X-League
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| Formerly | Japan American Football League (1971-1997) |
|---|---|
| Sport | American football |
| Founded | 1971 |
| No. of teams | 52 (X1:18, X2:16, X3:19) |
| Country | Japan |
| Most recent champion(s) |
Fujitsu Frontiers (2nd title) |
| Most titles | Obic Seagulls (8 titles) |
| Official website | Official website |
The X-League (Xリーグ) is the top-level American football league in Japan. It was founded in 1971 as the Japan American Football League, and changed its name to the X League in 1997. There are three divisions (X1, X2, and X3) among which there is promotion and relegation. Teams in the three-tier league are split into East, West, and Central divisions. There are two types of teams, one being a company team in which only employees of that particular sponsoring company may participate as a player, and the other classified as a club team for which anyone can try out.
Game rules are based on those of the NCAA college division in America, with the exception of the length of quarters, which are 12 minutes instead of 15 during the first stage of the season.
The Japanese national team, which has won the first and second editions of the American Football World Cup and was runner-up, finishing second to the American team, in the 2007 installment of the tournament, was made up almost entirely of players from this league.
Americans are often recruited to play for X League teams, with a strict rule of four per team. No more than two foreign players per team are allowed on the field of play at a time.
Teams play six matches in the regular season, the schedule which is determined by each team's standing during the previous season.
The top six teams at the end of the regular season would advance to the Japan X Bowl tournament while the remaining two spots would be filled with winners from a wild-card match.
There is a spring tournament as well called the Pearl Bowl which is used by teams to ready themselves and evaluate new players before the fall season.
The 18 top tier teams are divided into 3 divisions of 6 teams each. The East and Central Divisions are made up of teams from the Kanto (East Japan) region while the West Division teams are from the Kansai (West Japan) region. The teams would also be split into two groups of nine each, with the top nine ranking teams from the previous season (top three in each division) comprising the Super 9. The lower nine make up the Battle 9.
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Wikipedia