Prior to the DENSO CUP SOCCER The 13th annual Japan vs Korea university regular football match which will kick off on 20 March, a press conference was held on 18th.

This annual competition between Japanese and Korean university squad players has been held for 13 years. Each year, they alternate the host country, and this year Japan is hosting Korea. Since it started, Japan has got 5 wins, 5 defeats and 2 draws. Both countries play very evenly, so far not losing any match at home.

When they played last year in Korea, All Japan University Select Team made the opener and they were expected to achieve the victory away, but All Korea University Select Team came back from behind in the 2nd half. Both of them have a strong sense of pride that they should never lose at home; the match is expected to be very exciting this time in Japan.

YOSHIMI Akira, Chairman of the Japan University Football Association, YOSHIDA Tadahisa Promotion Chief for a Social Contribution, the General Affairs Department of DENSO CORPORATION as the special sponsor attended the press conference. Yoshimi said: "I look forward to watching many of the players again as senior national team in the future."

Yoshida Chief from DENSO CORPORATION mentioned the history of this competition: “most of the prominent, world-class players who used to play as university players experienced this competition and had intensive matches.” He also expressed his expectation for coaches and players of both teams: “I heartily hope that this competition will make a great contribution to boosting football skills, nurturing a sense of pride as student sportsmen, improving university football, and developing their mentalities to the world.”

All Japan University Select Team’s Coach MIYAZAKI Junichi, team’s Captain SHIGEHIRO Takuya, All Korea University Select Team’s Coach SUH Dongwon, and Korean Captain CHOI Joongi also took part in the press conference and expressed their expectation and passion for the up-coming competition.

Coach and Players' Comments

SUH Dongwon, Coach (All Korea University Select Team)
Even though the time was limited, we have had enough preparation for this match against our eternal rival Japan as a Korean squad team of university students. In the match which will be on day after tomorrow, I believe that we can show very well our advantages in offence and defence, and more flexibility which we have improved. Please look forward to the match; we will do our best to show our advantages.

MIYAZAKI Junichi, Coach (All Japan University Select Team)
We have just come back from the training camp in Malaysia at 6 o’clock this morning. Under the very hot weather, we have had a very effective training and now we are heading to this match. Before this camp, we had another competition “DENSO Cup Challenge Football Miyazaki” and we selected 1/3 of valuable players to add to our team. There are a lot of good players with individual skills, and the camp we had helped us to gain unity as a team. We will challenge the All-Korea University Selection with all of our strengths.

CHOI Joongi, Captain (All Korea University Select Team)
First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to DENSO for giving us the chance to have this match. I hope that all players from both teams will play and enjoy football with all of our passion and strengths in the match.

SHIGEHIRO Takuya, Captain (All Japan University Select Team)
This year we are hosting the match so we should never lose it. To win, we have to get ready in the best way prior to the kick off. We will take all of our strengths as individual players and as a team, to achieve the victory.

Flash match reports of the championship will be tweeted on the official Japan University Football Association account Twitter(@_jufa).

The latest information will be also posted on Facebook and Instagram (@_jufa).

Official website (Japanese version only)