Emperor's Cup
Year2021
Dates22 May – 19 December
CountryJapan
Num teams90
ChampionsUrawa Red Diamonds
Count8
Runner-upOita Trinita
Continentalcup 1Champions League
Continentalcup1 qualifiersUrawa Red Diamonds
Prevseason2020
Nextseason2022

The 2021 Emperor's Cup (Emperor's Cup JFA 101st Japan Football Championship (Japanese: 天皇杯 JFA 第101回全日本サッカー選手権大会)) was the 101st annual Japanese national football cup tournament, which began on 22 May 2021 and ended with the final on 19 December that year.

Following the compressed format of the 2020 tournament, the 2021 Emperor's Cup was restored to its usual format, featuring 90 teams representing prefectural football associations as well as the J1 and J2 Leagues. Verspah Oita was also awarded a seeded entry as the JFA's annually designated amateur club.

Kawasaki Frontale were the defending champions. They were eliminated by Oita Trinita in the semi-finals. Urawa Red Diamonds won their eighth title and qualified for the 2022 AFC Champions League group stage.

Calendar

The schedule was announced on 2 April 2021.[1][2]

RoundDate (backup date)MatchesClubsNew entries this round
First round22–23 May (24 May)2652 → 26
Second round9 June (16 June)3226 + 20 + 18 → 32
Third round7 July (14 July)1632 → 16
Round of 1618 Aug (13 Oct)816 → 8
Quarter-finals27 Oct (17 Nov)48 → 4
Semi-finals12 December24 → 2
Final19 December12 → 1

Participating clubs

There are 90 clubs compete in the tournament. The representatives for the prefectures of Tottori and Kumamoto had to be determined by the local FAs after COVID-19 countermeasures made it impossible to continue the prefectural qualification tournaments.[3][4]

2021 J1 League
all clubs join in the second round		2021 J2 League
18 / 22 clubs join in the 2nd round, 4 clubs join in the 1st round		Amateur Best Team47 prefectural tournament winners

Entering in the first round:

Entering in the second round:

Note

Bracket

Source:Tournament table (Official website in Japanese)

First round

The match between Tochigi City and the representatives of Yamanashi Prefecture, originally intended to be Yamanashi Gakuin University Pegasus and scheduled for 22 May, was postponed the day before by the Japan Football Association after Pegasus fielded an ineligible cup-tied player in the Yamanashi Prefecture Cup final.[5] Note that Pegasus operates functionally as YGU's second team and competed in the Yamanashi tournament alongside the YGU third team, known as Orions; the first team YGU Braves also competed in Emperor's Cup qualifiers in Tokyo Metropolis. Subsequent to an investigation, the JFA decided on 24 May that YGU Pegasus would be disqualified and awarded their spot to Nirasaki Astros, their opponents in the Yamanashi final.[6]

Also postponed was the match between Tonan Maebashi and Juntendo University after an individual affiliated with Juntendo tested positive for COVID-19.[7] The match was eventually rescheduled for 5 June.[8]

Third round

The third round schedule was announced on 17 June 2021.[9]

Quarter-finals

A draw was held on 24 September 2021[10][11] to determine the matchups of the quarter-final stage and onwards. Nagoya Grampus was guaranteed to have home advantage in quarter-finals as they advanced to the quarter-finals of the 2021 AFC Champions League, while Urawa Red Diamonds, Kashima Antlers and Oita Trinita were drawn as the away team in quarter-finals as they could not guarantee their home stadium at the moment.

Final

Main article: 2021 Emperor's Cup Final

See also

League
Cup(s)

References

  1. ^ "天皇杯 JFA 第101回全日本サッカー選手権大会 1～2回戦組合せ決定" (in Japanese). Japan Football Association. 2 April 2021. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
  2. ^ サッカーダイジェストWeb編集部 (2 April 2021). "第101回天皇杯の１、２回戦組み合わせが発表！". Soccer Digest Web. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  3. ^ "【開催中止】第64回鳥取県サッカー選手権大会 兼 天皇杯 JFA 第101回全日本サッカー選手権大会鳥取県代表決定戦" (in Japanese). Tottori Football Association. 15 April 2021. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  4. ^ "KFA 第25回 熊本県サッカー選手権大会 天皇杯 JFA 第101回全日本サッカー選手権大会熊本県代表決定戦" (in Japanese). Kumamoto Football Association. 7 May 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  5. ^ "1回戦 栃木シティFC vs. 山梨学院大学ペガサス 延期のお知らせ 天皇杯 JFA 第101回全日本サッカー選手権大会" (in Japanese). Japan Football Association. 21 May 2021.
  6. ^ "第101回天皇杯 山梨県代表として韮崎アストロスが出場、1回戦は5月26日(水)" (in Japanese). Japan Football Association. 24 May 2021.
  7. ^ "1回戦 tonan前橋 vs. 順天堂大学 延期のお知らせ 天皇杯 JFA 第101回全日本サッカー選手権大会" (in Japanese). Japan Football Association. 21 May 2021.
  8. ^ "第101回天皇杯 1回戦 tonan前橋 vs. 順天堂大学 代替日決定" (in Japanese). Japan Football Association. 31 May 2021.
  9. ^ "第101回 天皇杯 3回戦 会場・キックオフ時間決定" (in Japanese). Japan Football Association. 17 June 2021.
  10. ^ "第101回 天皇杯 準々決勝組み合わせ抽選会を9月24日(金)に実施". Japan Football Association. 17 Aug 2021. Archived 2021-08-17 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 18 Aug 2021.
  11. ^ Josun (24 September 2021). "天皇杯準々決勝の対戦カードが決定！". Goal.com. Retrieved 28 October 2021.