"The 20th All Japan Youth (U-15) Women's Championship,” determining the top women's team among in the junior high school generation, will begin on Saturday 25 July at J-GREEN Sakai in Osaka. The tournament saw 32 teams from the qualifying round around the nation play 30-minute halves in the knockout system.

In the last tournament, three of the four teams playing in the semi-finals were from the Kanto region. This year, 10 teams are participating from Kanto. After beating defending champions Nippon TV Menina Serias in a penalty shoot-out in their opening match of the Kanto qualifiers, AS Elfen Saitama Mari (Kanto 1/Saitama) maintained their momentum and won the qualifying round. The Saitama side try to make another leap forward in the finals as well with their solid defence and tenacious battles.

The other two Kanto teams also are capable of going deep in the tournament, as Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies Junior Youth (Kanto 5/ Saitama) reached the final only to fall short in the last tournament and SFIDA Setagaya FC Youth (Kanto 2/ Tokyo) defeated Urawa in a training match and an official match this year.

The finalist in the 18th tournament JFA Academy Fukushima (Tokai 1/ Shizuoka) are also not inferior to other teams record-wise. They are standing at second place in the U-15 Nadeshiko Academy Cup 2015 EAST and confident in their offence as the top three scorers of the competition are their players.

FC Victories (Kansai 1/ Hyogo), drawn into the same group as the Academy side, play their fourth tournament and appear for third straight time. While the Hyogo outfit were eliminated in the second round at the last two tournaments, they go for their goal to reach the last 8, taking advantage of their players experience in the past national tournament.

Tournament's regular contenders Kamimura Gakuen Junior High School Girls' Football Club (Kyushu 3/ Kagoshima) also have plenty of experience. Although Kanto teams have kept winning the titles since the 13th tournament, Kamimura Gakuen claimed a treble in the past. With their motto of "faith, gratitude and tenacity," the high school look for a chance to go for top spots.

The Hokkaido region has Muroran Icebirds (Hokkaido 2) and Club Fields Linda (Hokkaido 1), who produced Nadeshiko Japan (Japan Women's National Team) players including KUMAGAI Saki. Muroran have only 15 players and do not have a strong depth, yet the players understand traits of their teammates and have confidence in quality of their collectivity. They will try to get a win first after going through what to do in offence and defence and preparing for the battle in the heat.

It is expected some new faces also strive for their presence in the tournament. In their second year after launched, Vegalta Sendai Ladies Junior Youth (Tohoku 1/ Miyagi) have potential to build on the momentum if they get through their opener against Urawa.

It is also interesting to see the battles of Ehime FC Ladies MIKAN (Shikoku 1/ Ehime), who clinched a ticket to the national stage for the first time in their history, and Tokai University Shizuoka Shoyo Junior High School Girls' Football Club (Tokai 4/ Shizuoka), who made their first national tournament berth in their fourth year of foundation.

The 20th All Japan Youth (U-15) Women's Championship

Sat. 25 july - Fri. 31 July 2015
J-GREEN Sakai (Osaka)
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