The last day of the 3rd All Japan Seniors (over 40) Football Tournament was held on Monday 16 November at J-GREEN Sakai in Osaka, and FC Aoyama Over Forty (Kanto 3/Tokyo) got crowned with the national championship. 

In one of the semi-finals, Aoyama struggled against Saga Selection O-40 (Kyushu 2/Saga). Aoyama scored first in the 3rd minute, but in the 20th minute they allowed their first goal against in the entire tournament through the opponents’ counter attack. Then in the 13th minute in the second half, Saga put a long free-kick home to take the one goal lead. Even so, Aoyama had FUKUNAGA Yasushi headed a cross feed in the 17th minute to get back on level terms. 

In the penalty shootout, Aoyama’s goalkeeper TAKAHASHI Nobuo stopped Saga’s first attempt. With every player successfully converting his kick, Aoyama moved on to the final. 

In the other fixture, Hiroshima Forties (Chugoku/Hiroshima) scored the opening goal against Meister FC Senior (Host/Osaka) by a penalty shootout awarded two minutes into the match. In the second half, they extended their lead by goals including the one they scored from a goalkeeper’s feed and sealed their 3-1 win to advance to the final.

In the final match, the ball was dominantly possessed by FC Aoyama Over Forty. Hiroshima Forties on the other hand looked for their chance to rob the ball early, which tensed the course of the match all the way into the second half. The first goal-scoring opportunity came for Hiroshima. 

In the 13th minute of the second half, Hiroshima’s OTAKE Akira left defender to meet a vertical pass and go for 1-on-1 against the opposing goalkeeper. He fired a shot to the left corner of the goalmouth only to find it denied by the goalkeeper TAKAHASHI’s right foot. Although their first attempt failed, Hiroshima opened the scoring two minutes later. HIRAKI Ikushi headed a free-kick and found the back of the net. 

Aoyama who again found themselves trailing the opponents showed their strength as well in the end. At only one minute remaining in the match, FUJIYOSHI Shinji, after keeping the ball in front of goal, struck a fierce shot into the right corner of the goal to put his team tied in the last minute. 

The match went into another penalty shootout for Aoyama. After their goalkeeper Takahashi again contributed his team by denying Hiroshima’s second kicker and Aoyama’s all takers buried their spot kick, Aoyama clinched their first championship in their first appearance of the tournament. 

Match detail (Japanese version only)

In the closing ceremony, MORISHIMA Hiroaki, tournament ambassador, awarded the trophies and certificates of merit to both teams fought in the final with all in attendance congratulating the hard work and efforts put in. 

Coach and Players' Comments

HIRAKAWA Dai, Player/Coach (FC Aoyama Over Forty/Tokyo)
We built this team with the goal to win the national championship. Mainly we have added the players who used to play for FC Aoyama, which are consisted of the graduates of Aoyama Gakuin University Football Club. They were very skilled already, and we got better by adding match experiences on it.

The prefecture qualifiers and Kanto qualifiers were both very tough, but we have acquired the rhythm where we can come back from behind any match and win even through penalty shootouts. We have acquired the winning mentality. As a matter of fact, we have players who are specialised in penalty shootouts. We are prepared to win those settings.

I played in the Kanto league until I turned 30. For 10 years after that, there was nowhere for me to play football seriously. Now that I am over forty and have a place like this, this can give motivation to the guys in their late thirties. We should be thankful for this opportunity. We could win this championship in our team’s first year. We keep working hard to be on top here again.

HIRANO Rei (FC Aoyama Over Forty/Tokyo)
The final was a very difficult match, but I think we could turn it around without panicking because we experienced tough matches in the Kanto qualifiers where we allowed goals first and trailed opponents. We may have lost athleticism but we haven’t lost our skills. We have been together playing for over 20 years with guys we played together when we were students. We understand each other as much as we know what kind of plays each one of us wants without telling each other. That makes it easier for us.

In the Tokyo regional league, it has just been decided that we go up to the Division 2. We are convinced that we need to win the title in the Division 1. We want to keep working hard to come back to this tournament for two straight years.

TAKAHASHI Nobuo (FC Aoyama Over Forty/Tokyo)
Maybe it was better for us that we allowed a goal in the semi-final. Experiencing the penalty shootout in that match gave us the confidence necessary to win the penalty shootout in the final. Both in the semi-final and the final, we won those shootouts. "If I stop one as a goalkeeper, we can make something happen." That was my mentality.

Goalkeeper is a very important position where one mistake results in a goal against. That puts you on edge and bring a big responsibility to you. Sometimes it’s very tough. I get wounds and bruises but being able to enjoy matches like this keeps me going. 

YAMASHITA Toru, Coach (Hiroshima Forties/Hiroshima)
This is our team’s 13th year since the establishment. For this tournament, we had increased the amount of practice and raised our awareness level for the national tournament, and finally we reached the final. It seems we didn’t have luck this time. It’s disappointing considering all the good players we have. We were so tired in the final, but as a coach, I am happy that we have come all the way to this stage.

We have our Over 50 team and we will start Over 60 team as well. The Over 50 team have won a national tournament before, and we want to invite more of football-craze to our team. Football is our life. We can seriously work hard together for the same goal with all the guys who have different daytime work and backgrounds. Only that can make us so happy.

JFA-TV (Japanese version only)

Semi-final - Highlights

Final - Full Match

The 3rd All Japan Seniors (over 40) Football Tournament

2015-11-14 (Sat.) - 16 (Mon.)
J-GREEN Sakai/Sakai City Osaka
More information