J.League

Season	1993
Champions	Verdy Kawasaki 1st J. League title 6th Japanese title
Asian Club Championship	Verdy Kawasaki
Matches played	180
Goals scored	532 (2.96 per match)
Top goalscorer	Ramón Díaz (28 goals)
Highest attendance	59,626 - Verdy vs. Marinos (May 15)
Lowest attendance	7,469 - Flügels vs. Reds (May 22)
Average attendance	17,976
1994 →

The J.League 1993 season was the inaugural season of the J.League Division 1. The league fixtures began on 15 May 1993, and ended on 15 December 1993. The first ever Suntory Championship took place in the following year, 9 January and 16 January 1994.

Honours

Competition	Champion	Runners-Up	3rd Place
Domestic league
J.League Suntory Series	Kashima Antlers	Verdy Kawasaki	Yokohama Marinos
J.League NICOS Series	Verdy Kawasaki	Shimizu S-Pulse	Yokohama Marinos
Suntory Championship	Verdy Kawasaki	Kashima Antlers	n/a
Cup competitions
Emperor's Cup	Yokohama Flügels	Kashima Antlers	Shimizu S-Pulse Sanfrecce Hiroshima
Nabisco Cup	Verdy Kawasaki	Shimizu S-Pulse	Yokohama Flügels Gamba Osaka
XEROX Super Cup	Not held

Clubs

Ten clubs participated in J.League during 1993 season:

• Kashima Antlers
• Urawa Red Diamonds
• JEF United Ichihara
• Verdy Kawasaki
• Yokohama Marinos
• Yokohama Flügels
• Shimizu S-Pulse
• Nagoya Grampus Eight
• Gamba Osaka
• Sanfrecce Hiroshima

Format

In the first year, the league followed split-season format, and each halves (or stages) were known as Suntory Series and NICOS Series for sponsorship purposes. In each series, ten clubs played in double round-robin format, a total of 18 games per club (per series). The games went to golden-goal extra time and penalties if needed after regulation. The clubs were ranked by number of wins, and tie breakers are, in the following order:

• Goal differential
• Goals scored
• Head-to-head results
• Extra match or a coin toss

The club that finished at the top of the table is declared stage champion and qualifies for the Suntory Championship. The first stage winner, hosts the first leg in the championship series. If the same club win both stages, the runners-up of each stages plays against each other and the winners challenges the stage winner at the championship game.

Results

Final standings

Suntory Series (1st Stage) Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Qualification
1	Kashima Antlers	18	13	5	41	18	+23	1993 Suntory Series Champions Qualifies to Suntory Championship '93
2	Verdy Kawasaki	18	12	6	29	21	+8
3	Yokohama Marinos	18	11	7	29	24	+5
4	Shimizu S-Pulse	18	10	8	28	25	+3
5	JEF United Ichihara	18	9	9	26	23	+3
6	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	18	9	9	23	24	−1
7	Yokohama Flügels	18	8	10	24	21	+3
8	Gamba Osaka	18	8	10	27	31	−4
9	Nagoya Grampus Eight	18	7	11	21	38	−17
10	Urawa Red Diamonds	18	3	15	11	34	−23

NICOS Series (2nd stage) Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Qualification
1	Verdy Kawasaki	18	16	2	43	10	+33	1993 NICOS Series Champions Qualifies to Suntory Championship '93
2	Shimizu S-Pulse	18	14	4	26	9	+17
3	Yokohama Marinos	18	10	8	31	24	+7
4	Kashima Antlers	18	10	8	31	25	+6
5	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	18	9	9	31	25	+6
6	Gamba Osaka	18	8	10	24	34	−10
7	Yokohama Flügels	18	8	10	20	30	−10
8	Nagoya Grampus Eight	18	5	13	27	28	−1
9	JEF United Ichihara	18	5	13	25	44	−19
10	Urawa Red Diamonds	18	5	13	15	44	−29

Suntory Championship '93

---

VERDY KAWASAKI won the series on 3-1 aggregate.

Overall standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Qualification
1	Verdy Kawasaki	36	28	8	69	28	+41	1993 J.League Champions Qualifies to 1994/95 ACC, 1994 Super Cup, and 1994 Sanwa Bank Cup
2	Kashima Antlers	36	23	13	72	43	+29
3	Shimizu S-Pulse	36	24	12	54	34	+20
4	Yokohama Marinos	36	21	15	60	48	+12
5	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	36	18	18	54	49	+5
6	Yokohama Flügels	36	16	20	44	51	−7
7	Gamba Osaka	36	16	20	51	65	−14
8	JEF United Ichihara	36	14	22	51	67	−16
9	Nagoya Grampus Eight	36	12	24	48	66	−18
10	Urawa Red Diamonds	36	8	28	26	78	−52

Average attendance

In its first year, the league averaged 17,976 fans and had over 3.2 million fans total over the course of the season. The following chart shows the league ranked in terms of average attendance:

Team Name	Total Number of Fans	Attendance Average
Verdy Kawasaki	454,237	25,235
Gamba Osaka	388,286	21,571
JEF United Ichihara	364,922	20,273
Nagoya Grampus Eight	357,451	19,858
Shimizu S-Pulse	332,312	18,462
Yokohama Marinos	302,054	16,781
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	299,586	16,644
Yokohama Flügels	278,346	15,464
Kashima Antlers	252,291	14,016
Urawa Red Diamonds	206,265	11,459
Total	3,235,750	17,976

Awards

MVP

Kazuyoshi Miura

Rookie of the Year

Masaaki Sawanobori

Manager of the Year

Yasutaro Matsuki

Best XI

Position	Player	Team
GK	Shigetatsu Matsunaga	Yokohama Marinos
DF	Shunzo Ono	Kashima Antlers
DF	Tetsuji Hashiratani	Verdy Kawasaki
DF	Pereira	Verdy Kawasaki
DF	Masami Ihara	Yokohama Marinos
DF	Takumi Horiike	Shimizu S-Pulse
MF	Santos	Kashima Antlers
MF	Yasuto Honda	Kashima Antlers
MF	Ruy Ramos	Verdy Kawasaki
FW	Kazuyoshi Miura	Verdy Kawasaki
FW	Ramón Díaz	Yokohama Marinos

References

• Source: J. League 1993 (RSSSF)