An Introduction to the X-League in Japan
It's been around over 50 years and includes some tough competition
The X-League in Japan has been around since 1971, being known as the Japan American Football League until 1997. It is a semi-professional Football league where only a few players can get paid. Because of this Semi-Professional format, all the players work during the week and practices are held all day on the weekends. The league also limits the amount of foreigners and paid domestic players to 3 apiece as of the 2024 season.
There are two types of teams in the X-League; Company and Club teams. Only players who work for the sponsoring company can play for a given Company Team, while anyone is eligible for Club teams.
The X-League is split up into 4 divisions; X1 Super, X1 Area, X2, and X3. X1 Super is made up of 12 teams split into 3 conferences; East, Central, and West. X1 Area is also split up into the same conferences between 11 teams. There is little up-to-date information available for X2 and X3.
The X-League has a promotion/relegation system between its divisions. In 2024, the last-place team in the X1 Super East Conference will play the first-place team in the X1 Area East Conference. This continues for the Central and West Conferences. The winners of these games will be in the higher Conference next season, while the loser will be in the lower conference.
The X-League plays pre-season games during the spring in a tournament format, with the Pearl League in the East and the Green League in the West.
In 2024, X1 Super will play a 6 game regular season. X-League games take place every other weekend starting in late summer, due to the busy schedules of their players. After the regular season, the top 8 teams (regardless of division) advance to a single elimination bracket.
Up through 2021, the winner of the X1 Super championship (Japan X Bowl) would face the Japan college national champion in the Rice Bowl. Through 2009, the college teams were 12-14 overall in the Rice Bowl. However, starting in 2010, the X1 Super Champion would win every year, leading to removing the college team from the game and instead designating the Rice Bowl as the X1 Super Championship Game.
The X-League follows the NCAA rules for football, with the only change being 12-minute quarters instead of 15.
At the end of the season, the X-League creates an All-Star team that plays in the Dream Japan Bowl against a similar All-star team of Ivy League players. The last Dream Japan Bowl was played on January 20th, 2024, where the X-League team won 10-5, their first win in 10 games dating back to 1989.
Current X-League outlook
As of 2024, X1 Super has 12 teams spread across 3 conferences. The 3 teams who have dominated the league for over a decade, Obic Seagulls, Fujitsu Frontiers, and Panasonic Impulse, are all at the top of their respective division. Obic, however, did lose to the IBM Big Blues earlier this season, which could mean greater parity come playoffs. Upsets in the X-League are quite rare, however, as Fujitsu is 71-0 against all competition in the past 11 years that is not Obic or Panasonic. Fujitsu has also won 8 of the last 10 X1 Super Championships, including the last 3, with Panasonic being finalists each time.
The final weekend of the regular season is this weekend, with games played on Saturday and Sunday in Japan, generally starting between 10:30am and 1pm local time.
The top 8 teams are already decided, as the 8th ranked team cannot drop and further, so this week will only affect seeding. This week, I'd recommend watching Fujitsu vs IBM, as this could be a rematch in the quarterfinals, and IBM did beat Obic earlier this season.
How to watch and follow
Games can be found for free on “American Football Live by rtv.” Do note that the programming is entirely in Japanese, and requires payment to access. The official Japanese X-League website is below:
For English X-League content, I recommend the Gridiron Japan podcast/show. Their website is below:
The folks there make fantastic content discussing the league, interviewing players and coaches, and also dip into the CFL, ELF, and LFA sometimes.