The 9th Japan Beach Soccer Championship sets to kick off on Saturday, Sep. 13th. Total 16 teams, 15 winners of regional preliminaries around Japan and the host Okayama representative team will enter the tournament. They will be separated into 4 groups by 4 teams in the first league match and first-place teams in each league will advance to the final round in which a each team face a one-shot game.

Tokyo Lequios BS (Kanto1, Tokyo), the defending champion and winning 5 victories in the last 8 championships has been put into Group C. The team has many star players who experienced the last 2013 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup as a member of Japan national team, such as GK Tomoya GINOZA, Teruki TABATA and Ozu Moreira, the team's ace player. It aims for victory at the tournament with high-leveled players in each position.

Sol Mar Praia (Kyusyu 2, Oinawa), the one of the top teams leading a Japan beach soccer with Tokyo Lequios is the other strong and two-time champion team. The team and Tokyo Lequios won two championships respectively in the last 4 tournaments. The team and its players are well experienced as Sol Mar Praia has former national team members including GK Shingo TERUKINA and Masahito TOMA. Let's focus on whether the team will be able to gain a victory in this tournament to commemorate 10th anniversary of a team's foundation.

Adding to these two teams, there are various unique participating teams, such as Pracia Yamaguchi (Chugoku, Yamaguchi) winning a third place in consecutive 6th and 7th tournament and Avante Osaka(Kansai, Osaka) engaging in promoting ecological activities as well as a beach soccer. Games by student's teams like Hokkai-Gaunen University Hermosa Cadera (Hokkaido) and Kochi university FC also attract attentions. This Championship are excellent in entertainment properties, as shown in an average score of 7.7 per game in the last tournament. You surely go bonkers for a beach soccer after watching a game once.

Marcelo Silveira MENDES, the head coach of Beach Soccer Japan national team made a comment as follows before opening of the competition.
"I would like to tell everyone to support a beach soccer that your existence is very important. A beach soccer is still a sports with low publicity. Without people supporting us, players could not play of course as well as this sports would be impossible. I really appreciate if many people have an interest in a beach soccer, cheering players who is passionate about this sports"

The 9th Japan Beach Soccer Championship

Saturday 13 September 2014 〜 Monday 15 September 2014 
OKAYAMA／Shiukawa Beach
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