Japan J-League

Before the inception of the J.League, the highest level of club football was the Japan Soccer League (JSL), which was formed in 1965 and consisted of amateur clubs. Despite being well-attended during the boom of the late 1960s and early 1970s (when Japan's national team won the bronze Olympic medal at the 1968 games in Mexico), the JSL went into decline in the 1980s, in general line with the deteriorating situation worldwide. Fans were few, the grounds were not of the highest quality, and the Japanese national team was not on a par with the Asian powerhouses. To raise the level of play domestically, to attempt to garner more fans, and to strengthen the national team, the Japan Football Association (JFA) decided to form a professional league.

The professional association football league, J.League was formed in 1992, with eight clubs drawn from the JSL First Division, one from the Second Division, and the newly formed Shimizu S-Pulse. At the same time, JSL changed its name and became the now–defunct Japan Football League, a semi-professional league. Although the J.League did not officially launch until 1993, the Yamazaki Nabisco Cup competition was held between the ten clubs in 1992 to prepare for the inaugural season.

J.League officially kicked off its first season with ten clubs in early 1993.

Despite its success in the first three years, in early 1996, the league attendance declined rapidly. In 1997, the average attendance was 10,131, compared to more than 19,000 in 1994. Notably, Arsène Wenger managed Nagoya Grampus Eight during this period.

The league's management announced the J.League Hundred Year Vision, in which they aimed to create or endorse 100 professional association football clubs throughout Japan by 2092, which would mark the hundredth season since the establishment of the J1 League. The league also encouraged the clubs to promote football or non-football related sports and health activities, to acquire local sponsorships, and to build good relationships with their hometowns at the grassroots level. The league administration believed that this would allow the clubs to bond with their respective cities and towns, and obtain support from local government, companies, and citizens. In other words, clubs will be able to rely on the locals, rather than major national sponsors.

The format of the league was heavily changed in 1999. The league acquired nine clubs from the semi-professional JFL and one club from the J.League to create a two-division system. The top flight became the J.League Division 1 (J1) with 16 clubs while the J.League Division 2 (J2) was launched with ten clubs in 1999. The former second-tier Japan Football League now became the third-tier Japan Football League (J3).

Also, until 2004 (with the exception of 1996 season), the J1 season was divided into two stages. At the end of each full season, the champions from each half played a two-legged series to determine the overall season winners and runners-up. Júbilo Iwata in 2002, and Yokohama F. Marinos in 2003, won both "halves" of the respective seasons, thus eliminating the need for the playoff series. The league abolished the split-season system in 2005.

For the 2005 season, the J1 League was increased to 18 clubs and the season format adopted a system similar to European club football. The number of relegated clubs also increased from 2 to 2.5, with the 3rd-to-last club going into a promotion/relegation playoff with the third-placed J2 club.

Three Japanese sides made the quarter-finals in the 2008 ACL.

The league and the clubs increasingly paid more attention to Asian competitions. For example, Kawasaki Frontale built up a notable fan base in Hong Kong, owing to their participation in the Asian Champions League during the 2007 season. There was success for Urawa Red Diamonds in 2007 and Gamba Osaka in 2008. The J.League obtained the highest league ranking and a total of four competition slots, starting from the 2009 season. This included the previous Emperor's Cup Winner. The league took this as an opportunity to sell TV broadcasting rights to foreign countries, especially in Asia.

Other changes affecting the competition from the 2009 season included increasing the number of relegation slots to three, introducing a dedicated AFC Player slot (reserved for a player that derives from an AFC country other than Japan) as one of the four allowable foreign players. From 2012, having the J.League Club Licence became a requirement of being a member of the Asian Football Confederation, and one of the criteria of whether a club was permitted to be promoted to a higher tier in professional level leagues.

In 2015, the J.League Division 1 was renamed J1 League. The tournament format was changed to a three-stage system. The season was split into first and second stages, followed by a third and final championship stage. The third stage was composed of three to five teams. The team with the most points in each stage and the top three team with the most points overall qualified. If both of the stage winners finished in the top three teams for the season, then only three teams qualified for the championship stage. These teams then took part in a championship playoff stage to decide the winner of the league trophy.

Despite the new multi-stage format being initially reported as locked in for five seasons, due to negative reaction from hardcore fans and failure to appeal to casual fans, after 2016 it was abandoned in favour of a return to a single-stage system. From 2017, the team which accumulates the most points will be named champion, with no championship stage taking place at the season's end, and from 2018, the bottom two clubs are relegated and the 16th-placed club enters a playoff with the J2 club that wins a promotion playoff series. If the J2 playoff winner prevails, the club is promoted, with the J1 club being relegated, otherwise the J1 club can retain its position in J1 League with the promotion failure of the J2 club.

In November 2017, Urawa Red Diamonds played the AFC Champions League final against Al Hilal. After a draw in the first leg, Urawa Red Diamonds won the second leg 1-0 and were crowned Asian Champions. In the past 10–15 years, Japanese clubs have risen also intercontinentally. Clubs Gamba Osaka and Urawa Red Diamonds have been crowned Asian champions and participated in the Club World Cup, always targeting at least the semi-finals. Kashima Antlers were finalists of the 2016 edition and eventually lost to Real Madrid.

The J-League will transition to a season that follows the European football calendar, to be played from August to May. This will include a winter break between December and February.

As a part of the transition, the league will have a one-off special tournament (called the 2026 J1 100 Year Vision League) to be held during the first half of 2026.