Who is the J. League's Most Successful Team? 2012 Update

Barry writes

It's that time of year again! By which I mean the off season, where we have to fill the days until the action restarts. Today's offering is an update of our most successful team ranking. Points are accumulated as follows, with continental cups counted, but show-piece super cups not.

League title: 3 Points
League runners up: 1 Point

Cup win: 2 Points
Cup runners up: .5 Points

A new criteria this year is relegation. You can't ignore a team finishing among the worst three in the division, nor spending time playing at a lower level. So this will now count as follows:

Relegation: -1 Point
Time spent in lower division: -.5 per year

So lets add in last year's trophy distribution, deduct relegation points and see how we stand. This year's spell in J2 for G. Osaka and Tokyo Verdy is counted.

1) Kashima Antlers 41.5
2) Jubilo Iwata 23
3) Yokohama F. Marinos 18
4) Urawa Red Diamonds 13.5
5) Tokyo Verdy 12.5
6) Gamba Osaka 12
7) S-Pulse 11
8) Nagoya Grampus 9
9) Kashiwa Reysol 5
- ) FC Tokyo 5
10) Kawasaki Frontale 4.5

Relegation points hit Tokyo Verdy and Kashiwa hard, but it certainly adds a bit of balance, and I think is a fair addition to the criteria.

Kashima extend their lead further with another cup win, and S-Pulse add a further .5 after our big day out in November. League winners Hiroshima are yet to climb into the top ten, and their two relegations and two years spent in J2 will hold them back for a little while yet.

So there we have it. Tune in again time next year to see who ranks as the most successful team in the J. league!