On Sunday 19 May, a walking football festival was held at Fukuda Denshi Square in Chiba Prefecture to commemorate the AFC Grassroots Football Day.

With the Chiba Football Association promoting the event, approximately 300 people of all ages participated in this festival. Regardless of their affiliated team and age, participants were divided into teams to conduct a festival filled with joy.

This festival was held to commemorate the “AFC Grassroots Football Day,” established by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in 2013. With the cooperation of the AFC member associations including the Japan Football Association, events at various locations in Asia have been held every year during the month of May in efforts to develop grassroots football.

Walking football shares the same rules as regular football except it prohibits running. It allows players of all ages, sex, physical abilities, and football experience to play together, and the sport has seen a growing demand throughout the country due to its beginner friendly nature.

Comments

Mr. INE Tsuneo
This was my first-time playing walking football. I joined the event with my children, and I normally don’t get the opportunity to play a sport with the kids, so it was a lot of fun. I had to keep moving and position myself well to receive passes, while my teammates had to support me when I had the ball. The sport required me to always think ahead and use my head, so I thought it would be a good training menu for the kids.

Ms. MATSUMOTO Yoko
I have been playing walking football with the senior team, but today I was given the opportunity to play with people of all ages, which was a refreshing experience and I had lots of fun. Because of my previous experience, I thought I was used to playing walking football, but when we were competing to win the ball, I had to really resist my urge to run. I would love to join another walking football event in the future.

TAKAHASHI Yuno
Although it was my first-time playing walking football, I had so much fun. At first it was very hard to resist myself from running. It was very difficult to dribble and shoot the ball, so I should have passed the ball more often. I would like to join the event again.