# 1993 J.League

The J.League 1993 season was the inaugural season of the J.League. The league fixtures began on 15 May and ended on 15 December. The first ever Suntory Championship took place in the following year, 9 and 16 January 1994.

## Clubs

Ten clubs participated in J.League during 1993 season:
| Club name | Hometown | Stadium (majority games) | Capacity | Head coach |
| Gamba Osaka | Osaka, Osaka | Osaka Expo '70 Stadium | 21,000 | Kunishige Kamamoto |
| JEF United Ichihara | Chiba, Chiba | Ichihara Seaside Stadium | 14,051 | Yoshikazu Nagai |
| Kashima Antlers | Kashima, Ibaraki | Kashima Soccer Stadium | 37,638 | Masakatsu Miyamoto |
| Nagoya Grampus Eight | Nagoya, Aichi | Paloma Mizuho Rugby Stadium | 11,900 | Ryuzo Hiraki |
| Sanfrecce Hiroshima | Hiroshima, Hiroshima | Coca-Cola West Hiroshima Stadium | 13,800 | Stuart Baxter |
| Shimizu S-Pulse | Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture | Nihondaira Sports Stadium | 20,248 | Emerson Leão |
| Urawa Red Diamonds | Saitama, Greater Tokyo Area | Urawa Komaba Stadium | 21,500 | Takaji Mori |
| Verdy Kawasaki | Kawasaki, Kanagawa | Todoroki Athletics Stadium | 26,232 | Yasutaro Matsuki |
| Yokohama Flügels | Yokohama | Yokohama Mitsuzawa Stadium | 15,454 | Shu Kamo |
| Yokohama Marinos | Yokohama | Yokohama Mitsuzawa Stadium | 15,454 | Hidehiko Shimizu |

### Foreign players

| Club | Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 | Player 4 | Player 5 | Player 6 | Non-visa foreign | Former player(s) |
| Gamba Osaka | Sergei Aleinikov | Flávio Campos | Luís Müller | Rinaldo | Kiril Metkov | Jia Xiuquan | | |
| JEF United Ichihara | František Mysliveček | Pavel Řehák | Frank Ordenewitz | Pierre Littbarski | | | Sandro Shin Che-bon | |
| Kashima Antlers | Alcindo | Carlos | Regis | Santos | Zico | | | |
| Nagoya Grampus Eight | Elivélton | Garça | Jorginho | Pita | Gary Lineker | | Dido Havenaar | |
| Sanfrecce Hiroshima | Pavel Černý | Lee Baxter | Noh Jung-yoon | Jan Jönsson | Jean-Paul Vonderburg | Dan Calichman | Andrey | |
| Shimizu S-Pulse | Celso | Edu Manga | Marcão | Marco Antônio | Sidmar | Toninho | Ademir | |
| Urawa Red Diamonds | Marcelo Trivisonno | Michael Rummenigge | Uwe Rahn | Miroslav Mentel | | | Edwin Uehara | Marcelo Morales Victor Ferreyra |
| Verdy Kawasaki | Bismarck | Márcio Amoroso | Paulinho | Paulo | Pereira | Erik van Rossum | Ko Ishikawa | Gène Hanssen Henny Meijer |
| Yokohama Flügels | Fernando Moner | Aldro | Angelo | Edu Marangon | Jaime Rodríguez | Raúl Amarilla | | |
| Yokohama Marinos | David Bisconti | Gustavo Zapata | Ramón Díaz | Everton | | | | |

## Format

In the first year, the league followed split-season format, and each halves (or stages) were known as Suntory Series and NICOS Series for sponsorship purposes. In each series, ten clubs played in double round-robin format, a total of 18 games per club (per series). The games went to golden-goal extra time and penalties if needed after regulation. The clubs were ranked by number of wins, and tie breakers are, in the following order:
* Goal differential
* Goals scored
* Head-to-head results
* Extra match or a coin toss
The club that finished at the top of the table is declared stage champion and qualifies for the Suntory Championship. The first stage winner, hosts the first leg in the championship series. If the same club win both stages, the runners-up of each stages plays against each other and the winners challenges the stage winner at the championship game.

## Standings
### Suntory Series (1st Stage) Standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | GF | GA | GD | Qualification |
| 1 | Kashima Antlers | 18 | 13 | 5 | 41 | 18 | +23 | 1993 Suntory Series Champions Qualifies to Suntory Championship '93 |
| 2 | Verdy Kawasaki | 18 | 12 | 6 | 29 | 21 | +8 | |
| 3 | Yokohama Marinos | 18 | 11 | 7 | 29 | 24 | +5 | |
| 4 | Shimizu S-Pulse | 18 | 10 | 8 | 28 | 25 | +3 | |
| 5 | JEF United Ichihara | 18 | 9 | 9 | 26 | 23 | +3 | |
| 6 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 18 | 9 | 9 | 23 | 24 | −1 | |
| 7 | Yokohama Flügels | 18 | 8 | 10 | 24 | 21 | +3 | |
| 8 | Gamba Osaka | 18 | 8 | 10 | 27 | 31 | −4 | |
| 9 | Nagoya Grampus Eight | 18 | 7 | 11 | 21 | 38 | −17 | |
| 10 | Urawa Red Diamonds | 18 | 3 | 15 | 11 | 34 | −23 | |

