# Japan Club Youth U-18 Football Championship

The Japan Club Youth U-18 Championship (日本クラブユースサッカー選手権 (U-18)大会, Nihon kurabu yūsu sakkā senshuken U-18 taikai) is an annual nationwide association football tournament for youth clubs in Japan. It is restricted to members of the Japan Club Youth Football Federation.
Usually held during the summer, the competition's current format comprises 32 teams from 9 regions, which wins a spot in each competition through regional qualification. Similar to the FIFA World Cup, it starts on the group stage, with eight groups of four teams, with the best two of each advancing to the knockout stage.

## Finals

| Season | Winner | Score | Runners–up |
| 1977 | Hirakata FC | - | Yomiuri Club |
| 1978 | Kobe FC | - | Yomiuri Club |
| 1979 | Yomiuri A | - | Kobe FC |
| 1980 | Mitsubishi Yowa Yomiuri FC | - | Shared title |
| 1981 | Yomiuri A | - | Mitsubishi Yowa |
| 1982 | Yokohama FC | - | Mitsubishi Yowa |
| 1983 | Mitsubishi Yowa SC | - | Yokohama Three Star |
| 1984 | Hirakata FC | - | All-Japan Airways |
| 1985 | Yomiuri A | - | Hirakata FC |
| 1986 | Yomiuri A | - | Mitsubishi Yowa |
| 1987 | ANA Yokohama | - | Mitsubishi Yowa |
| 1988 | Yomiuri A | - | Mitsubishi Yowa |
| 1989 | Yomiuri | - | Mitsubishi Yowa |
| 1990 | Yomiuri | - | FC Machida |
| 1991 | Yomiuri | - | Hirakata FC |
| 1992 | Yomiuri | - | Matsushita FC |
| 1993 | Yomiuri | - | Mitsubishi Yowa |
| 1994 | Yokohama Marinos | - | Cerezo Osaka |
| 1995 | Yokohama Marinos | - | Panasonic Gamba Osaka |
| 1996 | Cerezo Osaka | - | Yokohama Marinos |
| 1997 | Urawa Red Diamonds | - | Kashima Antlers |
| 1998 | Gamba Osaka | - | JEF United Ichihara Chiba |
| 1999 | Júbilo Iwata | 2–1 | Bellmare Hiratsuka |
| 2000 | Yokohama F. Marinos | 2–0 | Kyoto Purple Sanga |
| 2001 | FC Tokyo | 2–0 | Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo |
| 2002 | Shimizu S-Pulse | 1–0 | Urawa Red Diamonds |
| 2003 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 3–0 | Urawa Red Diamonds |
| 2004 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 4–1 | Júbilo Iwata |
| 2005 | Tokyo Verdy | 1–0 | Yokohama F. Marinos |
| 2006 | Gamba Osaka | 1–0 | Tokyo Verdy |
| 2007 | Gamba Osaka | 4–2 | Júbilo Iwata |
| 2008 | FC Tokyo | 1–0 | Kashiwa Reysol |
| 2009 | Cerezo Osaka | 1–0 | FC Tokyo |
| 2010 | Tokyo Verdy | 2–1 | Kashiwa Reysol |
| 2011 | Tokyo Verdy | 1–0 | Vissel Kobe |
| 2012 | Kashiwa Reysol | 3–2 | Yokohama F. Marinos |
| 2013 | Yokohama F. Marinos | 4–1 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima |
| 2014 | Mitsubishi Yowa | 1–0 | FC Tokyo |
| 2015 | Yokohama F. Marinos | 5–3 | Omiya Ardija |
| 2016 | FC Tokyo | 2–0 | Shimizu S-Pulse |
| 2017 | FC Tokyo | 2–0 | Urawa Red Diamonds |
| 2018 | Shimizu S-Pulse | 2–0 | Omiya Ardija |
| 2019 | Nagoya Grampus | 3–1 | Sagan Tosu |
| 2020 | Sagan Tosu | 3–2 | FC Tokyo |
| 2021 | Nagoya Grampus | 2–0 | Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo |
| 2022 | Cerezo Osaka | 3–1 | Yokohama F. Marinos |
| 2023 | Gamba Osaka | 3–3 (5–4 p.) | FC Tokyo |
| 2024 | Gamba Osaka | 3–2 | Kawasaki Frontale |

