The 13th All Japan Women's Futsal Tournament, which decides the champion of women’s futsal teams, will kicks off on Friday 28 October in Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center. Prior to this three-day competition, this article reviews the last year’s tournament. 

In the previous championship, a total of 16 teams booked a place in the tournament going through regional qualifiers. They were then divided into 4 groups and competed in a round-robin format for the group stage. The top team in each group got through to a knock-out final round. 

The group stage of tournament saw many exciting contests and the four teams advancing to the semi-finals were decided—SWH Ladies Futsal Club (Kansai 1/ Hyougo), FC Kouyama Ladies (Hosting prefecture/ Hokkaido), Veex Tokyo Ladies (Kanto 3/ Tokyo), and Maruoka Ruck Ladies (Kitashinetsu/ Fukui).

The first semi-final match saw the meeting between SWH and Kouyama. The much-awaited opener was scored by Kouyama’s MURANAKA Ayaka, who gave the only goal in the first half.

SWH, who kept better possession of the ball throughout the game, showcased their attacking strength in the second half. Starting from the equaliser by SAKATA Mutsumi in the 17th minute, they scored four consecutive goals. They turned around the match easily and went through to the final with a competing 4-1 victory.

The other semi-final match of Veex Tokyo Ladies and Maruoka Ruck Ladies was a very close contest. KITAGAWA Kana of Maruoka Ruck scored the opening goal in the 22nd minute, but Veex Tokyo’s SHINOZAKI Keiko equalised 8 minutes after the opener. Two teams attacked aggressively seeking for a go-ahead goal, but both failed to capitalise on their scoring chances.

Furthermore, the match remained scoreless in extra time and went into penalty shoot-out. Every single kicker of Maruoka Ruck successfully converted the spot kick and they came on top of the tight match 5-4 after penalties, going through to the final for the second consecutive year.

The final saw a close contest between SWH and Maruoak Ruck. In this intense battle between the two teams, SWH pressured the opponents’ goal by rhythmically passing around the ball, whereas Maruoka Ruck created chances by their occasional quick counter-attacks while defending solidly. In the first half, each team attempted more than 10 shots on goal, but partly due to the fine saves by goalkeepers, both failed to put any one of them into back of the net.

The deadlock match quickly changed the course in the second half. Maruoka Ruck took the early initiative from Kitagawa Kana’s opener in the 24th minute, but it did not take long for SWH to find the equaliser. In the 35th minute, SATO Eri intercepted the ball in the opponents’ half and successfully scored the game-tying goal. However, the match stayed in the balance in the remainder of the second half and went into extra time.

The scoreline in overtime quickly moved as SWH’s Sato scored her second goal in the 43rd minute and turned the match around. Thereafter, SWH defended tenaciously, protecting their one-goal lead, until the final whistle. They edged this enticing match and captured their first national futsal title. Coach KAMIKUBO Yoshitaka later expressed his delight after winning the match, “I believe that this is the result of their continuous efforts in pursuit of winning the championship”.

13th All Japan Women's Futsal Tournament

2016-10-28(Fri.)～30(Sun.)
Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center

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