# 2023 Japanese Regional Football Champions League

The 2023 Japanese Regional Football Champions League (全国地域サッカーチャンピオンズリーグ2023) is the 47th edition of the referred annually contested cup for the best-placed teams of each of their respective Regional Leagues, and of the 2023 Shakaijin Cup. Promoted to the JFL, the club couldn't defend their title. Briobecca Urayasu are the title holders, as they won the championship at the final round. Currently playing in the Japan Football League, they are unable to defend their title.

## Format

Twelve teams will participate in the transitional tournament for regional league teams who want to join the JFL. Nine qualifies as champions of their respective Regional Leagues on 2023. The other three spots are by default allocated to the best three Shakaijin Cup teams out of its semi-finalists that were not yet qualified to the Champions League via the Regional Leagues (being placed below the champions of their league).
In case the slots can't be filled, in a situation where more than one semi-finalist has already qualified to the Champions League as regional champions, the empty slot(s) is rewarded to the J.League 100 Year Plan club status holders that finished the season as a Regional League runner-up. If more than one "status holders" finishes the season as the 2nd-placed team in their respective Regional Leagues, an annually-rotated order of priority will be taken into consideration. This year, the order is: Tohoku, Shikoku and Kanto. Tohoku and Shikoku's runners-up Cobaltore Onagawa and Lvnirosso NC are not "status holders". The slot was then assigned to Kanto's runners-up Tochigi City FC, the only status holder out of the three.
Only teams that want to join the JFL can be promoted. If a team with no intention to join the JFL ends up winning the final round, the promotion spot will be allocated to the runner-up. If the runner-up also have no intention to be promoted, a spot will be allocated to the third-placed team. If they also refuse, the bottom-placed team will be promoted instead. In all mentioned scenarios, the bottom-placed team of the 2023 Japan Football League will not be relegated, and no play-off will be held. If both Regional Champions League winner and runner-up aims to be promoted, the winner will be automatically promoted, whereas the runner-up will hold a play-off match with JFL's bottom-placed team.
Depending on the clubs that ended up as the top three teams in the Shakaijin Cup, a specific rank that would take the J.League 100 Year Plan club status clubs and its performances in the 2023 Regional Leagues into account would be applied to determine the final teams on this competition.

## Participating teams

Returning teams from the previous season were noted in bold. Teams relegated from the previous JFL season were noted in italics.
| Region | Slots | Team | Rank |
| Hokkaido | 1 | BTOP Hokkaido | 1st (League) |
| Tohoku | 1 | Blancdieu Hirosaki FC | 1st (League) |
| Kantō | 3 | Vonds Ichihara Tsukuba FC Tochigi City FC | 1st (League) Semi-finalist (Cup) Selected team (100 Year Plan) |
| Hokushin'etsu | 1 | Fukui United FC | 1st (League) |
| Tōkai | 2 | Wyvern FC FC Kariya | 1st (League) Finalist (Cup) |
| Kansai | 1 | Arterivo Wakayama | 1st (League) |
| Chugoku | 1 | Fukuyama City FC | 1st (League) |
| Shikoku | 1 | FC Tokushima | 1st (League) |
| Kyushu | 1 | Veroskronos Tsuno | 1st (League) |

## Venues

* First round:
** Rifu, Miyagi: Miyagi Co-op Megumino Soccer Field
** Hikone, Shiga: Heiwado HATO Stadium
** Miyazaki, Miyazaki: Hinata Miyazaki Prefectural Comprehensive Sports Park
* Final round:
** Utsunomiya, Tochigi: Tochigi Green Stadium

## First round

Each group had its matches played in a round-robin format. Each team played three matches in just three days, from 11 to 13 November, with one being played at each day. The draw was held on 28 October, and it was streamed live by Kansai Soccer League's official YouTube channel.

### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Tochigi City | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2 | +6 | 9 | Advance to the final round |
| 2 | Vonds Ichihara | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 6 | Advance to the final round |
| 3 | FC Tokushima | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 3 | |
| 4 | Veroskronos Tsuno | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 6 | −4 | 0 | |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Fukuyama City | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 5 | +4 | 7 | Advance to the final round |
| 2 | Wyvern FC | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 6 | |
| 3 | Blancdieu Hirosaki | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 2 | |
| 4 | FC Kariya | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | −2 | 1 | |

### Group C

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Joyful Honda Tsukuba | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 5 | Advance to the final round |
| 2 | Fukui United | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 5 | |
| 3 | BTOP Hokkaido | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 6 | +1 | 3 | |
| 4 | Arterivo Wakayama | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | −3 | 2 | |

## Ranking of second-placed teams

The three winners of each group of the first round will qualify for the final round, alongside the best-placed team among the runners-up of each group.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Vonds Ichihara | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 6 | Qualification for the final round |
| 2 | Wyvern FC | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 6 | |
| 3 | Fukui United | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 5 | |

## Final round

The group had its matches played in a round-robin format, held in a five-days span, from 22 to 26 November.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion |
| 1 | Tochigi City (P) | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 2 | +4 | 6 | Promoted to the JFL |
| 2 | Vonds Ichihara | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 6 | Qualification for JFL promotion/relegation play-off |
| 3 | Joyful Honda Tsukuba | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 3 | |
| 4 | Fukuyama City | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 3 | |

## Top scorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Ryunosuke Suzuki | Joyful Honda Tsukuba | 4 |
| 1 | Paulo Junichi Tanaka | Tochigi City | 4 |
| 3 | Ryoka Abe | BTOP Hokkaido | 2 |
| 3 | Shuri Arita | Fukuyama City | 2 |
| 3 | Sota Hamaguchi | Fukuyama City | 2 |
| 3 | Masahide Hiraoka | Tochigi City | 2 |
| 3 | Yuji Kato | Vonds Ichihara | 2 |
| 3 | Genta Omotehara | Tochigi City | 2 |
| 3 | Teruyuki Takagi | Blancdieu Hirosaki | 2 |
| 3 | Kei Takahashi | Fukuyama City | 2 |
| 3 | Kengo Takata | Fukuyama City | 2 |
| 3 | Yuki Yamamura | Tochigi City | 2 |