The 39th Japan U-12 Football Championship held its opening ceremony on Friday 25 December at Kagoshima City Cultural Hall in the city of Kagoshima. 48 teams are participating in this year’s tournament from all over the nation, as the first round matches start on Saturday 26 and the final is scheduled on Monday 29 at Kamoike Athletic Stadium.

The Japan Football Association’s Special Director AYABE Michie called the opening of the ceremony, followed by an address by TASHIMA Kohzo, JFA Vice President, saying “I would like you all to play always with the fair-play spirit. Show many good plays so that we will have many green cards.”

Mayor of the host city Kagoshima, MORI Hiroyuki then added his words of encouragement. “On behalf of 600,000 people living in Kagoshima, I would like to welcome you all. Many greats and football players were born and raised in this city. I want you to show everything you have and play fantastic matches.”

For the players’ declaration, MASUHARA Wataru from FC Imabari U-12 (representing Ehime Prefecture) stepped in front of the rest of the players. He convincingly gave out a speech. “I want to show my appreciation through my plays on the pitch. I will keep playing with my 100% until I hear the last whistle.”

Then former Japan international and Oita native MIURA Atsuhiro made a special guest appearance. Miura, who played in the 10th tournament, said to the players “what I always tried to do when I was playing was “to think”. It’s important to think about it after you make both good plays and not so good plays. I want you all to make it your habit to think after making good tries and a lot of failures.” He also took the drawer role to determine the final round matchups. After the opening ceremony, he was present at the Respect Workshop to promote the spirit of “Respect” that he remembers from his playing days. 

A video message from KAGAWA Shinji was showed as well. Kagawa, who now plays overseas, said in the footage “I remember I was practising very hard to play in this tournament when I was young. I couldn’t make it because our team lost in the qualifying round in Kobe. I want you all participating in the tournament to do well for wins.”

The tournament’s special items such as T-shirts and a tournament outline booklet were sold outside the opening ceremony site, and many visitors were making line to purchase the commemorative goods. The booths will be found at match sites as well. 

The first round are to be kicked off on 26 December at Fureai Sports Land in Kagoshima.

Players' Comments

SAEGUSA Kotaro (Hyogo/Hyogo Football Club)
This is our third national tournament, so this time we want to leave a good result. Hyogo FC have very good chemistry. We have good teamwork and we communicate with each other very well. I think that’s our strength. In upcoming matches, we will keep our teamwork and play altogether. What we want to show as a team are aggressive plays. We will play for wins with our passionate plays.

YAMAMOTO Kosei (Niigata/Granscena Niigata FC Junior)
After I move on to junior high school, I can’t play football with these teammates any more whom I have practised so long. So I want to play with this team as many matches and for as many days as possible. Our team have worked on the kind of football where players and the ball keep moving. I am good at sending through balls. So I will feed those balls to get involved in scoring. Our goal is to be the best team in the country. We want to show good offence. 

NAKATANI Nagisa (Tokyo/Mitsubishi Yowa SC Sugamo Junior Youth)
We had to come all the way here in Kagoshima, but I don’t feel so tired. In the matches starting tomorrow, we will play to win the championship. But we want to do not only aiming to win but also cherishing every match we play, as we play good football. This team have good offence and trademark speed when attacking forward. I personally want people to see how I control the ball. I think I can take the ball by myself and also can take physical contacts, so I want to show those strengths of mine.

OBUCHI Raiju (Saga/Sagan Tosu U-12)
Our goal is to win the championship. We have polished our offensive football which is that anyone on the pitch can score goals. Our style is keep moving the ball and sending timely vertical passes. We are also so unique that not only by collective effort but also by individual skills we can break down defence. In this tournament, we want to show our good offence. It was a little tiring to get here in Kagoshima, but we want to show our aggressive football from tomorrow. 

JFA-TV (Japanese version only)

Opening ceremony

48 team introduction

The 39th Japan U-12 Football Championship

Duration: Sat. 26 December - Tue. 29 December
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)
More information