The Prince Takamado Trophy Under-18 Football League 2014 Premier League is set to open its 2014 season on April 6 (Sun). This league is literally the highest-level domestic circuit for the under-18 generation and is meant for presenting the best game circumstances and developing the league culture as well as upgrading skill-sets and giving the best chance to grow mental and physical strengths for the young future prospects for Japan football.

The league consists of 10 teams of the East and West leagues and each squad will play in a home-and-away, round-robin format against every team, 18 games overall, to determine the final rankings in the end. The winners of the leagues will advance to the championship game played on December 14. Meanwhile, the bottom two teams in each leagues will automatically be demoted to the Prince Takamado Trophy Football League Prince League in the next year. The top four teams in the Prince League will instead be promoted to the Premier League.

Last year, Vissel Kobe U-18 team wound up winning the West league title as they had a five-point lead over the runner-up Higashi Fukuoka High School (Fukuoka). Kobe looks to repeat the title with their core players as Yonezawa　Rei, the reigning scoring leader of the league, and Yamaguchi　Shinji, a prospect for the U-19 national team. ``We came up short in last year's championship game, but at the same time it became a good experience for our players. Hopefully, we'll get back in there,'' Kobe coach Noda Satoru says.

Elsewhere, Sanfrecce Hiroshima F.C. Youth (Hiroshima), who won the league titles in 2011 and 2012, Cerezo Osaka U-18 (Osaka), who finished in the fifth places or better in the last three years and Kyoto Sanga F.C. U-18 (Kyoto) are among the teams that are presumably capable of making runs for this season's championship. From the high school teams, Toyama Daiichi High (Toyama) will get in the Premier League with the 92nd national high school championships title they won in January in their hands.

While the competitions are expected to be nothing but close, Kyoto Tachibana High (Kyoto/Kansai 2), who made it to the last four in the 92nd national high school championships this year, and Higashiyama High (Kyoto/Kansai 3), who grabbed a Kyoto Prefectural league tile four years ago, are notable names among the newcomers this season. Kyoto Tachibana finished second in the first division of the Kansai Prince League last year and have made it in the Premier League for the first time in their 13-year club history. ``We necessarily don't have the best football circumstances, but we'd like to show how much we can do against other teams in the Premier League as a high school squad,'' Kyoto Tachibana coach Yonezawa Kazunari says. Higashiyama coach Fukushige Ryoichi says, ``Our first goal is to stay in the league, but we'll certainly play hard one game at a time to win.''

While the battles for the championship will surely be something to watch, it will also be interesting to see what kind of performances those newcomer teams will put up in the new circuit for them this year. The nine-month long tough fights are around the corner.