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