X-League

X-League
Sport	American football
Founded	1971
No. of teams	60
Country(ies)	Japan
Most recent champion(s)	Matsushita Electric Works Impulse
Official website	X-League Homepage

The X-League is a semi-professional American football league in Japan. It was founded in 1971 as the Japan American Football League. It changed its name to the X-league in 1997. There are four division (X1, X2, X3, and X4) between which there is promotion and relegation. Teams in the four-tier league are split into east, west, and central divisions. There are two types of teams, one being a company-team 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 tryout.

The Japanese game is shorter, with quarters lasting 12 minutes instead of the standard 15 with some exceptions. Game rules are based on those of the NCAA college division in America. The regular season consists of three stages, namely first stage, second stage and final stage. And the Japan X Bowl is played by winners of the final stage. 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.

As mentioned above, it is a semi-pro league and therefore players are not allowed to be compensated for their playing in terms of salary.

The Japan national American football team that has won the first and second editions of the American Football World Cup and was runner-up finishing second to the American team in last years third installment of the tournament, was made-up almost entirely of players from this league.

Contents 1 2009 X League X1 Teams 2 X Bowl 2.1 Winners 3 References

[edit] 2009 X League X1 Teams

Division	Team
East	Obic Seagulls
	Asahi Beer Silver Star
	All Mitsubishi Lions
	All Tokyo Gas Creators
	Fuji Xerox Minerva American Football Club
	Nihon Unisys Bulls
Central	Kajima Deers
	Fujitsu Frontiers
	IBM Big Blue
	Meiji Yasuda Pirates
	Hurricanes
	Bullseyes Tokyo
West	Asahi Soft Drinks Challengers
	Panasonic Electric Works Impulse renamed from "Matsushita Electric Works Impulse" on October 1, 2008
	SRC Kobe Finies
	Naigai Energering Marvies
	Asahipretec Golden Fighters
	AS One BlackEagles

[edit] X Bowl

Since 1987, Japan X Bowl has decided the X-League championship. Until 2002, it was known as the Tokyo Super Bowl. The winner of this game goes on to the Rice Bowl to face the winner of the Koshien Bowl, the national college championship game.

[edit] Winners

Year	Bowl	Stadium	Winner	Score	Runner-up
1987	Tokyo Super Bowl I	Yokohama Stadium	Renoun Rovers	31-28	Silver Star
1988	Tokyo Super Bowl II	Tokyo Dome	Renoun Rovers	28-20	Matsushita Electric Works Impulse
1989	Tokyo Super Bowl III	Tokyo Dome	Asahi Beer Silver Star	14-9	NEC Falcons
1990	Tokyo Super Bowl IV	Tokyo Dome	Matsushita Electric Works Impulse	14-6	Onward Oaks
1991	Tokyo Super Bowl V	Tokyo Dome	Onward Oaks	49-10	Sunstar Finies
1992	Tokyo Super Bowl VI	Tokyo Dome	Asahi Beer Silver Star	21-7	Matsushita Electric Works Impulse
1993	Tokyo Super Bowl VII	Tokyo Dome	Asahi Beer Silver Star	13-0	Sunstar Finies
1994	Tokyo Super Bowl VIII	Tokyo Dome	Matsushita Electric Works Impulse	48-28	Onward Oaks
1995	Tokyo Super Bowl IX	Tokyo Dome	Matsushita Electric Works Impulse	54-20	Recruit Seagulls
1996	Tokyo Super Bowl X	Tokyo Dome	Recruit Seagulls	30-10	Onward Oaks
1997	Tokyo Super Bowl XI	Tokyo Dome	Kajima Deers	48-12	Matsushita Electric Works Impulse
1998	Tokyo Super Bowl XII	Tokyo Dome	Recruit Seagulls	45-24	Asahi Beer Silver Star
1999	Tokyo Super Bowl XIII	Tokyo Dome	Asahi Beer Silver Star	18-16	Kajima Deers
2000	Tokyo Super Bowl XIV	Tokyo Dome	Asahi Soft Drinks Challengers	20-18	Matsushita Electric Works Impulse
2001	Tokyo Super Bowl XV	Tokyo Dome	Asahi Soft Drinks Challengers	14-7	Matsushita Electric Works Impulse
2002	Tokyo Super Bowl XVI	Tokyo Dome	Seagulls	14-7	Fujitsu Frontiers
2003	Japan X Bowl XVII	Tokyo Dome	Onward Skylarks	13-10	Asahi Beer Silver Star
2004	Japan X Bowl XVIII	Kobe Wing Stadium	Matsushita Electric Works Impulse	15-6	Asahi Beer Silver Star
2005	Japan X Bowl XIX	Tokyo Dome	Obic Seagulls	25-16	Matsushita Electric Works Impulse
2006	Japan X Bowl XX	Kyocera Dome Osaka	Onward Skylarks	24-21	Kajima Deers
2007	Japan X Bowl XXI	Tokyo Dome	Matsushita Electric Works Impulse	33-13	Fujitsu Frontiers
2008	Japan X Bowl XXII	Kyocera Dome Osaka	Panasonic Electric Works Impulse	28-14	Kajima Deers

Team names

• Silver Star → Asahi Beer Silver Star
• Matsushita Electric Works Impulse → Panasonic Electric Works Impulse
• Kohoku Finies → Sunstar Finies → Kohoku Finies → Finies Football Club → Kobe Finies → SRC Kobe Finies
• Recruit Seagulls → Seagulls → Obic Seagulls
• Renoun Rovers (dissolved in 2003)

[edit] References

• X League homepage
• Japan's X-League Runs with the Ball
• X League's Road to the Rice Bowl

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