The 6th All Japan Youth (U-15) Women's Futsal Tournament, which determined the best women's futsal team of 15 years old and under in Japan, will kick off on 10 and 11 January at Aichi Prefecture's Sky Hall Toyota. With about two weeks until the tourney, let's take a look at the previous championship.

In the 5th edition of the championship, one team from nine regions from around the nation competed, and they were divided into three groups in the first round, which was played in a round-robin format. The top teams in each group and the team with the best record from the runnerups advanced to the final and knockout round.

While the teams put up competitive contests in the first rounds, Jumonji Junior High School (Kanto/Tokyo), FC Vitoria (Kansai/Osaka), Club Fields Linda (Hokkaido) and FC Effronte (Chugoku/Okayama) advanced to the final round.

Both of the semifinal matches were close games that either side could've won until the last minute. In the game between Club Fields Linda and FC Effronte, Club Fields Linda's OTANI Ruan broke a 1-1 with a goal with four seconds left in the game for the victory.

In the other side of the bracket, Jumonji Junior High School and the reigning champion FC Vitoria squared off against each other. Both teams displayed an offensive duel, but Jumonji Junior High School's KURATA Akari scored a game-winning goal to give the team a final berth with a 7-6 win.

In the Club Fields Linda-Jumonji Junior High School championship game, the two sides put up a highly heated contest that represented the entire tournament. Jumonji Junior High School piled up goals from fast attacks and set plays and built a 3-1 lead by the fifth minute. But Club Fields Linda tied the game at 3 all with goals of OKINO Kurea and KAKINO Reika, and they played a seesaw contest afterwards.

After both teams scored a goal apiece, Jumonji Junior High School's Kurata netted a goal. Kurata reacted to a pass from SATO Tamami before the Linda goal and scored the game-winner with her left leg. Karata later said, "when I try to kick into a spot, it usually doesn't work, so I tried to kick it as hard as I could." Jumonji endured Linda's last offensive effort and wound up winning the game 5-4. Jumonji Junior High School grabbed their first-ever championship.

All Japan Youth (U-15) Women's Futsal Tournament

Sun. 10 January 2016 - Mon. 11 January 2016
Aichi/Sky Hall Toyota

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