2018 J.League Cup

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), was the 43rd edition of the Japanese football league cup tournament and the 26th edition under the current J. League Cup format.

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

Format

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 was 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 was 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) were played.^[1]

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:

1. Points in the matches between the teams in question,
2. Goal differences in the matches between the teams in question,
3. Number of goals in the matches between the teams in question,
4. Number of away goals in the matches between the teams in question.
5. 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.
6. Goal differences in all group matches,
7. Number of goals in all group matches,
8. Penalty shoot-out (only if just two teams are tied, and they play the last group match)
9. Fewer disciplinary points,
10. Drawing of lots.

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

1. Goal differences in all group matches,
2. Number of goals in all group matches,
3. Fewer disciplinary points,
4. 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

Shonan Bellmare v Cerezo Osaka

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

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Ventforet Kofu v Kashiwa Reysol

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

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Gamba Osaka v Yokohama F. Marinos

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

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Kashima Antlers v Kawasaki Frontale

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

Cerezo Osaka v Shonan Bellmare

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

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Yokohama F. Marinos v Gamba Osaka

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

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Kawasaki Frontale v Kashima Antlers

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

Kashiwa Reysol v Shonan Bellmare

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

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Kashima Antlers v Yokohama F. Marinos

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

Shonan Bellmare v Kashiwa Reysol

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

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Yokohama F. Marinos v Kashima Antlers

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

Main article: 2018 J.League Cup Final

Shonan Bellmare v Yokohama F. Marinos

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
	Hwang Ui-jo	Gamba Osaka	5