On Monday 14 October, the semi-finals and final of the JFA 7th O-40 Japan Football Tournament took place to determine this year’s national champions of the O-40 category.

The semi-final match between Sakai Phoenix Legend (Hokushinetsu1/Fukui) and Fujieda FC (Tokai2/Shizuoka) ended in a scoreless draw, where Sakai advanced through to the final in penalties.

Despite the dominating performance showcased by Hyogo SC (Kansai1/Hyogo) over Galaxy (Chugoku2/Yamaguchi), the other semi-final match also ended in a scoreless draw, where Hyogo claimed the ticket to the final in penalties.

The tournament final kicked-off at 13:00, where Sakai and Hyogo squared off against each other. The match saw Hyogo taking control in the early minutes, as they scored the opening goal in the 13th minute. Hyogo’s IWATA Hiroyuki made it 2-0 just a minute later, as the match entered halftime with the Kansai side leading by two goals.

Despite seeing Sakai pushing back in the second half, they struggled to score back a goal. With time running out, Hyogo’s WATADA Mitsutoshi scored a mid-range shot to shut the doors on Sakai, as Hyogo claimed their first ever O-40 national title with a final score of 3-0.

Coaches and Players' Comments

YAMADA Shuji, Coach (Galaxy)
We faced a Hyogo side who consists with many former J.Leaguers, so we knew we were up against a huge challenge. Although we managed to keep a clean sheet to enter penalties, but we weren’t able to capitalise on the opportunity and finished in third place. Hyogo was simply the better team. We did create some chances in the second half, but we lacked quality at the final third. Despite the result, we had plenty of fun at this tournament and we have no regrets. Thank you very much.

MATSUO Masanori (Fujieda FC)
At first, we were overwhelmed by the pressure and intensity applied by Sakai, but as the match progressed, we managed to showcase our usual performance. We are not completely satisfied with our third place finish, but it was great to see our team keeping a clean sheet in our final match, especially after playing four matches. There were so many things we have learned through the competition, and we had so much fun playing in this tournament. Despite being over 40, everyone has displayed great joy at each match, as we are all playing for the love of the game. This is a great tournament and I hope this tournament will continue on in the future.

HOSOKAWA Masaki (Sakai Phoenix Legend)
It was a bit disappointing that we finished in second place. However, we still have next year, so we will continue to work hard as a team and strive to win the title next year. This was our third appearance at the national championship, but this was our first time advancing through to the final round. Even if we aren’t athletic as we used to be, we can still put in the efforts to strive for results, and that is what thrives us to play senior football. We are happy to make it to the final round, thank you very much.

INOUE Koji, Coach (Hyogo SC)
I am relieved that we were able to win the title. While most teams consist a total of 30 players and staffs combined, our team only had 19. We managed to work efficiently to make a deep run at this tournament. We will continue to work hard with a strong commitment to lead the competition.

MICHINAKA Hiroshi (Hyogo SC)
This was our third consecutive appearance at the national stage, but we were eliminated at the first round in the past two years, so it feels like we were finally able to achieve our goal. I am so happy that we were able to win the title. We fought through five matches in three days with limited players, and everybody worked extremely hard throughout the tournament. It’s great that we have a platform where we can continue to have fun as we grow older. This year, I was able to reunite with old friends from Yamaguchi, so this was a very memorable tournament for me.

Tournament Dates: Sat. 12 - Mon 14 October 2019
Tournament Venue: Hakodate Football Park, Hokkaido
Tournament Information