2020 J.League Cup
The 2020 J.League Cup, known as the 2020 J.League YBC Levain Cup () for sponsorship reasons, was the 28th edition of J.League Cup, a Japanese association football cup competition. It began on 16 February 2020 and ended on 4 January 2021. Format. All 18 teams playing in the 2020 J1 League participated. In addition, depending on the result of the 2020 AFC Champions League qualifying play-offs, one or two teams from 2020 J2 League with the best performance in the previous season (i.e. Matsumoto Yamaga and Júbilo Iwata, the 17th- and 18th-placed teams in 2019 J1  League, respectively) may participate. As FC Tokyo qualified for the AFC Champions League group stage, only Matsumoto Yamaga were invited. Group stage. Participants of 2020 AFC Champions League group stage received byes for the group stage. Sixteen teams played the group stage. They were divided into four groups of four teams by their finish on the 2019 J1 and J2 Leagues (parenthesized below). Each group was played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. Each match would be played in 90 minutes. Group stage tiebreakers. In the group stage, teams in a group were ranked by points (3 points  for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If the points were tied, the following tiebreakers were applied: In case of ranking third-placed teams across the groups, the following criteria were used: Play-off stage. The number of play-off stage participants depends on the number of teams advanced to ACL group stage. The play-off stage was played as two-legged ties of two teams each. The away goals rule, an extra time (away goals rule is not applied for the scores in the extra time), and a penalty shoot-out were used  if needed. Prime stage (Knockout stage). The prime stage (knockout stage) was played by 8 teams who advanced to ACL group stage and won the play-off stage. The quarter-finals and the semi-finals were played as two-legged ties (same as the play-off stage). The final was a single game. The video assistant referee (VAR) system would be used during this stage. Regulation changes. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the extraordinary board held a meeting on 5 June 2020 to change the tournament method as follows: On 23 June, J.League announced that it would not use the  video assistant referee (VAR) system. Schedule. The revised schedule was announced on 15 June 2020. Prime stage (Knockout stage). Prime stage is the single-leg knockout tournament contested between the 5 clubs that qualified from the group stage and the 3 AFC Champions League participants. The draw for the prime stage took place on 13 August 2020. Quarter finals. The matches took place on 2 September 2020. Semi-finals. The matches were played on 7 October 2020. Final. Originally scheduled for 7 November 2020, the final was postponed 3 days prior after 13 of the Kashiwa Reysol club members, including  their 70-year-old manager Nelsinho Baptista and three players, were tested positive for COVID-19. It was then scheduled to play on 4 January 2021, three days after the 2020 Emperor's Cup final.