The 2nd All Japan Youth (U-18) Futsal Tournament will be held from Thursday 20 August to Sunday 23 August in Sendai. Ahead of the coming championship, this article will take a look back at the previous tournament.

The first tournament was held from Thursday 28 August to Sunday 31 August 2014 at the Ota-City General Gymnasium and the Sumida City Gymnasium in Tokyo. There was no nation-wide futsal championship back then for this generation and this tournament was a much-awaited opportunity for futsal players.

The 16 teams, who survived the regional qualifying round, were divided into four groups to play the league matches in the first round, and two leading teams from each group got though to the final round.

Nagoya Oceans U-18 (Tokai 1/Aichi), who are the youth organisation of the strong F League team, Nagoya Oceans, showed their overwhelming strength on the first day of the championship. The team beat Miyazaki Industrial High School Soccer Club (Kyushu 2/Miyazaki) 9-3 in their first match, and swept their second game against Seiwa Gakuen FC (Tohoku 1/Miyagi) 7-1. They scored 16 goals in two games, and showed that they are a futsal-specialist team.

On 29 August, the second day of the tournament, eight teams got through to the final round. Nagoya Oceans U-18, Thank FC Kuriyama U-18 (Hokkaido 1), Yasu High School Soccer Club (Kansai 2/Shiga), Teikyo Nagaoka High School Soccer Club (Hokushinetsu/Niigata), won three straight games for the top spot. In Group A, Seiwa FC, who had to win with at least three-goal margin, won the game against Miyazaki Industrial 3-0, and broke through to the first round.

Sakuyo High School (Chugoku/Okayama) in Group B, Fujii Gakuen Sangawa High School Football Club (Shikoku/Kagawa) in Group C, who beat Seiwa Gakkuen SC (Tohoku 2/Miyagi), as well as Clark Memorial International High School (Kansai 1/Hyogo) in Group D, who had a specialist futsal training course at school, won the matches to secure second places in the last eight.

Seiwa Gakuen FC and Nagoya Oceans U-18 got through the quarterfinals and the semi-finals on 30 August. Although Seiwa Gakuen FC was behind in the quarterfinal against Thank FC Kuriyama U-18, they levelled the game in the last 13 seconds. Then the team won the game on penalty kicks to book a place in the semi-final, in which they won a close match against Sangawa 5-4, getting through to the final. Nagoya Oceans U-18, on the other hand, swept the match against Sakuyo 7-1, followed by a victory over Yasu 4-2 to secure a place in the final.

The final was between two teams, who had met once in the league stage. Although Nagoya struck the opener through a set piece, Seiwa gradually took the initiative with their high skills and intensity. The game went into the second half at 1-1. Both teams stayed ambitious for goals, and after 32 minutes, Seiwa FC scored through a penalty kick, deciding the match. Seiwa FC won the final 3-2 and grabbed the inaugural title.

Despite the fact that Seiwa FC lost two matches in the first round, the team became champions. The tournament showed both the enthusiasm and skills of the U-18 generation.

The 2nd All Japan Youth (U-18) Futsal Tournament

Thu. 20 August – Sun. 23 August 2015
XEBIO ARENA SENDAI, Sendai City Gymnasium / Miyagi
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