2023 J.League Cup

The 2023 J.League Cup, known as the 2023 J.League YBC Levain Cup (2023 JリーグYBCルヴァンカップ) for sponsorship reasons, was the 31st edition of J.League Cup, a Japanese association football cup competition. Unlike previous editions, the competition did not use the away goals rule. No byes awarded for the knockout stage and thus no knockout round playoffs.

Sanfrecce Hiroshima were the defending champions, having beaten Cerezo Osaka 2–1 in the 2022 final to win their first J.League Cup title. They were unable to defend their title after their elimination in the group stage.

Avispa Fukuoka won their first ever major trophy by defeating two-time winners Urawa Red Diamonds in the final. They became the third consecutive new winners of the tournament, following Nagoya Grampus in 2021 and Sanfrecce Hiroshima in 2022.

Format
All 18 teams in the 2023 J1 League participated as well as the top two relegated teams from the 2022 season. Different from the previous editions, no teams were awarded bye or a direct qualification for the knockout stage. The change was made due to AFC Champions League's calendar shift, as it adopted the spring-autumn season format from 2023 and got rid of the year-round format, thus having the 2023–24 group stage played from September 2023.

Twenty teams played in the group stage, divided into five groups of four teams, allocated in each group by their finish on the 2022 J1 and J2 Leagues. Each group winners and the three best-placed runners-up qualified to the quarter-finals.

This was the last edition to feature a group stage like the Scottish League Cup and Taça da Liga. From 2024, it would be held as a single knockout competition like the EFL Cup and would see all clubs from the season's J1, J2, and J3 Leagues participate, thus including the clubs from all J.League divisions for the first time since 2001.

Schedule
The schedule was confirmed along with the holding method of the competition on 20 December 2022.

Group stage
Each group had its matches played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. Each match lasted 90 minutes. Each team played six times, twice against each opponent at home and away.

Tiebreakers
In the group stage, teams in a group were ranked by points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If the points were tied, the following tiebreakers were applied accordingly:


 * 1) Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
 * 2) Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
 * 3) Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;

If more than two teams were tied, and applying all head-to-head criteria above remains a part of teams still tied, reapply the criteria above only for the tied teams.
 * 1) Goal difference in all group matches;
 * 2) Goals scored in all group matches;
 * 3) Penalty shoot-out if only two teams were tied and they met in the sixth match of the group;
 * 4) Fewer disciplinary points;
 * 5) Drawing of lots.

Ranking of runners-up
The three best runners-up from the five groups advanced to the knockout stage along with the five group winners.

Knockout stage
In the knockout stage (also called the "Prime Stage" in Japan), which started with the quarter-finals, the matches were played in two legs, except for the final. The aggregate winners of each tie would qualify for the next round. Should in the second leg of either the quarter-final or semi-final the aggregate score was tied, extra-time would have been played. Should the draw stood, penalty shoot-outs would have been played to determine the tie winners. From this season on, the away goals rule would not be applied under any circumstances throughout the entire competition.

The draw to decide the match-ups was held on 3 July 2023 at 12:00 JST.

Summary

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Matches
Nagoya Grampus won 3–2 on aggregate.

Avispa Fukuoka won 2–1 on aggregate.

Urawa Red Diamonds won 4–0 on aggregate.

Yokohama F. Marinos won 5–3 on aggregate.

Summary

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Matches
Avispa Fukuoka won 2–0 on aggregate.

Urawa Red Diamonds won 2–1 on aggregate.

Final
This was Avispa's first major tournament final, while for Urawa this was their seventh J.League Cup final, winning two from the previous six. Their most recent final was in 2016, which they won.