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2023 Emperor's Cup

2023 Emperor's Cup final at Japan National Stadium
Tournament details
Country	Japan
Dates	20 May – 9 December
Teams	88
Final positions
Champions	Kawasaki Frontale (2nd title)
Runner-up	Kashiwa Reysol
Champions League Elite	Kawasaki Frontale
Tournament statistics
Matches played	87
Goals scored	286 (3.29 per match)
Attendance	344,191 (3,956 per match)
Top goal scorer(s)	Hidetaka Maie Akito Suzuki (5 goals)
← 20222024 →

The 2023 Emperor's Cup (Emperor's Cup JFA 103rd Japan Football Championship (Japanese: 天皇杯 JFA 第103回全日本サッカー選手権大会)) was the 103rd edition of the annually contested cup, starting on 20 May. The format for 2023 did not present any changes from the previous edition. It featured 88 teams representing the prefectural football associations, J1 League, J2 League and Japan Football League. JFL's Honda FC was once again chosen to be the annually specially-designated amateur club.

Ventforet Kofu were the defending champions, after a cinderella story for the J2 club saw them qualify for the final, which they won on penalties against Sanfrecce Hiroshima, after a 1–1 draw in regulation time, but were eliminated by Vissel Kobe in the round of 16.

Qualifying rounds

As only J1 and J2 League clubs qualify directly for the first round, teams from outside of it who want to qualify to the Emperor's Cup (exception being made to the JFA-seeded team), had to, as usual, undergo a prefectural qualification, with regulations and schedules varying from one association to another. In total, there are 47 prefectural cup qualifications, with the winners of each prefectural cup having earned their right to play in the Emperor's Cup, with all of them assigned to start the competition in the first round.

Participating clubs

J1 League

All 18 teams playing in the 2023 J1 League entered in the second round.

J2 League

All 22 teams playing in the 2023 J2 League entered in the second round.

Amateur designated team

One team selected from the Japan Football League. It entered in the first round.

Prefectural tournaments

All the 47 prefectural tournaments winners. They all entered in the first round.

• Note: In the sections below, club tiers (league levels) are presented as follows:
  • National: (1): J1 League; (2): J2 League; (3): J3 League; (4): Japan Football League
  • Regional (senior): (5): Regional Leagues 1st Divs.; (6): Regional Leagues 2nd Divs.
    • Regional (university): (5): University Regional Leagues 1st Divs.; (6): University Regional Leagues 2nd and 3rd Divs.
  • Prefectural (senior): (7): Prefectural Leagues 1st Divs.
    • Prefectural (university): (7): University league below their respective Regional Leagues.
  • Others (7+): Below the cited club tiers, unknown or not affiliated with any league.

Calendar

The schedule from the first round to the quarter-finals was announced on 20 December 2022. The semi-finals and the final did not have its dates released by the Japan Football Association, as uncertainties around the schedule of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup left doubts about possible reschedule of one or more rounds of the Emperor's Cup. The decision was also made to avoid schedule conflict for teams whose squads would have one or more players participating in the competition.

Schedule

First round

The match pairings was decided on 22 March 2023. Except for Honda FC, who was granted a bye from prefectural qualifications due to their "amateur designated team" status, no other club had yet qualified to the tournament when the draw was conducted.

1. ^ Includes the University Leagues

Second round

All the 2023 J1 and J2 League clubs enter the competition in this round. Most of these professional clubs hosted their matches in their own prefecture. However, as the number of teams from these leagues combined does not match the amount of host teams required, some of these teams had to play their matches away from home. These specific away teams either finished between the 15th to 20th place on last season's J2 or got promoted from the J3 League for the 2023 season, and played their ties against teams that finished between the 7th and 14th place on last season's J2.

1. ^ Includes the University Leagues
2. The match was originally due to be played on 7 June. But on 9 May, in response to a request from Vissel Kobe, the Emperor's Cup Executive Committee decided to postpone the match to 14 June. Likely, the postponement was related to Vissel Kobe's friendly match against FC Barcelona, played around that date.

Third round

12 July Match 66	Kochi United (4)	1–0	(1) Yokohama FC	Kochi
19:00 JST	Takano 56'	Report Report		Stadium: Kochi Haruno Athletic Stadium Attendance: 3,041 Referee: Koji Takasaki

1. The match #58 was kicked off on 12 July, but suspended after the first half of the extra time due to thunderstorm. It was determined on 13 July that the remainder of the match should be played on 19 July.

