On 25 June, the 15th All Japan Seniors (over 50) football tournament has kicked off in Akita city, Akita prefecture. The opening matches of the first round with 4 groups of 16 teams were held on the same day. Every match was vigorous and passionate.

In the Group A, Fukuoka Tobiume Senior SC (Kyushu/ Fukuoka) who joined the tournament for the first time beat Akita Senior Football Club, from the hosting prefecture, 3-0 and became the top of the group. Alfoot Azumino Senior (Hokushinetsu 1/ Nagano) is in second position with one win but fewer goals than Fukuoka Tobiume Senior SC. Their match against Kagawa FC 50 (Shikoku 2/ Kagawa) was not easy even though they could take control from the beginning, but before the end of the match ISHIHARA Yoichiro headed a free kick and it smashed the goal. Right after the opener, Kagawa FC 50 got the chance from the opponent’s mistake and scored an additional goal. The match ended with Kagawa FC 50’s 2-0 victory.

In the Group B, Hyogo SC (Kansai 1/ Hyogo) got 2 goals scored by KIM Jaegyu and took the lead over Anciano Mie (Tokai 2/ Mie). Mie also scored a goal by EGAWA Shigemitsu’s middle shot, but it wasn’t enough. The match ended with Hyogo’s victory. Meanwhile, Tokyo Bay FC O-50 (Kanto 2/ Tokyo) beat Matsue Senior Soccer FC Dandan (Chugoku 1/ Shimane) 3-1 and they are currently on top of the group.

Both matches of the Group C heated up. Hiroshima YU-YU FC (Chugoku 2/ Hiroshima) kept defending their goal after the team’s OYAMA Tatsuya’s opener and beat Chiba Shijukara SC (Kanto 1/ Chiba), who qualified from the very competitive block, Kanto. KYOTO MAYUMARO FC (Kansai 2/ Kyoto) beat Hachinohe Zebra SC (Tohoku/ Aomori) 1-0. The two teams who lost the first matches still have a chance to go through to the next stage, hence the competition amongst these 4 teams will be exciting until the end of the first round.

A rush of goals was seen in the Group D; Hitsujigaoka Old Kickers 2002/OV50 (Hokkaido) who qualified for this tournament for 4 consecutive years, beat Club 50 - (Hokushinetsu 2/ Fukui) 4-0, whereas Shizuoka Sunpu FC (Tokai 1/ Shizuoka) scored 3 goals from the earlier time against Ozu Senior FC (Shikoku1 /Ehime). However, Ozu scored 2 goals from side wings towards the end of the match, but missed one more goal to equalise; the match ended and Shizuoka Sunpu FC won 3-2.

The second day of the tournament will be done on 26 June, and second and third matches of the first round will take place. The top teams from each group will go through to the final round which will be held on the final day.

Players' Comments

KANEMOTO Makoto (Kagawa FC 50)
Last year, when we came to this tournament for the first time, we could not win any matches. This year, we are here with the mind that we want to get some points even if from draw matches. It is exciting for us to play against the teams who qualified from different blocks, and it is encouraging for us to play in the national level competition. We don’t want to lose and it is hard to keep running in the match time, but after the match I can be filled with joy just like the “runner’s high” of marathon runners. This is the beauty of the national level matches.

UCHIDA Yoichi (Anciano Mie)
To get through the challenging group, and to play well united, we have had training once a week and shared what we wanted to do. We had training to beat Hyogo but it was bitter for us to concede the opening goal today. Our aim was to go through to the final round, so I regret that we lost this first match. We are now over 50 years old, and we still play football, that means we really love to play football. I think we could qualify for this national level competition because we always enjoy football in our local competition.

TAKAKI Noboru (Hiroshima YU-YU FC)
Usually each of us has a different job hence it is only once a month when we can have training session together. Some players used to play for the team for over 40s, and now they are in 50s; for us some younger players come up to our group and the team became more active. This is our strengths this year. As a qualified team from Chugoku block, our aim is to win the title. We are happy to win the most important first match today. The reason I keep playing football even at this age is because I love football. The fact that I can play this match makes me feel confident.

MATSUSHITA Masahito (Shizuoka Sunpu FC)
In recent years, football in Shizuoka has not made good results such as Shimizu S-Pulse dropped into the J2 League and high school teams couldn’t win. Shizuoka is called “Football Kingdom”, but there hasn’t been good news recently. However, in our team there are many players who used to perform well in the All Japan High School Soccer Tournament and National Sports Festival. What makes me happy to play football at this age is that I can play with the star players and substitute players of that time of high school football. We have now the same level of fitness and we can play evenly; that makes us enjoy senior football.

JFA-TV (Japanese version only)

The 15th All Japan Seniors (over 50) football tournament

Sat. 25 June 2016 - Mon. 27 June
Akita/Akigin Stadium, Yabase Sports Park Field, Yabase Sports Park Kenkouhiroba

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