The is the 33rd season of the main competition for under-18 teams in Japan, the 12nd after rebranding the competition to the current "Premier League" format, and the 1st season with 24 clubs participating in the league.
Aomori Yamada High School were the defending champions, winning the 2020 title. In 2021, they even qualified to the Premier League Final, but it ended up cancelled due to COVID-19 precautions.
On this 2022 edition, "West" champions Sagan Tosu won past the "East" champions Kawasaki Frontale in the Final by 3–2, earning them the first Premier League title, becoming the first team from Saga Prefecture to do so, in the process.
Changes from the previous season
Participating clubs
As usual, the teams were allocated to each division by the JFA based on geographical positions. Shimizu S-Pulse was the only team to be relocated from a conference to another, having playing the previous season on the EAST conference.
Premier League East
Premier League West
League table
Premier League East
Premier League West
Promotion/relegation play-offs
There was a difference from the 2021 edition, who awarded six direct promotions from the Prince Leagues while only two teams got relegated, to accommodate the transition from 20 to 24 teams, starting from this 2022 season.
On 2022, a total of 18 teams participated at this stage, to definitively determine all the participating teams of the posterious season. Qualified to the stage were the 16 top-ranked teams of the nine Prince League divisions and the 10th-placed teams of the East and West Premier League conferences. They were divided into six blocks, with their respective block winners qualifying for next season's Premier League.
Participating teams of the Prince Leagues:
Block A
Block B
Block C
Block D
Block E
Block F
Final
Played between East champions Kawasaki Frontale, from Kanagawa Prefecture, and West champions Sagan Tosu, from Saga Prefecture.
Top scorers
East
West
See also
Japan Football Association (JFA) League Japanese association football league system Prince Takamado Cup