# 2018 Prince Takamado U-18 Premier League

The 2018 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 2018, Hepburn: Takamado no Miya-hai JFA U-18 Sakkā Puremia Rīgu 2018) was the 30th season of the main competition for under-18 teams in Japan and the 9th after rebranding the competition to the current "Premier League" format.
Kashima Antlers won the Premier League East, and Sanfrecce Hiroshima won the Premier League West. The teams met in the final, which Sanfrecce won by 2–1, being then crowned champions.

## Changes from the previous season

| Promoted from the Prince Leagues | Relegated to the Prince Leagues (East) | Relegated to the Prince Leagues (West) |
| RKU Kashiwa Júbilo Iwata Toyama Daiichi Nagoya Grampus | Omiya Ardija Yokohama F. Marinos | Kobe Koryo Gakuen Ohzu |

## Participating clubs
### Premier League East

| Team | Prefecture |
| Aomori Yamada High School | Aomori |
| Kashima Antlers | Ibaraki |
| Urawa Red Diamonds | Saitama |
| Ichiritsu Funabashi High School | Chiba |
| Kashiwa Reysol | Chiba |
| Ryutsu Keizai University Kashiwa High School | Chiba |
| FC Tokyo | Tokyo |
| Toyama Daiichi High School | Toyama |
| Shimizu S-Pulse | Shizuoka |
| Júbilo Iwata | Shizuoka |

### Premier League West

| Team | Prefecture |
| Nagoya Grampus | Aichi |
| Kyoto Sanga | Kyoto |
| Hannan University High School | Osaka |
| Gamba Osaka | Osaka |
| Cerezo Osaka | Osaka |
| Vissel Kobe | Hyogo |
| Yonago Kita High School | Tottori |
| Sanfrecce Hiroshima | Hiroshima |
| Avispa Fukuoka | Fukuoka |
| Higashi Fukuoka High School | Fukuoka |

## League table
### Premier League East

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 1 | Kashima Antlers | 18 | 13 | 3 | 2 | 27 | 12 | +15 | 42 | Qualification for Premier League final |
| 2 | Aomori Yamada | 18 | 10 | 7 | 1 | 47 | 14 | +33 | 37 | |
| 3 | Shimizu S-Pulse | 18 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 26 | 15 | +11 | 31 | |
| 4 | Ryutsu Keizai Kashiwa | 18 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 16 | 16 | 0 | 28 | |
| 5 | Kashiwa Reysol | 18 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 28 | 25 | +3 | 21 | |
| 6 | Ichiritsu Funabashi | 18 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 21 | 27 | −6 | 21 | |
| 7 | Urawa Red Diamonds | 18 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 14 | 19 | −5 | 20 | |
| 8 | Júbilo Iwata | 18 | 6 | 2 | 10 | 14 | 26 | −12 | 20 | |
| 9 | FC Tokyo | 18 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 19 | 29 | −10 | 19 | Relegation to the Prince Leagues |
| 10 | Toyama Daiichi | 18 | 1 | 4 | 13 | 11 | 40 | −29 | 7 | Relegation to the Prince Leagues |

### Premier League West

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 1 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 18 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 47 | 19 | +28 | 37 | Qualification for Premier League final |
| 2 | Gamba Osaka | 18 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 56 | 37 | +19 | 35 | |
| 3 | Nagoya Grampus | 18 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 48 | 28 | +20 | 34 | |
| 4 | Kyoto Sanga | 18 | 10 | 3 | 5 | 31 | 31 | 0 | 33 | |
| 5 | Higashi Fukuoka | 18 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 43 | 34 | +9 | 31 | |
| 6 | Cerezo Osaka | 18 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 28 | 22 | +6 | 29 | |
| 7 | Vissel Kobe | 18 | 7 | 0 | 11 | 25 | 39 | −14 | 21 | |
| 8 | Avispa Fukuoka | 18 | 6 | 2 | 10 | 28 | 38 | −10 | 20 | |
| 9 | Hannan | 18 | 4 | 2 | 12 | 27 | 43 | −16 | 14 | Relegation to the Prince Leagues |
| 10 | Yonago Kita | 18 | 1 | 0 | 17 | 15 | 57 | −42 | 3 | Relegation to the Prince Leagues |

## Promotion/relegation play-offs

As usual, the 16 top-ranked teams of the nine Prince League divisions entered the play-offs. They were split into four blocks, with each block winner (highlighted in bold) qualifying for the 2021 Premier League.

