Sanwa Bank Cup

Sanwa Bank Cup

The trophy awarded to champions
Organising body	J.League
Founded	1994
Abolished	1997; 28 years ago (1997)
Region	Japan
Number of teams	2

The Sanwa Bank Cup was a football competition unofficial organised by J.League and sponsored by the Sanwa Bank (predecessor of current MUFG Bank). The competition was held between 1994 and 1997 and played two weeks before the opening of J. League (in the case of 1997, one week before the opening match of the J. League Cup).

The teams invited were the J. League champions of the previous season (in the case of 1997, the winners of Suntory Cup '96 J. League Champions' Finals) and the champions of a major foreign league. All editions were held in Japan National Stadium in Tokyo.^[1]

Year	Winners	Score	Runner-up	Notes
1994	Verdy Kawasaki	2–2 (4–2 p.)	Gimnasia y Esgrima LP	[note 1]
1995	Grêmio	2–1	Verdy Kawasaki	[note 2]
1996	IFK Göteborg	1–1 (5–3 p.)	Yokohama Marinos	[note 3]
1997	Nagoya Grampus	3–1	D.C. United	[note 4]

Notes

1. ^ Gimnasia y Esgrima were invited as the winners of Copa Centenario de la AFA, a tournament held to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Argentine Football Association.
2. ^ Held as a part of the series of events to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the conclusion of the Amity, Commerce and Navigation Treaty between Brazil and Japan. Grêmio were invited as the 1994 Copa do Brasil champions.
3. ^ IFK Göteborg were invited as the 1995 Swedish Champions.
4. ^ D.C. United were invited as the 1996 MLS Cup winners.

1997

[edit]

2 March

Nagoya Grampus	3–1	D.C. United
Alexandre Torres 80' Okayama 85' Stojković 87'	Report	Iijima 35' (o.g.)

Japan National Stadium, Tokyo

Attendance: 26,842

Referee: Petrovic (Yug)