The J.League All-Star Soccer, called JOMO All-Star Soccer for sponsorship reasons, is an annual exhibition match organised by the

Japan Football Association The Japan Football Association (JFA, ) is the Sport governing body, governing body responsible for the administration of Association football, football, futsal, beach soccer and Esports, efootball in Japan. It is responsible for the Japan national ...

and

J.League The , commonly a.k.a. shortened to the , and officially known as the for sponsorship with Meiji Yasuda Life, is the men's association football league in Japan. It is responsible for organizing Japan's major professional football tournaments, in ...

. It has been played each year since the inception of J.League in 1993. The players are chosen by the fan voting and the recommendation from J.League. The manager and coaches are also selected by the fan voting. The old

Japan Soccer League ; JSL) was the top flight association football league in Japan between 1965 and 1992, and was the precursor to the current professional league, the J.League. JSL Cup, JSL was the second national league of a team sport in Japan after the professi ...

had an all-star game that was the forerunner to this competition. From 1966 to 1972 it was a two-leg final and from 1979 to 1992 a one-game affair, all pitting a West team against an East team. The last two games, in 1991 and 1992, were of the few football matches that took place at the

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

-specific

Tokyo Dome is an indoor stadium in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. It was designed as a baseball stadium following its predecessor, Korakuen Stadium (whose former site is now occupied by the Tokyo Dome Hotel and a plaza for this stadium). In Japan, it is often us ...

. The competition is officially titled with its sponsor's name. It was called Kodak All-Star Soccer between 1993 and 1998 as Kodak Japan (the Japanese subsidiary of

Eastman Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company, referred to simply as Kodak (), is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in film photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorporated i ...

) sponsored it. It was known as Tarami All-Star Soccer from 1999 to 2001 after food company Tarami. It has been titled as JOMO All-Star Soccer since 2002 because Japan Energy Corporation whose filling stations are branded as JOMO sponsor the competition.

Team selection

* All the J.League Division 1 clubs are divided into two teams, J-West and J-East, based on the geographical location of the club's hometown. Because both team should have the same number of clubs, some clubs based in central Japan have been allotted to both teams in the past due to the promotion or relegation of other clubs. The 1995 and 1996 competitions were exceptions, where the clubs were divided based on the result of the previous season. Those finished at an even number of the standing were allotted to J-Altair, and those finished at an odd number to J-Vega (Note: In the

Tanabata , also known as the , is a Japanese festival originating from the Chinese Qixi Festival. It celebrates the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi (represented by the stars Vega and Altair respectively). According to legend, the Milk ...

folk tale, anthropomorphic

Vega Vega is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Lyra. It has the Bayer designation α Lyrae, which is Latinised to Alpha Lyrae and abbreviated Alpha Lyr or α Lyr. This star is relatively close at only from the Sun, and ...

and

Altair Altair is the brightest star in the constellation of Aquila (constellation), Aquila and the list of brightest stars, twelfth-brightest star in the night sky. It has the Bayer designation Alpha Aquilae, which is Latinisation of name ...

are said to see each other once a year across the

Milky Way The Milky Way or Milky Way Galaxy is the galaxy that includes the Solar System, with the name describing the #Appearance, galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars in other arms of the galax ...

for a romantic reason). * Each team consists of 16 players as well as 1 manager and 2 coaches. 11 players (1 GK, 3 DFs, 3MFs and 3FWs as well as the most voted 4th-ranked field player) are selected by the fan voting. More than 4 players cannot be selected from any one club. 5 other players are additionally selected by the recommendation from J.League that makes sure that each club has at least one representative in the competition. The fan voting also chooses 1 manager and 2 coaches. The most voted club manager acts as the manager and the 2nd and 3rd most voted club managers serve as coaches.

Regular Matches

JOMO Cup J.League All Stars vs K League All Stars Matches

JOMO Cup J.League Dream Matches

J.League All-Star Soccer should not be confused with another exhibition match JOMO Cup J.League Dream Match. The latter was held once a year between 1995 and 2001 and was competed between Japanese J.League players (in the case of the 1997 and 2000 competitions, the Japan National Team) and non-Japanese J.League players. Results

Special Charity Matches

* Tōhoku earthquake Charity Match

External links