The Japan Football Association (JFA) will hold the "U-16 International Dream Cup 2016 JAPAN Presented by JFA" from Wednesday 22 June in Tottori. Hungary, Mali and Mexico assemble in Tottori for this year's tournament, which was newly established last year. Here we introduce Japan and Hungary in this issue.

U-16 Japan National Team

Japan was won the first title of this competition last year, and the same coach MORIYAMA Yoshiro is directing the team. Ahead of the AFC U-16 Championship India 2016 in September, the team had multiple overseas trips to China in May and to India and Vietnam in June, to increase international experiences. Through this international competition held in Japan, they are expected to grow up mentally and physically even more and to get stronger in confidence.

MORIYAMA Yoshiro, Coach of U-16 Japan National Team Comment
The U-16 Japan National Team aims to compete at the AFC U-16 Championship India 2016 in September and to qualify for the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017. Their team concept is “Action soccer; making the most of the advantages of every single player of the team”, and they expect to show this in the upcoming matches.

U-16 Hungary National Team

Hungary got the victory in their first tournament in 44 years against Austria at EURO 2016 which is currently being held. The U-17 Hungary National Team beat the U-17 Japan National Team by penalty shoot-out in the International Youth Tournament of Václav Ježek held last year. This team seems to share the same strength to get the victory even in the difficult situation with the older national team of Hungary.

Attila Belvon, Coach of U-16 Hungary National Team Comment
We are very pleased that the Japanese Football Association invited us for the 2016 International Dream Cup. It will be a great challenge to face other football cultures from around the world. I wish the best of luck to Japan, Mexico and Mali and I am sure we will have a great tournament in Tottori!

Schedule

*The schedule is subject to change due to the team condition, the weather, etc.