The 38th Japan U-12 Football Championship starts on Sunday 3 August at Tokinosumika, Shizuoka.
The 48 teams, which got through the prefectural qualifying rounds, all hope to play the final match on Saturday 9 August.
The first round is a league format lasting for two days. Many J League clubs’ development squads pare hoping to do well at the championship, including Kashima Antlers Jr. (Ibaraki), the defending champions, Tochigi Soccer Club Jr. (Tochigi), who have participated in this competition four years running, and Sagan Tosu U-12 (Saga), who showed the strength of their attack scoring 25 goals in their five qualifying matches.

There are 17 teams new to the competition. FC ENFINI (Gifu), which was the first team to qualify in the country, looks forward to the coming championship. Player UKAI Tatsuki commented: ‘we play so that the crowd as well as we can enjoy the games.’ Fukushima United Football Club (Fukushima) won both the semifinal and the final of the qualifying round on penalties. As NAKAMURA Makoto, the head coach, noted: ‘we will do our best for those teams that went out on penalties.’ There are some interesting, high-quality games expected.

There are also many events off the pitch. Sponsors have set up a number of exhibition booths during the championship. Kitazawa Tsuyoshi, the former Japan player, will host a talk show, a mini soccer attraction event and a talk about to stay hydrated and about diet and nutrition. So people can enjoy themselves between matches. (The details of the events can be found here.)
In 2015 the Japan U-12 Football Championship will change to be held in winter. Please enjoy the championship to see which will be the best team in Japan at the site.

The 38th Japan U-12 Football Championship

Duration：Mon., 4 August ～ Sat., 9 August 2014
Venue：
＜1st round ～ Final Tournament（Quarter-finals）＞
Gotemba Tokinosumika Susono Ground（Susono, Shizuoka）
＜Final Tournament（Semi-finals / Final）＞
Shizuoka Ashitaka Park Multi-purpose Field（Numazu, Shizuoka）

» For more information on the Championship, please click here.