### Block D
## Final

| GK | 1 | Taiki Yamada |
| DF | 2 | Yuki Masataka |
| DF | 3 | Daigo Masuzaki |
| DF | 5 | Takatoshi Sato |
| DF | 6 | Shuto Kumada | 57' |
| DF | 7 | Shogo Sasaki |
| DF | 15 | Yohan Namaizawa | 57' |
| MF | 8 | Tatsuki Onuma |
| MF | 10 | Taira Maeda (c) |
| FW | 9 | Kotaro Arima | 90' |
| FW | 19 | Mikhael Akatsuka |
| Substitutes: ||
| GK | 16 | Koki Matsuzaki |
| DF | 14 | Kotaro Kobari | 90' |
| DF | 23 | Soshi Koda |
| DF | 34 | Kenta Nemoto |
| MF | 28 | Kaiyo Yanagimachi | 57' 86' |
| MF | 30 | Sora Okita | 86' |
| FW | 11 | Manato Sugiyama | 57' |
| Manager: ||
| Koji Kumagai ||
| GK | 1 | Kaito Sato |
| DF | 5 | Naoki Suzu |
| DF | 8 | Taichi Yamasaki |
| MF | 4 | Hiroya Matsumoto (c) |
| MF | 7 | Chota Nakatani |
| MF | 10 | Rikuto Katsura |
| MF | 11 | Shunki Higashi |
| MF | 12 | Kodai Dohi |
| MF | 14 | Ryonosuke Ohori | 90+2' |
| FW | 9 | Kaito Watanabe |
| FW | 19 | Shun Ayukawa | 86' |
| Substitutes: ||
| GK | 16 | Kota Ono |
| DF | 6 | Hiroto Okoshi | 86' |
| DF | 33 | Taichi Matsumoto |
| MF | 24 | Kohei Hosoya | 90+2' |
| MF | 36 | Takato Takeuchi |
| FW | 20 | Hayate Tanada |
| FW | 23 | Ryosei Fukuzaki |
| Manager: ||
| Kentaro Sawada ||
| Assistant referees: Takeshi Asada Yusuke Shiotsu Fourth official: Takuma Yanaoka | 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 | Riku Danzaki | Aomori Yamada | 16 |
| 2 | Mikhael Akatsuka | Kashima Antlers | 7 |
| 2 | Kaito Mori | Kashiwa Reysol | 7 |
| 4 | Byron Vásquez | Aomori Yamada | 6 |
| 4 | Taira Maeda | Kashima Antlers | 6 |
| 4 | Hisatoshi Nishido | Ichiritsu Funabashi | 6 |
| 4 | Sena Saito | Shimizu S-Pulse | 6 |
| 4 | Norihiro Shoda | Kashiwa Reysol | 6 |
| 9 | Rikuto Sano | Shimizu S-Pulse | 5 |
| 9 | Ginji Sasaki | Aomori Yamada | 5 |
| 9 | Ryosuke Yamazaki | Shimizu S-Pulse | 5 |

### West

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Retsushi Harada | Gamba Osaka | 15 |
| 1 | Kohei Hattori | Kyoto Sanga | 15 |
| 3 | Ryonosuke Ohori | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 14 |
| 4 | Kento Hyodo | Nagoya Grampus | 11 |
| 5 | Tsubasa Adachi | Gamba Osaka | 10 |
| 6 | Hagumi Wada | Hannan | 9 |
| 7 | Rikuto Katsura | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 8 |
| 7 | Yuto Otani | Gamba Osaka | 8 |
| 9 | Hiroya Matsumoto | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 7 |
| 9 | Shingo Omori | Higashi Fukuoka | 7 |