Round of 16

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Team	Goals
1	Hidetaka Maie	Kashiwa Reysol	5
	Akito Suzuki	Shonan Bellmare
3	Ryoga Sato	Avispa Fukuoka	4
4	Ryoka Abe	BTOP Hokkaido	3
	Ryo Nemoto	Tochigi SC
	Yuya Yamagishi	Avispa Fukuoka
	Kim Gun-hee	Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo
	Rimu Matsuoka	Roasso Kumamoto
9	30 players		2

References

1. "About the 2023 Emperor's Cup". jfa.jp (in Japanese). Japan Football Association.
2. Orlowitz, Dan (16 October 2022). "Kofu outlasts Hiroshima to claim maiden Emperor's Cup title". The Japan Times. Tokyo, Japan. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
3. "2023年度 天皇杯JFA第103回全日本サッカー選手権大会 スケジュール決定 1回戦5/20.21開催！J1.J2は2回戦6/7より出場". juniorsoccer-news.com (in Japanese). Junior Soccer News. 22 March 2023. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
4. ^ "天皇杯 JFA 第103回全日本サッカー選手権大会 北海道と和歌山県で代表決まる". jfa.jp (in Japanese). 5 May 2023. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
5. "第103回天皇杯 秋田県代表にノースアジア大学が決定". jfa.jp (in Japanese). 16 April 2023. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
6. ^ "47都道府県代表すべて決定 天皇杯 JFA 第103回全日本サッカー選手権大会". jfa.jp (in Japanese). 8 May 2023. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
7. ^ "天皇杯 JFA 第103回全日本サッカー選手権大会 山形県など8県で代表決まる". jfa.jp (in Japanese). 23 April 2023. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
8. "2023新潟日報杯・共同通信杯 第28回新潟県サッカー選手権大会 ～天皇杯 JFA 第103回全日本サッカー選手権大会 新潟県代表決定戦～". niigata-fa.or.jp. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
9. "第103回天皇杯 埼玉県代表に東京国際大学FCが決定". jfa.jp (in Japanese). 22 April 2023. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
10. ^ "天皇杯 JFA 第103回全日本サッカー選手権大会 愛知県など1府3県で代表決まる". jfa.jp (in Japanese). 6 May 2023. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
11. "タイムス杯争奪 OFA第28回沖縄県サッカー選手権大会 (兼天皇杯 JFA 第103回全日本サッカー選手権大会沖縄県予選地区大会)". fcryukyu.com. 18 February 2023. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
12. "都道府県選手権大会". jfa.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 24 April 2023.
13. "天皇杯 JFA 第103回全日本サッカー選手権大会マッチスケジュールについて". jfa.jp (in Japanese). Japan Football Association. 20 December 2022. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
14. "天皇杯JFA第103回全日本サッカー選手権 試合日程 2023". stadio.jp. Stadio. 20 December 2022. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
15. "1～2回戦組合せ決定 天皇杯 JFA 第103回全日本サッカー選手権大会". jfa.jp (in Japanese). Japan Football Association. 22 March 2023. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
16. "MEIJI YASUDA J2 LEAGUE STANDINGS". jleague.co. Japan Professional Football League. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
17. "2回戦 ヴィッセル神戸戦の日程変更について 天皇杯 JFA 第103回全日本サッカー選手権大会" (in Japanese). 9 May 2023. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
18. "ANDRES INIESTA SET TO LEAVE VISSEL KOBE per Futbol Espana". onefootball.com. 6 May 2023. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
19. "試合の取り扱いについて 天皇杯 JFA 第103回全日本サッカー選手権大会 3回戦 カターレ富山 vs アルビレックス新潟（マッチナンバー【58】）" (in Japanese). Japan Football Association. 13 July 2023. Retrieved 14 July 2023.

External links

• Tournament outline, JFA.jp
• Schedule and results, JFA.jp
• Team introduction, JFA.jp
• Japanese TV and online broadcast, JFA.jp

• Emperor's Cup
• 2023 Asian domestic association football cups
• 2023 in Japanese football