# 2023 Prince Takamado U-18 Premier League

The 2023 Prince Takamado JFA U-18 Football Premier League (Japanese: 高円宮杯 JFA U-18サッカープレミアリーグ 2023, Hepburn: Takamado no Miya-hai JFA U-18 Sakkā Puremia Rīgu 2023) 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 Leagues | Relegated by bottom-league finish (East) | Relegated by bottom-league finish (West) | Relegated through play-offs |
| Asahikawa Jitsugyo Shohei Shoshi Yonago Kita Kamimura Gakuen | JFA Academy Fukushima Kiryu Daiichi | Shimizu S-Pulse Gamba Osaka | Cerezo 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

| Team | Prefecture |
| Asahikawa Jitsugyo High School | Hokkaido |
| Aomori Yamada High School | Aomori |
| Shoshi High School | Fukushima |
| Maebashi Ikuei High School | Gunma |
| Shohei High School | Saitama |
| Omiya Ardija | Saitama |
| Ryutsu Keizai Kashiwa High School | Chiba |
| Kashiwa Reysol | Chiba |
| Ichiritsu Funabashi High School | Chiba |
| FC Tokyo | Tokyo |
| Kawasaki Frontale | Kanagawa |
| Yokohama F. Marinos | Kanagawa |

### Premier League WEST

| Team | Prefecture |
| Yokohama FC | Kanagawa |
| Shizuoka Gakuen High School | Shizuoka |
| Júbilo Iwata | Shizuoka |
| Nagoya Grampus | Aichi |
| Riseisha High School | Osaka |
| Vissel Kobe | Hyogo |
| Yonago Kita High School | Tottori |
| Sanfrecce Hiroshima | Hiroshima |
| Higashi Fukuoka High School | Fukuoka |
| Sagan Tosu | Saga |
| Ohzu High School | Kumamoto |
| Kamimura Gakuen High School | Kagoshima |

## League table
### Premier League East

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 1 | Aomori Yamada | 22 | 16 | 3 | 3 | 54 | 25 | +29 | 51 | Qualification for Premier League final |
| 2 | Shoshi | 22 | 15 | 4 | 3 | 46 | 20 | +26 | 49 | |
| 3 | Kawasaki Frontale | 22 | 14 | 4 | 4 | 57 | 17 | +40 | 46 | |
| 4 | Kashiwa Reysol | 22 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 50 | 30 | +20 | 36 | |
| 5 | Ichiritsu Funabashi | 22 | 8 | 10 | 4 | 34 | 28 | +6 | 34 | |
| 6 | Ryutsu Keizai Kashiwa | 22 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 30 | 29 | +1 | 27 | |
| 7 | Shohei | 22 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 30 | 34 | −4 | 26 | |
| 8 | Maebashi Ikuei | 22 | 8 | 2 | 12 | 28 | 41 | −13 | 26 | |
| 9 | Omiya Ardija | 22 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 22 | 35 | −13 | 23 | |
| 10 | FC Tokyo | 22 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 26 | 36 | −10 | 22 | |
| 11 | Yokohama F. Marinos | 22 | 4 | 5 | 13 | 26 | 42 | −16 | 17 | Relegation to the Prince Leagues |
| 12 | Asahikawa Jitsugyo | 22 | 3 | 1 | 18 | 17 | 83 | −66 | 10 | Relegation to the Prince Leagues |

### Premier League West

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 1 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 22 | 14 | 4 | 4 | 50 | 27 | +23 | 46 | Qualification for Premier League final |
| 2 | Vissel Kobe | 22 | 14 | 3 | 5 | 42 | 19 | +23 | 45 | |
| 3 | Shizuoka Gakuen | 22 | 12 | 4 | 6 | 40 | 33 | +7 | 40 | |
| 4 | Ohzu | 22 | 10 | 3 | 9 | 47 | 43 | +4 | 33 | |
| 5 | Yokohama FC | 22 | 9 | 5 | 8 | 37 | 40 | −3 | 32 | |
| 6 | Higashi Fukuoka | 22 | 9 | 4 | 9 | 34 | 31 | +3 | 31 | |
| 7 | Yonago Kita | 22 | 9 | 3 | 10 | 35 | 31 | +4 | 30 | |
| 8 | Nagoya Grampus | 22 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 30 | 31 | −1 | 30 | |
| 9 | Sagan Tosu | 22 | 8 | 3 | 11 | 31 | 38 | −7 | 27 | |
| 10 | Kamimura Gakuen | 22 | 8 | 3 | 11 | 40 | 49 | −9 | 27 | |
| 11 | Júbilo Iwata | 22 | 7 | 2 | 13 | 38 | 48 | −10 | 23 | Relegation to the Prince Leagues |
| 12 | Riseisha | 22 | 3 | 2 | 17 | 22 | 56 | −34 | 11 | Relegation to the Prince Leagues |

