# 2022 Emperor's Cup

The 2022 Emperor's Cup (Emperor's Cup JFA 102nd Japan Football Championship (Japanese: 天皇杯 JFA 第102回全日本サッカー選手権大会)) was the 102nd edition of the annually contested cup, taking place from 21 May to 16 October. The final was played at the Nissan Stadium, in Yokohama, Kanagawa. The stadium returned to host an Emperor's Cup final for the first time since 2014.
The 2022 Emperor's Cup followed a different pattern to the previous three editions of the tournament, being restored to its old, usual format, which was applied for the last time in the 2018 Emperor's Cup. It features 88 teams, representing the prefectural football associations, the J1 League, and the J2 League. Honda FC was awarded a seeded entry as the JFA's annually specially-designated amateur club, in order to turn the quantity of teams in the First Round to an even number.
Urawa Red Diamonds were the defending champions, but were eliminated by Thespakusatsu Gunma in the third round. Ventforet Kofu won their first major title over Sanfrecce Hiroshima and qualified for the 2023–24 AFC Champions League group stage.

## Qualifying rounds

As only J1 and J2 League clubs qualify directly for the First Round, the other Emperor's Cup candidate teams (exception being made to the JFA-seeded teams), have to undergo a prefectural qualification, with regulaments and schedules varying from one association to another. In total, there are 47 prefectural cup qualifications, with the winners of each prefectural cup earning their right to play in the First Round of the Emperor's Cup. This year, a total of 2,342 teams played in the aforementioned prefectural qualifications. The following boxes shows each result of the 47 prefectural finals of the 2022 Emperor's Cup Prefectural Qualification Cup.

## Participating clubs

In parentheses: the amount of times each team qualified for the Emperor's Cup (appearance in the 2022 Emperor's Cup included)
| 2022 J1 League all clubs join in the second round | 2022 J2 League all clubs join in the second round | Amateur Best Team join in the first round | 47 prefectural tournament winners all clubs join in the first round | 47 prefectural tournament winners all clubs join in the first round |
| Avispa Fukuoka (30) Cerezo Osaka (53) Consadole Sapporo (41) Gamba Osaka (42) Júbilo Iwata (45) Kashima Antlers (38) Kashiwa Reysol (54) Kawasaki Frontale (39) Kyoto Sanga FC (39) Nagoya Grampus (45) Sagan Tosu (30) Sanfrecce Hiroshima (70) Shimizu S-Pulse (30) Shonan Bellmare (50) FC Tokyo (28) Urawa Red Diamonds (57) Vissel Kobe (36) Yokohama F. Marinos (44) | Albirex Niigata (30) Blaublitz Akita (29) Fagiano Okayama (14) Iwate Grulla Morioka (15) JEF United Chiba (57) FC Machida Zelvia (10) Mito HollyHock (26) Montedio Yamagata (30) Omiya Ardija (27) Oita Trinita (26) Renofa Yamaguchi FC (18) Roasso Kumamoto (22) FC Ryukyu (14) Thespakusatsu Gunma (19) Tochigi SC (22) Tokushima Vortis (34) Tokyo Verdy (47) V-Varen Nagasaki (15) Vegalta Sendai (28) Ventforet Kofu (30) Yokohama FC (23) Zweigen Kanazawa (18) | Honda FC (42) | Hokkaido: Sapporo University (25) Aomori: Vanraure Hachinohe (10) Iwate: Fuji University (3) Miyagi: Sony Sendai (23) Akita: North Asia University (1) Yamagata: Nagai Club (1) Fukushima: Fukushima United (10) Ibaraki: University of Tsukuba (32) Tochigi: Vertfee Yaita (3) Gunma: Jobu University (1) Saitama: Tokyo International University FC (2) Chiba: Briobecca Urayasu (5) Tokyo: Rissho University (1) Kanagawa: Toin University of Yokohama (5) Yamanashi: Yamanashi Gakuin University Pegasus (5) Nagano: Matsumoto Yamaga (16) Niigata: Niigata University of Health and Welfare (6) Toyama: Kataller Toyama (13) Ishikawa: FC Hokuriku (5) Fukui: Fukui United (14) Shizuoka: Fujieda MYFC (4) Aichi: Chukyo University (7) Mie: Suzuka Point Getters (8) Gifu: FC Gifu (16) | Shiga: MIO Biwako Shiga (9) Kyoto: Doshisha University (10) Osaka: Kansai University (17) Hyōgo: Cento Cuore Harima (10) Nara: Nara Club (13) Wakayama: Arterivo Wakayama (14) Tottori: Gainare Tottori (24) Shimane: FC Kagura Shimane (8) Okayama: International Pacific University (3) Hiroshima: Fukuyama City (3) Yamaguchi: Shunan University (12) Kagawa: Takamatsu University (2) Tokushima: FC Tokushima (7) Ehime: FC Imabari (12) Kōchi: Kochi United (7) Fukuoka: Giravanz Kitakyushu (13) Saga: Brew Kashima (10) Nagasaki: MD Nagasaki (6) Kumamoto: FCK Marry Gold Kumamoto (1) Ōita: Verspah Oita (12) Miyazaki: Honda Lock (15) Kagoshima: Kagoshima United (8) Okinawa: Okinawa SV (4) |
Note
* ^ The Prefectural Cup Final of Ehime, Oita, and Kagawa were cancelled, due to some players of one or both teams in their respective prefectural finals testing positive for the COVID-19 disease. As a result: FC Imabari won the Ehime Prefectural spot; Verspah Oita won the Oita Prefectural spot as J-Lease FC (their opponent) declined their participation in the final; And Takamatsu University won the Kagawa Prefectural spot as Kamatamare Sanuki withdrew from the final after the disease's outbreak in the squad.

