama F. Marinos	8
2	Shun Nagasawa	Vissel Kobe	7
3	Hugo Vieira	Yokohama F. Marinos	5
3	Hwang Ui-jo	Gamba Osaka	5

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "2018JリーグYBCルヴァンカップ大会方式および試合方式について" [2018 J.League YBC Levain Cup tournament format] (in Japanese). J.League. 12 December 2017. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
^ "MEIJI YASUDA J1 LEAGUE | 2022 Stats".

External links

Official site (in Japanese)

[jleague-20171212-1] "2018JリーグYBCルヴァンカップ大会方式および試合方式について" [2018 J.League YBC Levain Cup tournament format] (in Japanese). J.League. 12 December 2017. Retrieved 5 September 2018.

[2] "MEIJI YASUDA J1 LEAGUE | 2022 Stats".

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