The second round of the 97th Emperor's Cup All Japan Football Championship will takes place on Wednesday 21 June. The J.League teams from the division 1 (J1) and 2 (J2) start their Emperor's Cup campaign and face the winners of the first round, which was held on Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 April.

Defending champions Kashima Antlers (J1) will meet FC Maruyasu Okazaki (Aichi) after dismissing coach ISHII Masatada midway through the season and placing OIWA Go in charge of the team. New coach Oiwa as a player clinched the Emperor's Cup titles of the 75th and 79th tournaments with Nagoya Grampus Eight and the 87th and 90th with Kashima. His team will begin their run for their first back-to-back Emperor's Cup trophies under who surely knows how to succeed in the tournament.

Kawasaki Frontale (J1), who fell to Kashima in the previous final to settle for second place, will play against Tochigi UVA FC (Tochigi). Frontale started their season slowly due to a string of injuries and a tight schedule including the AFC Champions League (ACL), but their aggressive attacking style led by NAKAMURA Kengo and KOBAYASHI Yu remains potent. They are getting back in the swing as they advanced to the quarter-finals of the ACL and IENAGA Akihiro and other players suffering from injuries have returned to the top squad.

After seeing off Biwako Seikei Sport College (Shiga) in the first round, Honda FC (Shizuoka) will face Jubilo Iwata (J1). The meeting between the teams now playing in the different categories used to be a must-see matchup, called "Tenryu River Battle" when they both were in the Japan Soccer League (JSL). The derby match is realised again on the stage of the Emperor's Cup. Honda FC are the current leaders of the JFL's first stage and have just one more match remaining on Sunday 25 June. With still a string of important matches continuing in this vein, Honda will try to look for a giant-killing with aggressive possession football. On the other hand, Iwata beat Urawa Reds 4-2 in the last J.League match despite standing in 10th place. With the momentum carried into the Cup, Iwata will take on the challenge from Honda FC.

Matchups between J2 sides cannot be overlooked, either. Of all the second-round fixtures, eight matches would be high-level battles between the two J2 teams, including the JEF United Chiba (J2) - Tokyo Verdy (J2) clash. The efforts of college outfits going head-to-head against J.League clubs would also be one of the main highlights as Niigata University of Health and Welfare (Niigata) take on J1's second-placed Cerezo Osaka in fine form and Miyazaki Sangyo-keiei University (Miyazaki) meet J2 leaders Avispa Fukuoka.

Since SAMURAI BLUE finished their match against Iraq in the Final Asian Qualifiers (Road to Russia) and their squad members returned to their respective club, every team is expected to compete ithe coming game in excellent form. Those matches against the J.League clubs will surely be tough competition for the amateur teams, but will have the best opponents to pull off a giant-killing as well. Of the 32 scheduled fictures, 23 matchups are between J1 or J2 sides and prefectural representatives. Will the J.League clubs show their pride or the amateur team surprise us. You can't miss the heated battles this Wednesday.

22 April 2017(Sat.)～1 January 2018(Mon.・New Year's Day)

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