## Calendar

The schedule was announced on 21 December 2021. The first round of the tournament was played on Saturdays and Mondays. From the second round to the semi-finals, the matches were played on Wednesdays, and the final on a Sunday. On a very rare occasion, the final was moved to be played on mid-October, due to Japan's participation at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, held at the end of the year.
| Round | Date (backup date) | Matches | Clubs | New entries this round |
| First round | 21–22 May (23 May) | 24 | 48 (47+1) → 24 | 1 seeded amateur team (Honda FC) 47 prefectural qualification cup winners |
| Second round | 1 June (8 June) | 32 | 64 (24+18+22) → 32 | 18 2022 J1 League clubs 22 2022 J2 League clubs |
| Third round | 22 June (29 June) | 16 | 32 → 16 | |
| Fourth round | 13 July (20 July) | 8 | 16 → 8 | |
| Quarter-finals | 7 September (28 September) | 4 | 8 → 4 | |
| Semi-finals | 5 October | 2 | 4 → 2 | |
| Final | 16 October | 1 | 2 → 1 | |

## Schedule
### First round

The opening round of the 2022 Emperor's Cup with the 47 Prefectural Cup Final winners and a specially-seeded amateur team (Honda FC) was played from 21 to 22 May, with 23 May being the alternative match-playing date, if the match needed by any reason to be rescheduled.

### Second round

The matches on this round were played from 1 June to 8 June; 29 matches were played on 1 June and 3 matches on 8 June. Despite it being a professional league, the J3 League teams were not awarded a direct spot in this round, meaning that they had to undergo a prefectural qualification and win their first round matches to qualify for the second round. The direct spots were reserved to J1 League, and J2 League teams.

### Third round

On 8 June 2022, all the teams in this round were confirmed, after all the remaining matches from the Second round came to an end. Match venues for the round were announced on 3 June 2022. Out of the four Japanese teams who got qualified for the 2022 AFC Champions League, only Vissel Kobe qualified for the second round.

### Round of 16

The match venues for the 4th round were announced on 22 June 2022, and the kick-off times were announced on 30 June 2022.

### Quarter-finals

A draw was conducted to determine the matchups of the quarter-final stage and onwards, on 15 July, and all the teams on the round were made known on 20 July. Six of the teams featuring in this round play in the J1 League, while the other 2, Tokyo Verdy and Ventforet Kofu, play in the J2 League.

### Semi-finals

Three teams from the J1, and one team from the J2, survived until the semi-finals. Sanfrecce Hiroshima qualified to the semi-finals while sitting as J1's 2nd-placed team, Kashima Antlers as J1's 4th-place, and Kyoto Sanga as J1's 13th-place, one point off the relegation zone. Kick-off times, broadcaster, and venues were released by JFA on 16 September. Both matches were broadcast on NHK BS1 in Japan.

### Final
## Top scorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Junya Takahashi | Fukushima United | 4 |
| 1 | Kazushi Mitsuhira | Ventforet Kofu | 4 |
| 3 | Akira Silvano Disaro | Shimizu S-Pulse | 3 |
| 3 | Paulo Junichi Tanaka | Matsumoto Yamaga | 3 |
| 3 | Ryusei Fujita | Vertfee Yaita | 3 |
| 3 | Patric | Gamba Osaka | 3 |