J.League announced the schedule and the matchdays up to the semifinals on December 14, 2018,[2] and full fixture of the matches including the final (on October 26, at Saitama Stadium 2002) on 23 January, 2019.[3]
Sanfrecce Hiroshima and Kashima Antlers will receive byes for the J.League Cup group stage and play-off stage if they win the play-offs of ACL and advance to the ACL group stage. In case either of them advanced to ACL group stage, Kashiwa Reysol will join the J. League Cup group stage. In case both of them advanced to ACL group stage, Kashiwa Reysol and V-Varen Nagasaki will join.
As a result, 16 teams will play the group stage. 16 teams are divided into four groups of four teams by the performance of 2018 J1 League and 2018 J2 League (parenthesized below).
These groups are the cases when both Hiroshima and Kashima advance to the ACL group stage. In case either or both teams cannot advance to the ACL group stage, they will replace the spot for Nagasaki and/or Kashiwa (other matchups are not replaced).
Each group is played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. Each match will be played for 90 minutes (without extra time).
Group stage tiebreakers
In the group stage, teams in a group are ranked by points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If the points are tied, the following tiebreakers are applied:
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Away goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
If more than two teams are tied, and applying all head-to-head criteria above remains a part of teams still tied, reapply the criteria above only for the tied teams.
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
Penalty shoot-out if only two teams are tied and they met in the last round of the group;
Fewer disciplinary points;
Drawing of lots.
In case of ranking third-placed teams across the groups, the following criteria are used:
Points;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
Fewer disciplinary points;
Drawing of lots.
Play-off stage
The number of play-off stage participants depends on the number of teams advanced to ACL group stage.
In case four teams advanced to ACL group stage, eight teams (top two teams in each group) will play the play-off.
In case three teams advanced to ACL group stage, ten teams (top two teams in each group, and two best third-placed teams across the groups) will play the play-off.
In case two teams advanced to ACL group stage, twelve teams (top three teams in each group) will play the play-off.
Due to the difficulty in logistics of the video system by typhoon Hagibis, the use of VAR was cancelled for the match of Kashima Antlers v Kawasaki Frontale (13 October, semifinal second leg), and additional assistant referees are introduced instead.[5]
Schedule
The schedule, except for the final, was announced on 14 December 2018.[2] All matches of the group stage and the play-off stage will be played on Wednesdays.