The 2024 J.League Cup, known as the 2024 J.League YBC Levain Cup (Japanese: 2024 JリーグYBCルヴァンカップ) for sponsorship reasons, was the 32nd edition of J.League Cup, a Japanese association footballcup competition. This season, all 60 J.League clubs participated in an updated tournament format, aimed to grow the J2 and J3 Leagues and improve the J.League as a whole.[1]
The defending champions were Avispa Fukuoka, who were eliminated in the third round.
Format
In a change from previous seasons, all clubs from the season's J1, J2, and J3 Leagues participated, thus including the clubs from all J.League divisions for the first time since 2001.[2] As many as 29 teams participated in the tournament for the first time in their history.
The tournament was divided into three sections each with a different format: the first round, the play-off round and the prime round.
First round
57 clubs took part in the first round, split into 10 groups. The three clubs participating in the 2023–24 AFC Champions League knockout stage (Kawasaki Frontale, Yokohama F. Marinos and Ventforet Kofu) were introduced to the tournament at the prime round. Each group participated in a single-elimination tournament, leaving 10 clubs to advance to the play-off round. The draw for the first round was based on rankings from the 2023 league season.[3]
As a general rule, the lower league club played their fixture at home. In the case of clubs being in the same league, the club with the lower ranking from the 2023 season served as the home team. In the case of a draw, games go to extra time and penalties to determine a winner if necessary.
The first round groups are as follows:
Teams participating in the first round of the 2024 J.League Cup
Teams in italic participated in their first J.League Cup tournament.
Playoff round
The 10 clubs that qualified from the first round would be drawn into five, two-legged fixtures and would play each other home and away. The remaining five clubs would advance to the prime round.
Prime round
A single-elimination tournament would be held between eight clubs: the five clubs that qualified from the playoff round plus the AFC Champions League clubs — Kawasaki Frontale, Yokohama F. Marinos, and Ventforet Kofu. Each round would be a two-legged home and away fixture, except the final which would be a one-game tie played at a neutral venue. The draw for the brackets would be held on July 2.
Schedule
The schedule was announced on 19 December 2023.[4] All the matches took place in 2024.[5]