A new team will be written into the history books this weekend as Nagoya Grampus and Cerezo Osaka meet in the 2021 J.LEAGUE YBC Levain CUP Final. One of them will be crowned a champion, handed a trophy that will shine bright in their trophy case and forever be known as winners.

For Nagoya, it’s a feeling they have not had in more than a decade. They last won a trophy in 2010, when they topped J1. In fact, despite spending many years as one of Japan’s top teams, they have won just that one league title and two Emperor’s Cups. Few clubs know better how difficult it is to win any trophy, let alone the J.LEAGUE YBC Levain CUP.

Cerezo have not had similar issues of late. They are just four years removed from winning the cup double in 2017 and they followed it up by taking the Fuji Xerox Super Cup the following February. The Sakura also know how valuable every cup final appearance is, and how important it is to take advantage of the opportunities they provide to pick up some silverware.

Grampus enter the match fourth in the MEIJI YASUDA J1 LEAGUE, eight places higher than Cerezo. They also went further in the AFC Champions League, becoming the only Japanese club to reach the quarter-finals of this season’s continental championship.

It should be a tense battle, which J.League’s community of global fans can catch live on YouTube on October 30th at 13.05 JST.