1993 J.League

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.

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: 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.
 * Goal differential
 * Goals scored
 * Head-to-head results
 * Extra match or a coin toss

Suntory Championship '93

 * VERDY KAWASAKI won the series on 3-1 aggregate.

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:

Awards
🇯🇵 Kazuyoshi Miura Masaaki Sawanobori 🇯🇵 Yasutaro Matsuki
 * MVP
 * Rookie of the Year
 * Manager of the Year


 * Best XI