J.LEAGUE announced the change of competition format of the 2020 J.LEAGUE YBC Levain CUP on the account of the COVID-19 outbreak. The details of change are as follows:
■Change of the Competition Format
New format
-Group Stage
16 teams (15 J1 teams* and J2 team Matsumoto Yamaga F.C.**) will play in a round-robin format in 4 groups.
Top teams in each group and top 1 team in second place will qualify to the Prime Stage.
*3 teams participating in the AFC Champions League (ACL) will play from Prime Stage.
**Matsumoto will not play from sec. 2 and their group will be made up of 3 teams. 2 teams that will not play
against Matsumoto will be given 3 points.
-Prime Stage
8 teams (5 qualified teams and 3 teams participating in the ACL) will play a knockout format.
Original format
-Group Stage
16 teams (15 J1 teams* and 1 J2 team) will play in 4 groups, top 2 teams in each group and top 2 teams in third place will qualify to the Playoff Stage.
*3 teams participating in the ACL will play from Prime Stage.
-Playoff Stage
10 qualified teams will play in a home-and-away format and top 5 teams will qualify to the Prime Stage.
-Prime Stage
8 teams (5 qualified teams and 3 teams participating in the ACL) will play in a home-and-away
knockout format and the final is played once to decide the cup winner.
■Schedule
| New | Original | ||
| Group Stage | Sec. 1 | 16 Feb | 16 Feb |
| Sec. 2 | TBA | 26 Feb | |
| Sec. 3 | TBA | 4 Mar | |
| Sec. 4 | - | 8 Apr | |
| Sec. 5 | - | 22 Apr | |
| Sec. 6 | - | 6 May | |
| Playoff Stage | 1st Leg | - | 27 May |
| 2nd Leg | - | 17 Jun | |
| Prime Stage | Quarter-final | TBA | 2 Sep |
| - | 6 Sep | ||
| Semi-final | TBA | 7 Oct | |
| - | 11 Oct | ||
| Final | TBA | 24 Oct |
