Name
Japan Rugby League One

Badge
League Badge


Poster
League Poster

Established
2003 (22 years old)

First Recorded Event
2015-11-13

Current Season
2025

Sport
Sport Icon Rugby

Location
Japan

Gender
Male

TV Rights


Logo
Team logo

Upcoming
11 Jan Yokohama Can home team badge - Away Team Badge Shizuoka Blu
11 Jan Toyota Verbl home team badge - Away Team Badge Black Rams T
12 Jan Tokyo Sungol home team badge - Away Team Badge Kubota Spear
18 Jan Shizuoka Blu home team badge - Away Team Badge Toshiba Brav
18 Jan Kubota Spear home team badge - Away Team Badge Black Rams T
19 Jan Toyota Verbl home team badge - Away Team Badge Saitama Wild
01 Feb Kobelco Kobe home team badge - Away Team Badge Black Rams T
01 Feb Shizuoka Blu home team badge - Away Team Badge Tokyo Sungol
01 Feb Toyota Verbl home team badge - Away Team Badge Yokohama Can
08 Feb Black Rams T home team badge - Away Team Badge Shizuoka Blu

Results
05 Jan Toshiba Brav home team badge 32 - 26home team badge Kobelco Kobe
04 Jan Tokyo Sungol home team badge 30 - 30home team badge Toyota Verbl
04 Jan Black Rams T home team badge 16 - 39home team badge Saitama Wild
29 Dec Kobelco Kobe home team badge 36 - 18home team badge Yokohama Can
28 Dec Saitama Wild home team badge 26 - 24home team badge Kubota Spear
28 Dec Black Rams T home team badge 33 - 32home team badge Tokyo Sungol
22 Dec Yokohama Can home team badge 21 - 28home team badge Toshiba Brav
22 Dec Kubota Spear home team badge 30 - 27home team badge Toyota Verbl
21 Dec Shizuoka Blu home team badge 15 - 13home team badge Kobelco Kobe
21 Dec Tokyo Sungol home team badge 12 - 33home team badge Saitama Wild

Description
Available in:

Japan Rugby League One (formerly the Top League) is a rugby union competition in Japan. It is the highest level of professional rugby competition in the country. The Japan Rugby Football Union created the competition in 2003, by absorbing the Japan Company Rugby Football Championship, to drive up the overall standard and popularity of the sport and improve the results of the Japan national rugby union team. The chief architect of the league was Hiroaki Shukuzawa who strongly felt the urgency of improving Japanese domestic company rugby to a professional level which would allow Japan to compete more convincingly at Rugby World Cups.

Until 2022, it was an industrial league, where many players are employees of their company and the teams are all owned by major companies. While the competition is known for paying high salaries, only world-class foreign players and a small number of Japanese players play fully professionally, which means most of the players still play in an amateur capacity. The delayed 2021 season was the final season of the Top League, with the JRFU adopting a new fully-professional three-tier system from 2022. More details about the new structure was announced to the media in January 2021. Featuring 25 teams, the 12 top-tier clubs would be split into two conferences, with seven teams competing in division two and six in division three. The new competition was formally announced as Japan Rugby League One in July 2021.

The first season in 2003–04 featured 12 teams. The league was expanded to 14 teams in 2006–07 and 16 teams in 2013–14. The Top League is played during the off-season of the Super Rugby, Therefore, many full-time foreign professionals from Southern Hemisphere countries have played in the Top League, notably Tony Brown, George Gregan and Dan Carter. In the 2010s, salaries in the Top League have risen to become some of the highest in the rugby world; in 2012, South Africa's Jaque Fourie, now with Kobelco Steelers, was widely reported to be the world's highest-paid player.
wikipedia icon cc icon

Seasons

calendar
2025
calendar
2024
calendar
2023
calendar
2022
show more..

Teams
Team Badge
Country Icon
Black Rams Toky
Team Badge
Country Icon
Green Rockets T
Team Badge
Country Icon
Kobelco Kobe St
Team Badge
Country Icon
Kubota Spears F
Team Badge
Country Icon
NTT DoCoMo Red
Team Badge
Country Icon
Saitama Wild Kn
Team Badge
Country Icon
Shining Arcs To
Team Badge
Country Icon
Shizuoka Blue R
Team Badge
Country Icon
Tokyo Sungoliat
Team Badge
Country Icon
Toshiba Brave L
Team Badge
Country Icon
Toyota Verblitz
Team Badge
Country Icon
Yokohama Canon

Key
() Missing Artwork
(- 4) Missing 4 Players: Data and Artwork
(green tick) Team Complete

Trophy Icon
trophy

Fanart



Banner
Team Banner

Other Links

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

Website

Youtube