The 13th All Japan Seniors (over 50s) Football Tournament will start on Saturday 27th June in Obihiro, Hokkaido. As we introduced the tournament in the last article, this time let's focus on the competing players.

The players in this tournament are from a variety of backgrounds. Onuki Soichi and Kubota Hitoshi from Dream Mito Senior FC (Ibaraki) played in the 58th All Japan High School Soccer Tournament and led Mito Commercial High School to the semifinals back then. There are others, who have played in the All Japan High School Soccer Tournament. Uematsu Fumio from Yamanashi Master's Legend (Yamanashi) used to play as a midfielder for Nirasaki High School. After he was voted the Most Valuable Player in the 59th tournament, he played for Kofu Club, which was the predecessor of Ventforet Kofu. Watanuma Mitsuaki and Oshige Shinichi from Toyopet Club (Tokyo) wowed the high school football world when they were at Saitama Municipal Urawa Minami High School along with other players, such as Muzunuma Takashi.

Some players engaged in fierce competition in the Japan Soccer League (JSL). Kanbaru Hirofumi from Hiroshima Fifties (Hiroshima) has been affiliated with Mazda since 1983. He had a strong presence as an attacking midfielder. Senbiki Yoshinori from Fukuoka UNITED (Fukuoka) used to play at left back for Yomiuri Soccer Club and battled it out for a position with Tsunami Satoshi. There are many players who played at the JSL in Toyopet Club. Sugamata Tetsuo, Kumagai Nobuhiko as well as Nomura Daisuke used to play for Hitachi. Sugamata played for the Japan national team since when he was at Hosei University and won 23 caps, including the qualifying rounds for the Los Angeles Olympics and the World Cup in Spain.

One of the appeals of the All Japan Seniors Football Tournament is that the players, who have not played for the All Japan High School Soccer Tournament, in the JSL or for the Japan national team, can enjoy the match with football stars from previous years. Many players in this competition are company employees or business managers and they find a limited time in their busy lives for their practice or the development of their teams. Let’s keep our eye on players in this competition to see how they play and lead their senior teams to win the championship.

The 13th All Japan Seniors (over 50s) Football Tournament

Sat,28 June 2014 ～ Mon, 30 June 2014
Nakasatsunai Koryu No Mori Soccer Field （Natural Turf）、Obihiro no mori Sports Park （Natural Turf）

Cooperation