2017 J.League Cup

The 2017 J.League Cup (2017 Jリーグカップ), or officially the 2017 J.League YBC Levain Cup (2017 JリーグYBCルヴァンカップ), was the 42nd edition of the most prestigious Japanese football league cup tournament and the 25th edition under the current J.League Cup format.

2017 J.League Cup

2017 JリーグYBCルヴァンカップ
Tournament details
Country	Japan
Dates	15 March – 4 November 2017
Teams	18
Final positions
Champions	Cerezo Osaka (1st title)
Runner-up	Kawasaki Frontale
Tournament statistics
Matches played	59
Goals scored	157 (2.66 per match)
Top goal scorer(s)	Crislan (5 goals)

Format

Teams from the J.League Division 1 will take part in the tournament. Teams that qualified for 2017 AFC Champions League group stage (3 or 4 teams: later confirmed as Gamba Osaka, Kashima Antlers, Kawasaki Frontale and Urawa Red Diamonds) were given byes to the quarter-finals. The remaining teams (14 or 15 teams) started from the group stage, where they were divided into two groups of 7 or 8 teams. The group winners of each group were to qualify for the quarter-finals. The remained quarter-finalists (2 or 3 teams) were to be the winners of the play-off of the following two-legged ties:

• If 3 teams automatically qualified for the quarter-finals due to the participation in AFC Champions League:
  • Group A runners-up v. Group B fourth place
  • Group A third place v. Group B third place
  • Group A fourth place v. Group B runners-up
• If 4 teams automatically qualified for the quarter-finals due to the participation in AFC Champions League:
  • Group A runners-up v. Group B third place
  • Group A third place v. Group B runners-up

Group stage

Group A

Standings

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Vegalta Sendai	6	4	1	1	10	10	0	13
FC Tokyo	6	4	0	2	14	8	+6	12
Consadole Sapporo	6	3	1	2	7	5	+2	10
Júbilo Iwata	6	3	0	3	10	10	0	9
Omiya Ardija	6	2	2	2	11	8	+3	8
Kashiwa Reysol	6	1	2	3	4	6	−2	5
Shimizu S-Pulse	6	1	0	5	5	14	−9	3

Source:

Results

Home \ Away	ARD	REY	TOK	VEG	JÚB	CON	SSP
Omiya Ardija		0–0		1–2			4–0
Kashiwa Reysol			0–1		1–2		1–0
FC Tokyo	4–3			6–0		1–0
Vegalta Sendai		1–1			2–0		3–1
Júbilo Iwata	1–2		3–1			0–2
Consadole Sapporo	1–1	2–1		1–2
Shimizu S-Pulse			2–1		2–4	0–1

Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Group B

Standings

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Vissel Kobe	6	5	0	1	10	3	+7	15
Cerezo Osaka	6	4	2	0	9	4	+5	14
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	6	3	1	2	5	6	−1	10
Yokohama F. Marinos	6	3	0	3	8	8	0	9
Ventforet Kofu	6	1	2	3	5	6	−1	5
Sagan Tosu	6	1	2	3	10	12	−2	5
Albirex Niigata	6	0	1	5	3	11	−8	1

Source:

Results

Home \ Away	SFR	VIS	YMA	SAG	VEN	ALB	CER
Sanfrecce Hiroshima				1–0	0–0		0–1
Vissel Kobe	4–1			1–0	2–1
Yokohama F. Marinos	1–2	0–2				4–1
Sagan Tosu			1–2			2–2	4–4
Ventforet Kofu			0–1	2–3			0–0
Albirex Niigata	0–1	0–1					0–2
Cerezo Osaka		1–0	2–0			1–0

Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Play-off stage

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Consadole Sapporo	0–3	Cerezo Osaka	0–2	0–1
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	0–2	FC Tokyo	0–1	0–1

Quarter-finals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Cerezo Osaka	2–2 (a)	Urawa Red Diamonds	0–0	2–2
Kawasaki Frontale	7–1	FC Tokyo	2–0	5–1
Vegalta Sendai	5–4	Kashima Antlers	3–1	2–3
Vissel Kobe	0–2	Gamba Osaka	0–0	0–2

Semi-finals

First leg

Cerezo Osaka v Gamba Osaka

4 October 2017 (2017-10-04)	Cerezo Osaka	2–2	Gamba Osaka	Yanmar Stadium Nagai, Osaka
19:03	Ricardo Santos 23' Kimoto 81'		16' Akasaki 86' Ide	Attendance: 21,800 Referee: M. Tōjō

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Vegalta Sendai v Kawasaki Frontale

4 October 2017 (2017-10-04)	Vegalta Sendai	3–2	Kawasaki Frontale	Yurtec Stadium Sendai, Sendai
19:04	Ishihara 24' Crislan 33', 45+1(pen.)'		72' Nara 90+4' Chinen	Attendance: 8,382 Referee: T. Okabe

Second leg

Gamba Osaka v Cerezo Osaka

8 October 2017 (2017-10-08)	Gamba Osaka	1–2	Cerezo Osaka	Suita City Football Stadium, Suita
14:03	Izumisawa 60'		15' Kakitani 90+5' Kimoto	Attendance: 31,578 Referee: N. Murakami

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Kawasaki Frontale v Vegalta Sendai

8 October 2017 (2017-10-08)	Kawasaki Frontale	3–1	Vegalta Sendai	Todoroki Athletics Stadium, Kawasaki
15:04	Miyoshi 29', 49' Hasegawa 90'		59' Nakano	Attendance: 22,385 Referee: M. Toma

Final

Main article: 2017 J.League Cup Final

Cerezo Osaka v Kawasaki Frontale

4 November 2017 (2017-11-04)	Cerezo Osaka	2–0	Kawasaki Frontale	Saitama
13:05 UCT+9	Sugimoto 1' Souza 90+2'			Stadium: Saitama Stadium 2002 Attendance: 53,452 Referee: Y. Nishimura

Top scorers

As of match played 4 November 2017.

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Crislan	Vegalta Sendai	5
2	Koki Ogawa	Júbilo Iwata	4
	Junya Tanaka	Vissel Kobe
	Ricardo Santos	Cerezo Osaka

References

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