The was the 33rd season of the main competition for under-18 teams in Japan, the 12nd after rebranding the competition to the current "Premier League" format, and the 1st season with 24 clubs participating in the league.
Aomori Yamada High School were the defending champions, winning the 2020 title. In 2021, they even qualified to the Premier League Final, but it ended up cancelled due to COVID-19 precautions.
Sagan Tosu, as West champions, faced East champions Kawasaki Frontale in the final, winning past them by 3–2. This win earned them the first Premier League title, becoming the first ever team from Saga Prefecture to do so, and the first from the Kyushu region, after Kunimi High School won it on 2002.
Changes from the previous season Promoted from the Prince LeaguesRelegated by bottom-league finish (East)Relegated by bottom-league finish (West)Kiryu DaiichiKawasaki FrontaleShizuoka GakuenMaebashi IkueiJFA Academy FukushimaRiseishaUrawa Red DiamondsKyoto Sanga
Participating clubs As usual, the teams were allocated to each division by the JFA based on geographical positions. Shimizu S-Pulse was the only team to be relocated from a conference to another, having playing the previous season on the EAST conference.
Premier League East TeamPrefectureAomori Yamada High SchoolAomoriJFA Academy Fukushima FukushimaKiryu University Daiichi High School GunmaMaebashi Ikuei High School GunmaOmiya ArdijaSaitamaRyutsu Keizai University Kashiwa High SchoolChibaKashiwa ReysolChibaIchiritsu Funabashi High SchoolChibaFC TokyoTokyoKawasaki Frontale KanagawaYokohama F. MarinosKanagawaYokohama FCKanagawa
Premier League West TeamPrefectureShimizu S-PulseShizuokaShizuoka Gakuen High School ShizuokaJúbilo IwataShizuokaNagoya GrampusAichiCerezo OsakaOsakaGamba OsakaOsakaRiseisha High School OsakaVissel KobeHyogoSanfrecce HiroshimaHiroshimaHigashi Fukuoka High SchoolFukuokaSagan TosuSagaOhzu High SchoolKumamoto
League table Premier League East
Premier League West
Promotion/relegation play-offs There was a difference from the 2021 edition, who awarded six direct promotions from the Prince Leagues while only two teams got relegated, to accommodate the transition from 20 to 24 teams, starting from this 2022 season.
On 2022, a total of 18 teams participated at this stage, to definitively determine all the participating teams of the posterious season. Qualified to the stage were the 16 top-ranked teams of the nine Prince League divisions and the 10th-placed teams of the East and West Premier League conferences. They were divided into six blocks, with their respective block winners (highlighted in bold) qualifying for next season's Premier League.
Block A
Block B
Block C
Block D
Block E
Block F
Final
GK 21 Tomoyasu HamasakiDF 3 Yuto MatsunaganeDF 4 Kota TakaiDF 22 Eiji Ehara DF 35 Kaito TsuchiyaMF 10 Yuto Ozeki (c)MF 14 Hotaru Otaki MF 17 Jo OgawaMF 18 Kota Yui MF 25 Kairi Shimura FW 9 Kishin GokitaSubstitutes:GK 19 Yuto KikuchiDF 5 Hiyu Asaoka DF 13 Kosuke Nobusawa DF 29 Minato MotokiDF 32 Shotaro Shibata MF 6 Kosei SuitaFW 20 Torataro Okazaki Manager: Yasuhiro Nagahashi GK 1 Hayato KuribayashiDF 2 Sota YamamotoDF 3 Ryotaro TakeuchiDF 5 Motoki ImamuraDF 11 Koma OsatoDF 13 Hibiki Matsuoka MF 4 Shunya SakaiMF 10 Taichi Fukui (c)FW 7 Yoshiki NaraharaFW 9 Keisuke Sakaiya FW 17 Kosei Masuzaki Substitutes:GK 40 Kota ImotoMF 16 Sotaro Hayashi MF 19 Ryusei Sakita FW 6 Kenta Oniki FW 8 Harunosuke KidoFW 26 Haruki YamasakiFW 35 Daichi SuzukiManager: Tomonori Tanaka
Assistant referees: Seiichi Kanai Masashige Abe Fourth official: Toshiki TomomasaMatch rules 90 minutes. Extra-time if scores still level at the end of regulation time. Penalty shoot-out if scores still level at the end of extra time. Seven named substitutes. Maximum of five substitutions during regulation time, with one more substition allowed if the match needs to go into extra-time.
Top scorers East RankPlayerClubGoals 1 Kotaro Uchino Yokohama F. Marinos 21 2 Naoki Kumata FC Tokyo 19 3 Ota Yamamoto Kashiwa Reysol 15 4 Kishin Gokita Kawasaki Frontale 13 5 Kosuke Matsumura Yokohama F. Marinos 10 6 Aoi Okamura Kiryu Daiichi 9 Hikaru Takahashi Omiya Ardija Naoya Koike Maebashi Ikuei 9 Kota Suwa Kiryu Daiichi 8 Torataro Okazaki Kawasaki Frontale Hayato Moriya Yokohama FC
West RankPlayerClubGoals 1 Shinnosuke Kinoshita Cerezo Osaka 15 2 Kazunosuke Furuta Riseisha 14 Shunei Kobayashi Ohzu 4 Yuzuki Saito Shimizu S-Pulse 13 5 Takeshi Ito Júbilo Iwata 12 Ritsuki Sarara Cerezo Osaka Niina Tominaga Vissel Kobe 8 Soma Kanda Shizuoka Gakuen 10 Renko Hikasa Gamba Osaka Keisuke Goto Júbilo Iwata Kyota Funahashi Júbilo Iwata Keiji Yamashita Ohzu
See also
Japan Football Association (JFA) League Japanese association football league system Prince Takamado Cup
References
External links Official website