# 2021 Prince Takamado U-18 Premier League

The 2021 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 2021, Hepburn: Takamado no Miya-hai JFA U-18 Sakkā Puremia Rīgu 2021) was the 32nd season of the main competition for under-18 teams in Japan, the 11st after rebranding the competition to the current "Premier League" format, and the last season with 20 clubs participating in the league. It returned after a one-year absence, since the 2020 tournament was cancelled due to COVID-19.
Aomori Yamada High School won the Premier League East, and Sanfrecce Hiroshima won the Premier League West. By default, both group winners would make the final, but it ended up cancelled due to COVID-19 precautions.

## Changes from the previous season

| Promoted from the Prince Leagues | Relegated to the Prince Leagues (East) | Relegated to the Prince Leagues (West) |
| Yokohama F. Marinos Yokohama FC FC Tokyo Sagan Tosu | Kashima Antlers Shoshi | Avispa Fukuoka Ehime FC |

## Participating clubs
### Premier League East

| Team | Prefecture |
| Aomori Yamada High School | Aomori |
| Omiya Ardija | Saitama |
| Urawa Red Diamonds | Saitama |
| Ichiritsu Funabashi High School | Chiba |
| Kashiwa Reysol | Chiba |
| Ryutsu Keizai University Kashiwa High School | Chiba |
| FC Tokyo | Tokyo |
| Yokohama F. Marinos | Kanagawa |
| Yokohama FC | Kanagawa |
| Shimizu S-Pulse | Shizuoka |

### Premier League West

| Team | Prefecture |
| Júbilo Iwata | Shizuoka |
| Nagoya Grampus | Aichi |
| Kyoto Sanga | Kyoto |
| Gamba Osaka | Osaka |
| Cerezo Osaka | Osaka |
| Vissel Kobe | Hyogo |
| Sanfrecce Hiroshima | Hiroshima |
| Higashi Fukuoka High School | Fukuoka |
| Sagan Tosu | Saga |
| Ohzu High School | Kumamoto |

## League table

The teams were ranked by their points-per-game ratio, as many matches could not be played due to issues related to COVID-19.

### Premier League East

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 1 | Aomori Yamada | 16 | 13 | 1 | 2 | 45 | 9 | +36 | 40 | East winners |
| 2 | Shimizu S-Pulse | 18 | 13 | 2 | 3 | 45 | 20 | +25 | 41 | |
| 3 | Yokohama F. Marinos | 17 | 9 | 1 | 7 | 39 | 39 | 0 | 28 | |
| 4 | Omiya Ardija | 18 | 8 | 1 | 9 | 28 | 26 | +2 | 25 | |
| 5 | Kashiwa Reysol | 18 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 31 | 31 | 0 | 24 | |
| 6 | FC Tokyo | 18 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 17 | 20 | −3 | 24 | |
| 7 | Yokohama FC | 18 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 18 | 35 | −17 | 21 | |
| 8 | Ryutsu Keizai Kashiwa | 18 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 23 | 25 | −2 | 20 | |
| 9 | Ichiritsu Funabashi | 17 | 3 | 4 | 10 | 12 | 33 | −21 | 13 | |
| 10 | Urawa Red Diamonds | 18 | 3 | 3 | 12 | 18 | 38 | −20 | 12 | 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 | 12 | 3 | 3 | 34 | 16 | +18 | 39 | West winners |
| 2 | Nagoya Grampus | 15 | 9 | 2 | 4 | 31 | 22 | +9 | 29 | |
| 3 | Gamba Osaka | 14 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 39 | 26 | +13 | 23 | |
| 4 | Ohzu | 14 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 22 | 14 | +8 | 23 | |
| 5 | Sagan Tosu | 15 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 28 | 22 | +6 | 24 | |
| 6 | Cerezo Osaka | 16 | 6 | 1 | 9 | 29 | 31 | −2 | 19 | |
| 7 | Vissel Kobe | 15 | 5 | 2 | 8 | 22 | 31 | −9 | 17 | |
| 8 | Júbilo Iwata | 18 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 15 | 32 | −17 | 19 | |
| 9 | Higashi Fukuoka | 14 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 15 | 24 | −9 | 13 | |
| 10 | Kyoto Sanga | 17 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 19 | 36 | −17 | 11 | Relegation to the Prince Leagues |

## Promotion/relegation play-offs

Only for this edition, there were six direct promotions from the Prince Leagues while only two teams got relegated, to accommodate the transition from 20 to 24 teams, that started in the following season.
Qualified to the stage were the 18 (instead of the usual 16) top-ranked teams of the nine Prince League divisions. They were divided into six blocks, with their respective block winners, highlighted in bold qualifying for next season's Premier League.

### Block F
## Top scorers
### East

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Kanta Chiba | Shimizu S-Pulse | 18 |
| 2 | Kotaro Uchino | Yokohama F. Marinos | 13 |
| 3 | Sera Watanabe | Aomori Yamada | 9 |
| 3 | Ota Yamamoto | Kashiwa Reysol | 9 |
| 5 | Kuryu Matsuki | Aomori Yamada | 8 |
| 5 | Leon Nozawa | FC Tokyo | 8 |
| 5 | Taishin Yamazaki | Yokohama FC | 8 |
| 8 | Sota Fujimori | Aomori Yamada | 6 |
| 8 | Riku Gunji | Ichiritsu Funabashi | 6 |
| 8 | Seita Kaneko | Shimizu S-Pulse | 6 |
| 8 | Hidetaka Maie | Kashiwa Reysol | 6 |
| 8 | Yugo Masukake | Kashiwa Reysol | 6 |
| 8 | Masaki Nasukawa | Aomori Yamada | 6 |
| 8 | Rin Yamazaki | Omiya Ardija | 6 |

### West

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Isa Sakamoto | Gamba Osaka | 15 |
| 2 | Hayato Manabe | Nagoya Grampus | 12 |
| 3 | Ryo Tanada | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 10 |
| 4 | Harumi Minamino | Gamba Osaka | 9 |
| 4 | Eijiro Takayanagi | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 9 |
| 6 | Naoki Asano | Gamba Osaka | 7 |
| 6 | Sota Kitano | Cerezo Osaka | 7 |
| 8 | Toshiki Ando | Sagan Tosu | 5 |
| 8 | Shinnosuke Katsushima | Kyoto Sanga | 5 |
| 8 | Daichi Morita | Ohzu | 5 |