## 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.
* ↑ Reserve teams, however, can not participate in the play-offs. If their final league placement sits in the qualifying zone for the play-offs, their slot will be allocated to the next best-ranked team.

### Block D
## Final

| Aomori Yamada | Sanfrecce Hiroshima |
| GK | 1 | Shoei Suzuki |
| DF | 2 | Takuto Kobayashi |
| DF | 3 | Soju Konuma |
| DF | 4 | Tora Yamamoto (c) |
| DF | 5 | Kaito Koizumi |
| DF | 6 | Toki Sugasawa |
| MF | 8 | Ryosuke Kawahara | 74' |
| MF | 10 | Rei Shibata |
| MF | 13 | Kenta Fukushima | 58' |
| MF | 14 | Hidetaka Sugimoto |
| FW | 11 | Soji Yoneya |
| Substitutes: ||
| GK | 12 | Tatsuya Hasegawa |
| MF | 16 | Raichi Goto | 74' |
| MF | 19 | Ikuma Beppu |
| MF | 23 | Yuki Ikeda |
| MF | 25 | Kazunori Saito |
| FW | 9 | Takumi Tsushima | 58' |
| FW | 24 | Tokiya Yamashita |
| Manager: ||
| Masanori Masaki ||
| GK | 1 | Koshin Yamada |
| DF | 3 | Isshin Kuroki |
| DF | 6 | Milan Ishihara (c) |
| DF | 18 | Shota Kofie |
| MF | 7 | Zento Torii | 90+5' |
| MF | 8 | Yotaro Nakajima |
| MF | 14 | Shin Takeyama |
| MF | 15 | Hinata Hashimoto |
| FW | 9 | Jo Tsunokake | 78' |
| FW | 10 | Hagumu Nakagawa |
| FW | 19 | Aren Inoue | 78' |
| Substitutes: ||
| GK | 16 | Shunsuke Sawada |
| DF | 2 | Mikio Yamane |
| DF | 22 | Fuga Kotani |
| MF | 11 | Yuki Kimura | 78' |
| MF | 13 | Seiya Ishibashi |
| MF | 28 | Shimon Kobayashi | 90+5' |
| FW | 29 | Moki Sota | 78' |
| Manager: ||
| Satoru Noda ||
| Assistant referees: Kenji Wakamiya Yuta Ono Fourth official: Yasuhiro Udagawa | Match 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

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 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 | Ryutsu Keizai Kashiwa | 7 |
| 7 | Junki Osa | Shohei | 7 |
| 7 | Shun Sakuramatsu | Shoshi | 7 |
| 7 | Kento Shirasu | Yokohama F. Marinos | 7 |
| 7 | Haruhi Taneda | Omiya Ardija | 7 |
| 7 | Akito Toda | Kashiwa Reysol | 7 |
| 7 | Mohamed Sadiki Wade | Kashiwa Reysol | 7 |
| 7 | Tora Yamamoto | Aomori Yamada | 7 |

### West

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Asuma Ikari | Ohzu | 20 |
| 2 | Kyota Funahashi | Júbilo Iwata | 14 |
| 2 | Minto Nishimaru | Kamimura Gakuen | 14 |
| 4 | Soma Kanda | Shizuoka Gakuen | 12 |
| 4 | Hagumu Nakagawa | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 12 |
| 6 | Tsubasa Inada | Ohzu | 10 |
| 7 | Gaku Nawata | Kamimura Gakuen | 9 |
| 7 | Shoi Sakamoto | Vissel Kobe | 9 |
| 7 | Daichi Suzuki | Sagan Tosu | 9 |
| 7 | Takumi Yoshioka | Higashi Fukuoka | 9 |