The was the 34th season of the main competition for under-18 teams in Japan, the 13th after rebranding the competition to the current "Premier League" format, and the 2nd season with 24 clubs participating in the league.
Changes from the previous season The Premier League/Prince League play-offs gives an opportunity for teams to be promoted from the Prince Leagues (a conglomerate of regional leagues that forms the 2nd division of youth football in Japan). The two 10th-placed teams in their respective 2022 Premier League divisions participated in the play-offs, while the 11th and 12th-placed teams of each division were directly relegated. So, it not only determined the newcomers but also determined whether there will be other relegated teams from the Premier League or not.
On 2022, the number of teams that could make the jump to the top division were from four up to six.
Promoted from the Prince LeaguesRelegated by bottom-league finish (East)Relegated by bottom-league finish (West)Relegated through play-offsAsahikawa JitsugyoShoheiShoshiYonago KitaKamimura GakuenJFA Academy FukushimaKiryu DaiichiShimizu S-PulseGamba OsakaCerezo Osaka
Participating clubs As usual, the teams were allocated to each division by the JFA based on geographical positions. Yokohama FC U-18s was the only team to be relocated, switching from the East to the West on 2023.
Premier League EAST TeamPrefectureAsahikawa Jitsugyo High School HokkaidoAomori Yamada High SchoolAomoriShoshi High School FukushimaMaebashi Ikuei High SchoolGunmaShohei High School SaitamaOmiya ArdijaSaitamaChibaKashiwa ReysolChibaIchiritsu Funabashi High SchoolChibaFC TokyoTokyoKawasaki FrontaleKanagawaYokohama F. MarinosKanagawa
Premier League WEST TeamPrefectureYokohama FCKanagawaShizuoka Gakuen High SchoolShizuokaJúbilo IwataShizuokaNagoya GrampusAichiRiseisha High SchoolOsakaVissel KobeHyogoYonago Kita High School TottoriSanfrecce HiroshimaHiroshimaHigashi Fukuoka High SchoolFukuokaSagan TosuSagaOhzu High SchoolKumamotoKamimura Gakuen High School Kagoshima
League table Premier League East
Premier League West
Promotion/relegation play-offs Qualified for the stage the 16 top-ranked teams of the nine Prince League divisions, with each region having its amount of qualifying slots predetermined by the JFA. They were divided into four blocks, with their respective block winners (highlighted in bold) qualifying for the next season's Premier League.
Block A
Block B
Block C
Block D
Final
GK 1 Shoei SuzukiDF 2 Takuto KobayashiDF 3 Soju KonumaDF 4 Tora Yamamoto (c)DF 5 Kaito KoizumiDF 6 Toki SugasawaMF 8 Ryosuke Kawahara MF 10 Rei ShibataMF 13 Kenta Fukushima MF 14 Hidetaka SugimotoFW 11 Soji YoneyaSubstitutes:GK 12 Tatsuya HasegawaMF 16 Raichi Goto MF 19 Ikuma BeppuMF 23 Yuki IkedaMF 25 Kazunori SaitoFW 9 Takumi Tsushima FW 24 Tokiya YamashitaManager: Masanori Masaki GK 1 Koshin YamadaDF 3 Isshin KurokiDF 6 Milan Ishihara (c) DF 18 Shota KofieMF 7 Zento Torii MF 8 Yotaro NakajimaMF 14 Shin TakeyamaMF 15 Hinata HashimotoFW 9 Jo Tsunokake FW 10 Hagumu NakagawaFW 19 Aren Inoue Substitutes:GK 16 Shunsuke SawadaDF 2 Mikio YamaneDF 22 Fuga KotaniMF 11 Yuki Kimura MF 13 Seiya IshibashiMF 28 Shimon Kobayashi FW 29 Moki Sota Manager: Satoru Noda
Assistant referees: Kenji Wakamiya Yuta Ono Fourth official: Yasuhiro UdagawaMatch rules 90 minutes. Extra-time if scores still level at the end of regulation time. Penalty shoot-out if scores still level at the end of extra time. Seven named substitutes. Maximum of five substitutions during regulation time, with one more substition allowed if the match needs to go into extra-time.
Top scorers East RankPlayerClubGoals 1 Torataro Okazaki Kawasaki Frontale 18 2 Soji Yoneya Aomori Yamada 15 3 Nobuhiro Konno Kashiwa Reysol 13 4 Riku Gunji Ichiritsu Funabashi 12 5 Taiyo Yamaguchi FC Tokyo 10 6 Hiyu Ajiro Shoshi 8 7 Asahi Nakada RKU Kashiwa 7 Junki Osa Shohei Shun Sakuramatsu Shoshi Kento Shirasu Yokohama F. Marinos Haruhi Taneda Omiya Ardija Akito Toda Kashiwa Reysol Mohamad Sadiki Wade Kashiwa Reysol Tora Yamamoto Aomori Yamada
West RankPlayerClubGoals 1 Asuma Ikari Ohzu 20 2 Kyota Funahashi Júbilo Iwata 14 Minto Nishimaru Kamimura Gakuen 4 Soma Kanda Shizuoka Gakuen 12 Hagumu Nakagawa Sanfrecce Hiroshima 6 Tsubasa Inada Ohzu 10 7 Gaku Nawata Kamimura Gakuen 9 Shoi Sakamoto Vissel Kobe Daichi Suzuki Sagan Tosu Takumi Yoshioka Higashi Fukuoka
See also
Japan Football Association (JFA) League Japanese association football league system Prince Takamado Cup
References
External links Official website