At Kagoshima City Cultural Hall in the city of Kagoshima on Sunday 25 December, the 40th Japan U-12 Football Championship had its opening ceremony. This year’s tournament welcomes 48 teams from all over the nation just as the previous year. The heated contests will be in full display in the city from Monday 26 to Thursday 29.

In the ceremony with all participating teams in attendance, eight drummers from Yamakawa Tsumabeni Shonen Taiko showed bouncy Japanese drum performance as the opening act. Then, the JFA’s chairman of Class 4 (U-12) Competitions Committee TAKAYAMA Kiyoshi declared the start of the annual event.

On behalf of the organiser, the JFA’s Secretary General IWAGAMI Kazumichi said to the players, “What’s important is to respect and cherish. I expect you all to play with the spirit of respect. ”The deputy mayor of the city of Kagoshima, MATSUKIZONO Tomio followed with his own greeting to the players assembled, saying “I expect wonderful matches as you show everything that you have been working on every day. Make and take back home a lot of good memories here.”

“We will play with everything we have as we always remember the sense of appreciation to the people who have supported us,” as the players’ oath, OOTSUBO Towa of Ishii SSS (Tokushima) represented all the players and made a refreshing pledge. In addition, MAEZONO Masakiyo, former Japanese international and Kagoshima native, made a guest appearance. He said to his young future successors, “(This national tournament was) the tournament that I also dreamed of playing in when I was your age. In the matches you play, I hope you pay attention to thing such as what you can show in matches and what you learn there, which can be more important than wins and losses.”

Maezono also took the role of drawer to determine the bracket of the round of 16 as well as he participated in the workshop called “Respect Workshop” which took place for all the players after the ceremony. “You may practice alone, but you can never play a match alone. You respect the people around you,” he taught to the participants. The workshop was designed to nurture players’ sense of compassion beyond the boundary of teams, as the participating youngsters were divided into groups with players from other teams to share what is important in playing football.

The first round starts on 26 at Fureai Sports Land in Kagoshima with the teams forming groups of four teams. The better teams of the group stage advance to the round of 16 where the knock-out system is used. The final match is scheduled to be played on 29 at Kamoike Auxiliary Field.

Players' Comments

KATO Fu (U-12 Aomori FC U12 / Aomori)
First of all, we will keep playing with our goal of reaching the round of 16. In offence, we will chase the ball until the very end and push up the line. Also we want to show our set-piece capability. Our defence has been solid. So first we defend well and then score goals with our counterattacks. My strength as a goalkeeper is I always make sure to stop the shots well. I want to keep doing it even to strong shots. In order to get out of the group stage, it’s important for all of us to play hard.

IMAMIYA Koki (Tokai SC / Aichi)
We will do our best to win the championship and leave the name of Tokai Sports in the record book. We want to keep fighting with our passing football just as we always do as a team, and we also want to try something bold. My strong point is also the way I send good passes. The strength of this year’s team is to move the ball effectively and to be able to defend and minimise the goals against. We will play as one united team to win the championship.

KAKEHI Hiraku (Tottori KFC U-12 / Tottori)
The first goal of our team is to reach the round of 16. When we make that happen, then we will try to win the whole thing. This year, our side attacks and set-pieces have been working well, and we have been able to score from set-pieces particularly. (In the first round) As we try to see how much we can play against the opponents, then we will try to get good results. Me personally, I want to keep communicating with my teammates as captain and make plays to help my team.

HAMAURA Kaiji (Yashima FC Junior / Kagawa)
We want to win through the group stage and advance to the round of 16. This year’s team have everyone get along with each other very well and we can move the ball and keep the possession. In defence, our playstyle is to put early pressure to get the ball and even when we sit back to defend, we have many players who are good at headers. So we haven’t allowed many goals. (Speaking of myself,) the strong point is to be able to look around well and send fast strong passes. We have matches against very good teams in the first round. So we fire up each other within the team and want to win with strong defence.

JFA-TV (Japanese version only)

40th Japan U-12 Football Championship

Tournament Period：
Sunday 25 December - Thursday 29 December

Tournament Venue：
1st round/Round 16   Kagoshima Fureai Sports Land (Kagoshima)
Quarter-Final   Kagoshima Kamoike Auxiliary Field (Kagoshima)
Semi-Final/Final   Kagoshima Kamoike Auxiliary Field (Kagoshima)

Tournament Information