The 6th All Japan Youth (U-15) Women's Futsal Tournament will begin its matches on Sunday 10 January at Sky Hall Toyota in Toyota, Aichi. The nine teams out of nine regional qualifiers are to be divided into three groups of three sides for round-robin contests before the best team of each group and the best second-placed team of all groups advance to the knock-out final round. 

One of the most notable aspects of this tournament is the performances by past champions. The pre-tournament champions in 2010 Club Fields Linda (Hokkaido), winners of the 2nd and 3rd tournaments Maruoka Ruck Ladies (Hokushinetsu/Fukui) and the 4th tournament title-holders FC Vitoria (Kansai/Osaka) list themselves in this year’s contests.

In Group A, Club Fields Linda and Maruoka go head to head. They were also placed in the same group in the 2nd tournament and Maruoka who defeated Club Fields went on to win the championship. Club Fields are coming out this year with strong mind-set for their revenge, as MOROOKA Tsumugi says "we ended up disappointed last two years when we finished as runners-up in both of them. This time, with all the bitter feelings of our older former-teammates, we will win the championship and bring the trophy back to Hokkaido."

The Group B battles will centre on Vitoria, who make their three-straight and fourth-total appearance. They still have many of last year’s core players on their squad, and motivated to get a better result this year. WATANABE Hibiki says "we want to celebrate a bigger win this year." The other two teams also have their own reasons to play hard. Tokushima Lateesha (Shikoku/Tokushima) fell short to make the final round last year, while Cana Cravo FC (Kanto/Chiba) survived out of the very competitive Kanto region.

Three tournament debutants face against each other in Group C, as Shrine Ladies FC (Tohoku/Aomori), FFC Wenesu (Chugoku/Okayama) and Rainbow Tarui U15 Ladies (Tokai/Gifu) are in the group. Rainbow Tarui needed only two years to reach the national tournament since the launch of the women’s team. TSUCHIDA Fuka is confident of their new challenge, saying "we will keep taking advantage of our individual skills in the national tournament."

The participants of this year’s tournament consists of five first-time teams and three past champions out of the rest four. For this junior high school generation, not only their past experience, but also how much they can play with their normal self is the important key to gain and play with momentum.

Last year, the champions-to-be Jumonji Junior High School finished their group stage at second place, but came out to the next round and eventually to the title, riding on the momentum they acquired through winning tough close contests and from big cheers from the audience. It should be very interesting to see how this year’s one will turn out. Past winners may come back to the crown or there will be new champions. Please pay close attention to the battles for the national title of U-15 women’s futsal. 

All Japan Youth (U-15) Women's Futsal Tournament

Sun. 10 January 2016 - Mon. 11 January 2016
Aichi／Sky Hall Toyota
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