Japan national cerebral palsy football team
Japan national cerebral palsy football team is the national cerebral football team for Japan that represents the team in international competitions. The team has been active in recent years, and was ranked 16th in the world in 2016. At the 2015 IFCPF World Championships, they finished fifteenth. At the 2014 Asian Para Games, they finished second. Japan has never competed at the Paralympic Games.
J.League
Before the inception of the J.League, the highest level of club football was the Japan Soccer League (JSL), which consisted of amateur clubs. Despite being well-attended during the boom of the late 1960s and early 1970s (when Japan's national team won the bronze Olympic medal at the 1968 games in Mexico), the JSL went into decline in the 1980s, in general line with the deteriorating situation worldwide. Fans were few, the grounds were not of the highest quality, and the Japanese national team was not on a par with the Asian powerhouses. To raise the level of play domestically, to attempt to garner more fans, and to strengthen the national team, the Japan Football Association (JFA) decided to form a professional league.