2008 J.League Nabisco Cup: Unloved Nabisco Cup needs serious overhauling

We're already two rounds into the 2008 J.League Nabisco Cup and hardly anyone has noticed beyond a collective yawn. This is a tournament in need of serious restructuring.

At the moment, it is unloved, unimportant and unnecessary.

After winning the tournament in 2005, JEF United manager Ivica Osim gave a less than glowing assessment of hoisting the Nabisco silverware.

"It means nothing," the Bosnian said. "In Europe, winning a cup like this means you get to play in UEFA, there's a point to it. Here it is essentially meaningless."

Since it started in 1992 as a competition featuring only J.League sides, the format has changed practically every year. It has always been considered the lowest in terms of priority. For the clubs, the league and the Emperor's Cup occupy a far grander place.

It showed how seriously the cup organizers themselves take this competition that in 1995 they scrapped it, although it was reinstated the following year.

Most damaging of all, they decided in 2003 to restrict entry to only the top flight clubs and stage matches at a time when the best players were on national team duty. It was ludicrously rebranded as a tournament for young and upcoming (unknown) players.

Ever since, it has meandered on soullessly. Only the most meager of attention is now paid to the Nabisco Cup by fans and the media.

Don't expect this to change this year. The Nabisco Cup is now no more than just a reserve team tournament until the final in November, when Japan gets mildly interested.

To be fair it has allowed some smaller clubs to taste success and lift silverware on the hallowed VIP stage of Tokyo's National Stadium.

That doesn't mask deep rooted problems with the tournament.

However, there is every reason to believe that the competition can be saved from its depressing state. In fact the fixes aren't that difficult, and here are two of them:

First, give the Nabisco Cup a meaningful prize beyond the trophy.

Similar problems exist in much of Europe where the League Cups are sources of much derision. In England the tournament is very low in the pecking order of fan interest where there is the Premier League, FA Cup and the Champions League to enjoy. The main savior is that the winner is given a ticket to European football through the UEFA Cup.

There is little chance that the Nabisco Cup victors will be given automatic entry in to the Asian Champions League.

The tournament organizers could consider a three-way playoff between the Nabisco and Emperor's Cup winners and the J.League runner-up for that coveted second continental berth.

This admittedly will be unpopular among some, but will give teams a much more motivation to take the tournament seriously. It will also extend the soccer calendar by only a week.

The second and more urgent solution is to bring back second-division teams back into the fold.

The J2 has been a resounding success since it started in 1999. There are more clubs entering the professional fold every season.

Through the course of the season, the only meaningful competitive opportunity between the two divisions is the Emperor's Cup. That's one or two matches at the most.

The addition of J2 could rejuvenate the Nabisco Cup with the thrill of shock upsets. Why couldn't FC Gifu or Tokushima Vortis upset the Kashima Antlers' reserve team?

For the supporters of the second-division teams, it will give them a valuable opportunity to host the big boys and measure themselves up against the best in Japan.

Unless the second-division sides have regular exposure to the standard of the likes of the Urawa Reds and Gamba Osaka, they will never be ready for the top flight.

The sad episode of Yokohama FC, which was poorly equipped for the rigors of first-division play last season, can hopefully be a thing of the past.

Currently, the second division struggles to pull in a few thousand in attendance at most stadiums. Its highly likely they could fill stadiums to capacity if the first-division teams rolled into town. This could be a valuable source of revenue for clubs that are often struggling to break even.

Also, for the dedicated supporters, an away trip to Saitama Stadium or Yokohama Stadium would provide unforgettable memories.

This could be implemented with relatively few scheduling problems and changes to tournament format.

So, here are the solutions. Let's hope that the tournament organizers take note and the 2009 Nabisco Cup will be something to genuinely look forward to.

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Yo Takatsuki is a producer for the BBC in London.(IHT/Asahi: March 26,2008)