The Price Takamado Trophy Under-18 football league, which determines the national champions of the generation, will kick off on April 6 (Sun). The winners of the West and East Leagues will advance to the championship game held on December 14.
Here's the breakdown of each team in the Premier League East.

In addition to Ryutsu Keizai University Kashiwa High School, the 2013 champions of the East, and Funabashi Municipal High School, who came in the Premier League last year, Kashiwa Reysol U-18 team have now joined them becoming the third team from Chiba Prefecture this year. Funabashi Municipal coach Asaoka Ryuzo says, ''We are not going to be shaken by our game results every time and hopefully we'll able to raise our level throughout the year.'' Reysol coach Shimotaira Takahiro comments, ``Our top team wound up winning the J. League championship in their first season back in the first division in 2011, so we'd like to do the similar feat.''

Looking at other areas, Shimizu S-Pulse Youth (Shizuoka) have Kitagawa Koya, Mizutani Takuma and Miyamoto Kota, who are all qualified to play in the top J. League division, plus, they have so many regular players that returned from last year's team. JFA Academy Fukushima (Fukushima), who finished third in their first year after a promotion last year, are eager to finish as one of the best teams in the league for the second straight season. ''We'll be focusing on shifting from defense to offense or vice versa quickly and be particular about our attacking speed when we get the ball from opponents,'' Fukushima coach Nakata Yasuhito says of his side's play style for this year.

Elsewhere, there are other competitive teams in the mix. Tokyo Verdy Youth (Tokyo), who won in the East two years ago, will play around U-19 national team players Misao Kento and Nakano Masaomi. Consadole Sapporo U-18 (Hokkaido) grabbed a championship by defeating Ryutsu Keizai University Kashiwa High in the final of the 24th Igyora Cup international youth football championship in March. Also, teams like Aomori Yamada High School (Aomori), Kashima Antlers Youth (Ibaraki), who will enter the new season under a new coach Kumagaya Koji and Mitsubishi Yowa Football Club (Tokyo), who are the only town club in the league, will try to be contenders for the championship as well.

''The league is getting more competitive with the gaps between the better teams and weaker teams have gotten closer year in and year out,'' says the league chairman Hayashi Yoshinori. ''We'd like to produce players of the next generations that will eventually play in the World Cup from this league.''
Expect hard-fought battles by each club in the long season, which will continued until the early December. Every match shall not be overlooked.