The last day of the 12th All Japan Women's futsal tournament was held in Kushiro, Hokkaido on Sunday 8 November. SWH Ladies Futsal Club (Kansai1/Hyogo) won the championship for the first time. 

Semi-final

SWH Ladies Futsal Club (Kansai1/Hyogo)   4-1 (0-1, 4-0)   FC Kouyama Ladies (Host/Hokkaido)

Veex Tokyo Ladies (Kanto3/Tokyo)   1-1 (0-0, 1-1, PSO 4-5)   Maruoka Ruck Ladies (Hokushinetsu/Fukui)

The match between Veex Tokyo Ladies (Kanto3/Tokyo) and Maruoka Ruck Ladies (Hokushinetsu/Fukui) was exciting. The game stayed scoreless until the second half. In the 22nd minute, field player KITAGAWA Kana from Maruoka struck the opener, not wasting the opponent’s mistake.

Veex threw everything into attack in the last five minutes by switching field player ITO Hanae to goalkeeper. With just 25 seconds to go before the final whistle, field player SHINOZAKI Keiko, who reacted to a pass in front of the goal, headed the ball home.

The match went to penalties. Four players from each team converted their penalties. Then the fifth player of Maruoka struck a goal, while the shot of Veex was saved by the goalkeeper UGAI Mayako, who came off the bench for this shot. Maruoka, who had won on penalties after some struggle, got through to the final for the second consecutive time.

In the other half of the draw, a newcomer FC Kouyama Ladies (Host/Hokkaido) exerted themselves and struck the opener. SWH Ladies Futsal Club (Kansai1/Hyogo), who could not find the back of the net despite their numerous goal-scoring opportunities, started to attack back in the second half. After 17 minute, field player SAKATA Mutsumi scored from a penalty kick, leveling the game. Then three field players, SATO Eri, TAKAHASHI Mika, and OKUMURA Ai, added more insurance, winning the game 4-1 to book a place in the final for the first time.

Final

SWH Ladies Futsal Club (Kansai1/Hyogo)   2-1 (0-0, 1-1, extra 1st 1-0, extra 2nd 0-0)   Maruoka Ruck Ladies (Hokushinetsu/Fukui)

Both teams in the final were eager to win the championship for the first time. The Goleiro of both teams played superbly in a close match. Although SWH Ladies took the initiative, Maruoka did not let the opponent score, looking for an opportunity to counter-attack.

In the 24th minute, Kitagawa intercepted the ball up front and struck the opener for Maruoka. SWH Ladies soon attacked back under pressure. After 35 minutes, Sato stole the ball and scored the equalizer with her right foot. The match went into extra time.

In the 43rd minute, Sato once more shook the net, turning the game around for SWH Ladies. SWH Ladies won the championship for the first time. A team from Hyogo won the championship for the third time in a row, after Arco Iris Kobe’s two consecutive victories.

Coach and Players' Comments

KAMIKUBO Yoshitaka, Coach (SWH Ladies Futsal Club/Hyogo)
I became the coach of this team for the first time this year, but I have been coaching for a while. So I feel like we finally realised our long-awaited dream of winning this championship. As we’ve been struggling a lot so far, I haven’t been able to really enjoy it. I’d like to take my time to enjoy the sense of victory back home. I believe our everyday practice earned this victory. We conceded a goal first, just like in the semi-final, but the players showed what they have been practicing. I think that led us to the victory.

SATO Eri (SWH Ladies Futsal Club/Hyogo)
I happened to strike goals thanks to my teammates. I was away from the team due to my school engagement, and couldn’t play the Hyogo qualifier against arco-iris KOBE. I’m here because my team played well in the prefectural qualifying round. I hope I paid back that debt a little bit by scoring two goals today. We had a tough time after conceding a goal, but we stayed patient, as we still had time. As we turned the game around in the semi-final against FC Kouyama Ladies, I believed we could do the same in the final.

ASANO Itsuki (Maruoka Ruck Ladies/Fukui)
We’ve been doing our best to achieve a better result than last year. However, we ended in second place again. I have no regrets, though, as we played as hard as we could. We didn’t have many opportunities to practice with all the team together, because KOBAYASHI Kokoro moved to Aichi and both TAKAO Akari and KITAGAWA Kana were away for the AFC Futsal Championship. In the previous championship, we lost 3-1 without extra time. As the match went into extra time this time, I believe we have improved ourselves. We’ll definitely win the championship next year.

MAJIKINA Oscar, Coach (Veex Tokyo Ladies/Tokyo)
Our team this year hasn’t got any strikers, and we couldn’t find the back of the net at all when we had to. The same thing happened in the games in the Tokyo League. Having said that, the players performed well, especially in defence. It’s really a shame we didn’t attack well. We threw everything into attack towards the end of the match, and managed to take the match to penalties. As we played well, I wish we could have played extra time. However, we must follow the rules. We’ll improve ourselves even more to come back to this championship.

JFA-TV (Japanese version only)

Semi-final- Highlights

Final- Highlights

The 12th All Japan Women's futsal tournament

2015-11-6 (Fri.) - 8 (Sun.)
Hokkaido/Situgennokaze Arena Kushiro
More information