2021 Emperor's Cup
# 2021 Emperor's Cup

The 2021 Emperor's Cup (Emperor's Cup JFA 101st Japan Football Championship (Japanese: 天皇杯 JFA 第101回全日本サッカー選手権大会)) was the 101st annual Japanese national football cup tournament, which began on 22 May 2021 and ended with the final on 19 December that year.

Following the compressed format of the 2020 tournament, the 2021 Emperor's Cup was restored to its usual format, featuring 90 teams representing prefectural football associations as well as the J1 and J2 Leagues. Verspah Oita was also awarded a seeded entry as the JFA's annually designated amateur club.

Kawasaki Frontale were the defending champions. They were eliminated by Oita Trinita in the semi-finals. Urawa Red Diamonds won their eighth title and qualified for the 2022 AFC Champions League group stage.

## Calendar

The schedule was announced on 2 April 2021.

| Round | Date (backup date) | Matches | Clubs | New entries this round |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| First round | 22–23 May (24 May) | 26 | 52 → 26 | 4 clubs from 2021 J2 League: Ehime FC, Renofa Yamaguchi, Blaublitz Akita, SC Sagamihara 1 seeded amateur team Verspah Oita 47 prefectural cup winners |
| Second round | 9 June (16 June) | 32 | 26 + 20 + 18 → 32 | 20 2021 J1 League clubs 18 clubs from 2021 J2 League |
| Third round | 7 July (14 July) | 16 | 32 → 16 | |
| Round of 16 | 18 Aug (13 Oct) | 8 | 16 → 8 | |
| Quarter-finals | 27 Oct (17 Nov) | 4 | 8 → 4 | |
| Semi-finals | 12 December | 2 | 4 → 2 | |
| Final | 19 December | 1 | 2 → 1 | |

## Participating clubs

There are 90 clubs compete in the tournament. The representatives for the prefectures of Tottori and Kumamoto had to be determined by the local FAs after COVID-19 countermeasures made it impossible to continue the prefectural qualification tournaments.

| 2021 J1 League all clubs join in the second round | 2021 J2 League 18 / 22 clubs join in the 2nd round, 4 clubs join in the 1st round | Amateur Best Team | 47 prefectural tournament winners | 47 prefectural tournament winners |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Avispa Fukuoka Cerezo Osaka Consadole Sapporo Gamba Osaka Kashima Antlers Kashiwa Reysol Kawasaki Frontale Nagoya Grampus Oita Trinita Sagan Tosu Sanfrecce Hiroshima Shimizu S-Pulse Shonan Bellmare Tokushima Vortis FC Tokyo Urawa Red Diamonds Vegalta Sendai Vissel Kobe Yokohama F. Marinos Yokohama FC | Entering in the first round: Blaublitz Akita Ehime FC Renofa Yamaguchi FC SC Sagamihara Entering in the second round: Albirex Niigata Fagiano Okayama Giravanz Kitakyushu JEF United Chiba Júbilo Iwata Kyoto Sanga FC FC Machida Zelvia Matsumoto Yamaga FC Mito HollyHock Montedio Yamagata Omiya Ardija FC Ryukyu Thespakusatsu Gunma Tochigi SC Tokyo Verdy V-Varen Nagasaki Ventforet Kofu Zweigen Kanazawa | Verspah Oita | Hokkaido: Hokkaido Tokachi Sky Earth Aomori: Vanraure Hachinohe Iwate: Iwate Grulla Morioka Miyagi: Sony Sendai FC Akita: Saruta Kōgyō S.C. Yamagata: Ōyama S.C. [ja] Fukushima: Iwaki FC Ibaraki: Ryutsu Keizai University Tochigi: Tochigi City FC Gunma: Tonan Maebashi Saitama: Aventura Kawaguchi [ja] Chiba: Juntendo University Tokyo: Komazawa University Kanagawa: YSCC Yokohama Yamanashi: Nirasaki Astros [ja] Nagano: AC Nagano Parceiro Niigata: Niigata University of Health and Welfare FC Toyama: Kataller Toyama Ishikawa: FC Hokuriku Fukui: Fukui United FC Shizuoka: Honda FC Aichi: FC Kariya Mie: Suzuka Point Getters Gifu: FC Gifu | Shiga: Biwako Seikei Sport College Kyoto: Ococias Kyoto AC Osaka: F.C. Osaka Hyōgo: Kwansei Gakuin University Nara: Porvenir Asuka [ja] Wakayama: Arterivo Wakayama Tottori: Gainare Tottori Shimane: Matsue City FC Okayama: Mitsubishi Mizushima FC Hiroshima: Fukuyama City FC Yamaguchi: FC Baleine Shimonoseki Kagawa: Kamatamare Sanuki Tokushima: FC Tokushima Ehime: FC Imabari Kōchi: Kochi United SC Fukuoka: Fukuoka University Saga: Kawasoe Club [ja] Nagasaki: MD Nagasaki [ja] Kumamoto: Roasso Kumamoto Ōita: Nippon Bunri University Miyazaki: Honda Lock SC Kagoshima: Kagoshima United FC Okinawa: Okinawa SV |

Note

* ^ Original prefecture winners Yamanashi Gakuin University Pegasus were disqualified after fielding ineligible players during the final against Nirasaki Astros.
* ^ Despite recruiting their players from the respective universities, Niigata University of Health and Welfare FC, and FC Hokuriku (both Hokushinetsu Football League) are independent teams competing in men's leagues sanctioned by the Japan Football Association and serve as de facto reserve teams feeding into their respective schools' senior squads, which compete in the university football leagues of Japan.

## Bracket

Source:Tournament table (Official website in Japanese)

## First round

The match between Tochigi City and the representatives of Yamanashi Prefecture, originally intended to be Yamanashi Gakuin University Pegasus and scheduled for 22 May, was postponed the day before by the Japan Football Association after Pegasus fielded an ineligible cup-tied player in the Yamanashi Prefecture Cup final. Note that Pegasus operates functionally as YGU's second team and competed in the Yamanashi tournament alongside the YGU third team, known as Orions; the first team YGU Braves also competed in Emperor's Cup qualifiers in Tokyo Metropolis. Subsequent to an investigation, the JFA decided on 24 May that YGU Pegasus would be disqualified and awarded their spot to Nirasaki Astros, their opponents in the Yamanashi final.

Also postponed was the match between Tonan Maebashi and Juntendo University after an individual affiliated with Juntendo tested positive for COVID-19. The match was eventually rescheduled for 5 June.

## Third round

The third round schedule was announced on 17 June 2021.

* ↑ Game originally kicked off on 14 July, but postponed at half-time due to inclement weather. The match was replayed from the beginning, with the previous in-progress match being annulled.

## Quarter-finals

A draw was held on 24 September 2021 to determine the matchups of the quarter-final stage and onwards. Nagoya Grampus was guaranteed to have home advantage in quarter-finals as they advanced to the quarter-finals of the 2021 AFC Champions League, while Urawa Red Diamonds, Kashima Antlers and Oita Trinita were drawn as the away team in quarter-finals as they could not guarantee their home stadium at the moment.

