22 Jan 2004(Thu)

The year 2004 has started on a positive note for the J.League with the news that the two-stage system will be scrapped after this season.

This means the J.League will fall into line with the rest of the football world, and have a single-stage season in 2005.

Chairman Masaru Suzuki confirmed the change at a meeting of the executive board on Tuesday, and also said the first division would be increased from 16 to 18 teams in 2005.

Both moves are good for the game here, especially the decision to abolish the two-stage system.

I have never been a fan of this, even though there have been some exciting finishes in the past couple of years.

For me, a league championship should be decided on consistency over the length of the season.

It should not be decided in a playoff, or in a penalty shootout, which happened in 1999 when Jubilo Iwata beat Shimizu S-Pulse.

Extra time, golden goals and penalty shootouts should be restricted to cup competitions, where the knockout format demands a winner.

Slowly but surely, the J.League has come to recognise this.

First, the penalty shootout was scrapped. Then golden goals and extra time, and now the two stages.

So full credit to the J.League for changing their course, and I am sure the fans will continue to support the league without the playoff.

For the past two seasons a playoff has been unnecessary anyway, as first Jubilo Iwata and then Yokohama F Marinos won both stages, costing the league something in the region of 1.2 billion yen in terms of lost revenue through sponsorship, TV rights and gate money.

As for the decision to increase the number of teams by two, this means Japan's championship will be decided over 34 matches in 2005, as opposed to 30 (2 x 15) this time.

It also gives each team two more home games, 17 instead of 15, which should help bring in extra revenue.

With a few clubs interested in joining J2, an 18-team J1 and 12-team J2 is still possible for 2005.

The future looks even more exciting without a two-stage system.

ends