### NICOS Series (2nd stage) Standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | GF | GA | GD | Qualification |
| 1 | Verdy Kawasaki | 18 | 16 | 2 | 43 | 10 | +33 | 1993 NICOS Series Champions Qualifies to Suntory Championship '93 |
| 2 | Shimizu S-Pulse | 18 | 14 | 4 | 26 | 9 | +17 | |
| 3 | Yokohama Marinos | 18 | 10 | 8 | 31 | 24 | +7 | |
| 4 | Kashima Antlers | 18 | 10 | 8 | 31 | 25 | +6 | |
| 5 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 18 | 9 | 9 | 31 | 25 | +6 | |
| 6 | Gamba Osaka | 18 | 8 | 10 | 24 | 34 | −10 | |
| 7 | Yokohama Flügels | 18 | 8 | 10 | 20 | 30 | −10 | |
| 8 | Nagoya Grampus Eight | 18 | 5 | 13 | 27 | 28 | −1 | |
| 9 | JEF United Ichihara | 18 | 5 | 13 | 25 | 44 | −19 | |
| 10 | Urawa Red Diamonds | 18 | 5 | 13 | 15 | 44 | −29 | |

### Overall standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | GF | GA | GD | Qualification |
| 1 | Verdy Kawasaki | 36 | 28 | 8 | 69 | 28 | +41 | 1993 J.League Champions Qualifies to 1994/95 ACC, 1994 Super Cup, and 1994 Sanwa Bank Cup |
| 2 | Kashima Antlers | 36 | 23 | 13 | 72 | 43 | +29 | |
| 3 | Shimizu S-Pulse | 36 | 24 | 12 | 54 | 34 | +20 | |
| 4 | Yokohama Marinos | 36 | 21 | 15 | 60 | 48 | +12 | |
| 5 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 36 | 18 | 18 | 54 | 49 | +5 | |
| 6 | Yokohama Flügels | 36 | 16 | 20 | 44 | 51 | −7 | |
| 7 | Gamba Osaka | 36 | 16 | 20 | 51 | 65 | −14 | |
| 8 | JEF United Ichihara | 36 | 14 | 22 | 51 | 67 | −16 | |
| 9 | Nagoya Grampus Eight | 36 | 12 | 24 | 48 | 66 | −18 | |
| 10 | Urawa Red Diamonds | 36 | 8 | 28 | 26 | 78 | −52 | |

## Honours

| Competition | Champion | Runners-Up | 3rd Place |
| Domestic league |
| J.League Suntory Series | Kashima Antlers | Verdy Kawasaki | Yokohama Marinos |
| J.League NICOS Series | Verdy Kawasaki | Shimizu S-Pulse | Yokohama Marinos |
| Suntory Championship | Verdy Kawasaki | Kashima Antlers | n/a |
| Cup competitions |
| Emperor's Cup | Yokohama Flügels | Kashima Antlers | Shimizu S-Pulse Sanfrecce Hiroshima |
| Nabisco Cup | Verdy Kawasaki | Shimizu S-Pulse | Yokohama Flügels Gamba Osaka |
| XEROX Super Cup | Not held |

## Average attendance

In its first year, the league averaged 17,976 fans and had over 3.2 million fans total over the course of the season. The following chart shows the league ranked in terms of average attendance:
| Team name | Total attendance | Average attendance |
| Verdy Kawasaki | 454,237 | 25,235 |
| Gamba Osaka | 388,286 | 21,571 |
| JEF United Ichihara | 364,922 | 20,273 |
| Nagoya Grampus Eight | 357,451 | 19,858 |
| Shimizu S-Pulse | 332,312 | 18,462 |
| Yokohama Marinos | 302,054 | 16,781 |
| Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 299,586 | 16,644 |
| Yokohama Flügels | 278,346 | 15,464 |
| Kashima Antlers | 252,291 | 14,016 |
| Urawa Red Diamonds | 206,265 | 11,459 |
| Total | 3,235,750 | 17,976 |

## Top scorers

| Rank | Scorer | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Ramón Díaz | Yokohama Marinos | 28 |
| 2 | Alcindo | Kashima Antlers | 22 |
| 3 | Kazuyoshi Miura | Verdy Kawasaki | 20 |
| 4 | Nobuhiro Takeda | Verdy Kawasaki | 17 |
| 5 | Pavel Řehák | JEF United Ichihara | 16 |
| 6 | Edu Manga | Shimizu S-Pulse | 13 |
| 7 | Akihiro Nagashima | Gamba Osaka | 12 |

## Awards
### MVP

Kazuyoshi Miura - (Verdy Kawasaki)

### Rookie of the Year

Masaaki Sawanobori - (Shimizu S-Pulse)

### Manager of the Year

Yasutaro Matsuki - (Verdy Kawasaki)

### Top Scorer

Ramón Díaz - (Yokohama Marinos)

### Best XI

| Position | Player | Team |
| GK | Shigetatsu Matsunaga | Yokohama Marinos |
| DF | Pereira | Verdy Kawasaki |
| DF | Tetsuji Hashiratani | Verdy Kawasaki |
| DF | Takumi Horiike | Shimizu S-Pulse |
| DF | Masami Ihara | Yokohama Marinos |
| DF | Shunzo Ono | Kashima Antlers |
| MF | Santos | Kashima Antlers |
| MF | Yasuto Honda | Kashima Antlers |
| MF | Ruy Ramos | Verdy Kawasaki |
| FW | Ramón Díaz | Yokohama Marinos |
| FW | Kazuyoshi Miura | Verdy Kawasaki |