### Most successful clubs

| P. | Team | Champions | Runners-up | Winning years |
| 1 | Tokyo Verdy | 14 | 3 | 1979, 1980, 1981, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 2005, 2010, 2011 |
| 2 | Yokohama F. Marinos | 6 | 4 | 1987, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2013, 2015 |
| 3 | Gamba Osaka | 5 | 2 | 1998, 2006, 2007, 2023, 2024 |
| 4 | FC Tokyo | 4 | 4 | 2001, 2008, 2016, 2017 |
| 5 | Mitsubishi Yowa | 3 | 7 | 1980, 1983, 2014 |
| 5 | Cerezo Osaka | 3 | 1 | 1996, 2009, 2022 |
| 7 | Hirakata FC | 2 | 2 | 1977, 1984 |
| 7 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 2 | 1 | 2003, 2004 |
| 7 | Shimizu S-Pulse | 2 | 1 | 2002, 2018 |
| 7 | Nagoya Grampus | 2 | 0 | 2019, 2021 |
| 11 | Urawa Red Diamonds | 1 | 3 | 1997 |
| Vissel Kobe | 1 | 2 | 1978 |
| Júbilo Iwata | 1 | 2 | 1999 |
| Kashiwa Reysol | 1 | 2 | 2012 |
| Sagan Tosu | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Yokohama FC | 1 | 0 | 1982 |
| 18 | All-Japan Airways Yokohama | 0 | 2 | |
| 18 | Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo | 0 | 2 | |
| 18 | Omiya Ardija | 0 | 2 | |
| 18 | Machida Zelvia | 0 | 1 | |
| 18 | Kashima Antlers | 0 | 1 | |
| 18 | JEF United Chiba | 0 | 1 | |
| 18 | Shonan Bellmare | 0 | 1 | |
| 18 | Kyoto Sanga | 0 | 1 | |
* ↑ Includes Yomiuri Club and Yomiuri A
* ↑ Includes Yokohama Marinos
* ↑ Includes Matsushita FC and Panasonic Gamba Osaka
* ↑ Includes All-Japan Airways and ANA Yokohama
* ↑ Includes FC Machida
* ↑ Includes JEF United Ichihara Chiba
* ↑ Includes Bellmare Hiratsuka
* ↑ Includes Kyoto Purple Sanga

## Individual awards

| Year | MVP | Top Scorer |
| 2001 | Yuta Baba (FC Tokyo) | Tatsunori Arai (Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo) |
| 2002 | | |
| 2003 | Yusuke Tasaka (Sanfrecce Hiroshima) | |
| 2004 | Shunsuke Maeda (Sanfrecce Hiroshima) | Shunsuke Maeda (Sanfrecce Hiroshima) |
| 2005 | Kohei Kiyama (Tokyo Verdy) | Kenta Hoshihara (Gamba Osaka) |
| 2006 | Shu Kurata (Gamba Osaka) | Shota Kimura (Yokohama F. Marinos) |
| 2007 | Kodai Yasuda (Gamba Osaka) | Yuki Oshitani (Júbilo Iwata) |
| 2008 | Hirotaka Mita (FC Tokyo) | Kentaro Shigematsu (FC Tokyo) Masato Kudo (Kashiwa Reysol) |
| 2009 | Kenyu Sugimoto (Cerezo Osaka) | Ryoga Sekihara (Yokohama F. Marinos) Sho Matsumoto (Yokohama F. Marinos) |
| 2010 | Yuki Kobayashi (Tokyo Verdy) | Kenshiro Kanemura (Yokohama FC) |
| 2011 | Ryuji Sugimoto (Tokyo Verdy) | Shuto Minami (Tokyo Verdy) Masato Tairaku (Kashiwa Reysol) Kosuke Kinoshita (Yokohama FC) Motoki Takahara (Nagoya Grampus) |
| 2012 | Hiroki Akino (Kashiwa Reysol) | Kosuke Kinoshita (Yokohama FC) |
| 2013 | Koya Yuruki (Yokohama F. Marinos) | Kota Kitagawa (Shimizu S-Pulse) |
| 2014 | Yuya Shimoda (Mitsubishi Yowa) | Yudai Hasukawa (FC Tokyo) Akira Silvano Disaro (Mitsubishi Yowa) |
| 2015 | Keita Endo (Yokohama F. Marinos) | Keita Endo (Yokohama F. Marinos) |
| 2016 | Yosuke Hanya (FC Tokyo) | Tsuyoshi Ogashiwa (Omiya Ardija) Yuta Taki (Shimizu S-Pulse) Takefusa Kubo (FC Tokyo) |
| 2017 | Kan Kobayashi (FC Tokyo) | Taichi Hara (FC Tokyo) Shogo Ikeda (Gamba Osaka) |
| 2018 | Togo Umeda (Shimizu S-Pulse) | Shoi Kobayashi (Omiya Ardija) |
| 2019 | Takeshi Ushizawa (Nagoya Grampus) | Ken Masui (Nagoya Grampus) |
| 2020 | Kodai Nagata (Sagan Tosu) | Zen Tanaka (Sagan Tosu) |
| 2021 | Gen Kato (Nagoya Grampus) | Hayato Manabe (Nagoya Grampus) |
| 2022 | Hinata Kawai (Cerezo Osaka) | Ota Yamamoto (Kashiwa Reysol) |
| 2023 | Rui Araki (Gamba Osaka) | Hikaru Muraki (Fagiano Okayama) |