1993 J.League


The J.League 1993 season was the inaugural season of the J.League Division 1. The league fixtures began on May 15, 1993, and ended on December 15, 1993. The first ever Suntory Championship took place in the following year, January 9 and January 16, 1994.

Honours

Clubs

Ten clubs participated in J.League during 1993 season:
In the first year, the league followed split-season format, and each halves were known as Suntory Series and NICOS Series for sponsorship purposes. In each series, ten clubs played in double round-robin format, a total of 18 games per club. The games went to golden-goal extra time and penalties if needed after regulation. The clubs were ranked by number of wins, and tie breakers are, in the following order:
The club that finished at the top of the table is declared stage champion and qualifies for the Suntory Championship. The first stage winner, hosts the first leg in the championship series. If the same club win both stages, the runners-up of each stages plays against each other and the winners challenges the stage winner at the championship game.

Results

Final standings

Suntory Series (1st Stage) Standings

NICOS Series (2nd stage) Standings

Suntory Championship '93

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;VERDY KAWASAKI won the series on 3-1 aggregate.

Overall standings

Average attendance

In its first year, the league averaged 17,976 fans and had over 3.2 million fans total over the course of the season. The following chart shows the league ranked in terms of average attendance:
Team NameTotal Number of FansAttendance Average
Verdy Kawasaki454,23725,235
Gamba Osaka388,28621,571
JEF United Ichihara364,92220,273
Nagoya Grampus Eight357,45119,858
Shimizu S-Pulse332,31218,462
Yokohama Marinos302,05416,781
Sanfrecce Hiroshima299,58616,644
Yokohama Flügels278,34615,464
Kashima Antlers252,29114,016
Urawa Red Diamonds206,26511,459
Total3,235,75017,976

Awards

;MVP
Kazuyoshi Miura
;Rookie of the Year
Masaaki Sawanobori
;Manager of the Year
Yasutaro Matsuki
;Best XI
PositionPlayer
GK Shigetatsu Matsunaga
DF Shunzo Ono
DF Tetsuji Hashiratani
DF Pereira
DF Masami Ihara
DF Takumi Horiike
MF Santos
MF Yasuto Honda
MF Ruy Ramos
FW Kazuyoshi Miura
FW Ramón Díaz