2015 J.League Cup

2015 J.League Cup

Yamazaki Nabisco Cup
Tournament details
Country	Japan
Teams	18
Final positions
Champions	Kashima Antlers (6th title)
Runner-up	Gamba Osaka
Semifinalists	Albirex Niigata Vissel Kobe
Tournament statistics
Top goal scorer(s)	Kazuma Watanabe

The 2015 J.League Cup, also known as the 2015 J.League Yamazaki Nabisco Cup for sponsoring purposes, is the 40th edition of the most prestigious Japanese soccer league cup tournament and the 23rd edition under the current J.League Cup format.

Format

Teams from the J.League Division 1 will take part in the tournament. Gamba Osaka, Kashima Antlers, Kashiwa Reysol and Urawa Red Diamonds were given a bye to the quarter-finals due to qualification in the 2015 AFC Champions League. The remaining 14 teams started from the group stage, where they were divided into two groups of seven. The group winners and the runners-up of each group qualified for the quarter-final along with the four teams which qualified for the AFC Champions League.

Group stage

Group A

Standings

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
FC Tokyo	6	3	3	0	8	4	+4	12
Albirex Niigata	6	3	2	1	9	4	+5	11
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	6	2	3	1	9	6	+3	9
Shonan Bellmare	6	2	3	1	5	5	0	9
Sagan Tosu	6	2	2	2	3	4	−1	8
Matsumoto Yamaga	6	1	1	4	8	13	−5	4
Ventforet Kofu	6	0	2	4	4	10	−6	2

Source:

Results

Home \ Away	TOK	SHO	VEN	YAM	ALB	SFR	SAG
FC Tokyo			2–1		2–1		2–0
Shonan Bellmare	0–0		1–0	2–1
Ventforet Kofu				1–3	2–2		0–0
Matsumoto Yamaga	1–1				0–3	2–4
Albirex Niigata		2–0				0–0	1–0
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	1–1	2–2	2–0
Sagan Tosu		0–0		2–1		1–0

Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Group B

Standings

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Nagoya Grampus	6	4	1	1	12	11	+1	13
Vissel Kobe	6	3	2	1	11	5	+6	11
Kawasaki Frontale	6	2	3	1	7	6	+1	9
Montedio Yamagata	6	2	2	2	10	11	−1	8
Yokohama F. Marinos	6	2	0	4	7	7	0	6
Shimizu S-Pulse	6	2	0	4	6	11	−5	6
Vegalta Sendai	6	1	2	3	6	8	−2	5

Source:

Results

Home \ Away	VEG	MON	FRO	YMA	SSP	GRA	VIS
Vegalta Sendai		1–2		1–0			0–0
Montedio Yamagata				0–2	3–1	3–3
Kawasaki Frontale	1–1	1–1				1–3
Yokohama F. Marinos			1–2		2–0		2–3
Shimizu S-Pulse	2–1		0–2			1–2
Nagoya Grampus	3–2			1–0			0–4
Vissel Kobe		3–1	0–0		1–2

Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Knock-out stage

All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)

	Quarterfinals							Semifinals							Finals
	Kashima Antlers		2	3	5
	FC Tokyo		2	0	2
								Kashima Antlers		2	4	6
								Vissel Kobe		1	1	2
	Vissel Kobe		2	2	4
	Kashiwa Reysol		0	3	3
															Kashima Antlers		3
															Gamba Osaka		0
	Nagoya Grampus		1	2	3 (9)
	Gamba Osaka (a.e.t.) (p)		1	2	3 (10)
								Gamba Osaka		1	2	3
								Albirex Niigata		2	0	2
	Urawa Red Diamonds		0	3	3
	Albirex Niigata		5	0	5

Quarterfinals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
FC Tokyo	2–5	Kashima Antlers	2–2	0–3
Kashiwa Reysol	3–4	Vissel Kobe	0–2	3–2
Gamba Osaka	3–3 (10-9 p)	Nagoya Grampus	1–1	2–2
Albirex Niigata	5–3	Urawa Reds	5–0	0–3

Semi-finals

First leg

7 October 2015

19:04

Vissel Kobe	1–2	Kashima Antlers
Iwanami File:Soccerball shade.svg 70'		File:Soccerball shade.svg 21' Yamamura File:Soccerball shade.svg 39' Akasaki

Kobe Universiade Memorial Stadium, Kobe

Attendance: 6,162

Referee: Nobutsugu Murakami

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7 October 2015

19:03

Albirex Niigata	2–1	Gamba Osaka
Yamamoto File:Soccerball shade.svg 36' Usami File:Soccerball shade.svg 90'		File:Soccerball shade.svg 33' Omori

Denka Big Swan Stadium, Niigata

Attendance: 9,018

Referee: Hajime Matsuo

Second leg

11 October 2015

14:04

Kashima Antlers	4–1	Vissel Kobe
Nakamura File:Soccerball shade.svg 16' Kanazaki File:Soccerball shade.svg 53', 74' Caio File:Soccerball shade.svg 82'		File:Soccerball shade.svg 21' Watanabe

Kashima Soccer Stadium, Kashima

Attendance: 10,801

Referee: Kenji Ogiya

Antlers won 6–2 on aggregate.

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11 October 2015

14:04

Gamba Osaka	2–0	Albirex Niigata
Endō File:Soccerball shade.svg 57' Fujiharu File:Soccerball shade.svg 90+4'

Osaka Expo '70 Stadium, Osaka

Attendance: 11,475

Referee: Hiroyuki Kimura

Gamba Osaka won 3-2 on aggregate.

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Final

Main article: 2015 J.League Cup Final

31 October 2015

13:10

Kashima Antlers	3–0	Gamba Osaka
Hwang Seok-ho File:Soccerball shade.svg 60' Kanazaki File:Soccerball shade.svg 84' Caio File:Soccerball shade.svg 86'

Saitama Stadium 2002, Saitama

Attendance: 50,828

Referee: Masaaki Toma

Top scorers

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals
1	Kazuma Watanabe	Vissel Kobe	7
2	Takuma Asano	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	4
	Ryohei Yamazaki	Albirex Niigata
	Hiroshi Ibusuki	Albirex Niigata
	Mu Kanazaki	Kashima Antlers
3	Elsinho	Kawasaki Frontale	3
	Kosuke Yamamoto	Albirex Niigata

Updated to games played on 12 October 2015
Source: J.League Data