The JFA 27th Japan Futsal Championship kicked-off on Saturday 12 March. 15 fixtures of the first round took place at Hamamatsu Arena (Shizuoka), Kishiwada City Gymnasium (Osaka), and Green Arena Kobe Hyogo), excluding the fixture between Espolada Hokkaido (F1/Hokkaido) and RD/DINO'S (Kyushu2/Fukuoka) which was cancelled due to the Hokkaido side withdrawing from the competition.

Seven fixtures took place at Hamamatsu Arena. Pescadola Machida (F1/Tokyo) and Luck The Drive (Chugoku/Hiroshima) started off the action on pitch A, where the F1 side showcased their dominance over the Hiroshima side, producing nine goals from eight different players to win the match 9-0.

The match between Boaluz Nagano (F1/Nagano) and Voscuore Sendai (Tohoku/Miyagi) also took place in the morning, in which the Sendai side, who are set to make their return to the second division of the F.League next season, took the initiative with the goal scored by MARUYAMA Masaki in the 11th minute. Although Nagano responded with opportunities of their own, Sendai’s goalkeeper OKAJIMA Takumi showcased an outstanding performance to keep the clean sheet intact. In efforts to equalise, Nagano deployed their power-play in the closing minutes, but as coach SHIMIZU Makoto later reflected, “we studied their plays from the F1/F2 Play-offs,” Sendai took advantage of the situation to score from a counterattack to walk away with a 2-0 victory.

In the second set of matches played at Hamamatsu Arena, Bardral Urayasu (F1/Chiba) defeated Fuchu Athletic FC Satelight (Kanto3/Tokyo) 4-0, while YSCC Yokohama (F1/Kanagawa) won over Lind Barecao Kyoto (Kansai1/Kyoto) 8-5, after they scored three goals in overtime to advance to the round of 16.

The third set featured F1 champions Nagoya Oceans (F1/Aichi), who conceded the opener to Toro Bravo Toyama (Hokushinetsu/Toyama), but with Gabriel PENEZIO scoring five goals, the Nagoya side won the match 13-1 to advance to the next round.

The match between Fugador Sumida (F1/Tokyo) and Shinagawa City (F2/Tokyo) attracted a lot of attention, as the two clubs who fought in last year’s final clashed in the first round. In the closely contested match between two F.League sides, the deadlock was broken in the 29th minute, when NOMURA Keisuke capitalised on a play from a corner kick to give Shinagawa the lead. Despite the late efforts made by Sumida with their power-play, the defending champions booked another win over the F1 side to secure their spot into the round of 16.

The final fixture played in Shizuoka featured Deucao Kobe (F2/Hyogo) and Defi/Green Field (Tokai1/Shizuoka), in which the Kobe side earned a 6-1 victory to reach the second round.

All teams from the F.League advanced through to the second round in the fixtures played in Osaka, but in Hyogo, Vincedor Hakusan (F2/Ishikawa) and Porseid Hamada (F2/Shimane) lost to Crescer FC (Kyushu1/Fukuoka) and O-PA (Kanto2/Chiba) respectively. After the completion of the first round, four teams from reginal leagues still remain in the round of 16. Stay tuned to find out if they can stick around for the quarterfinals.

Players' Comments

FP #8 MARUYAMA Masaki (Voscuore Sendai)
Sendai will be in the F.League Division 2 next season, and yesterday was 11 March (when the Great East Japan earthquake happened). It was great to win against a team from F1, with a lot of people coming to support us. I was facing my former club, so I was feeling a bit nostalgic on the pitch. When I scored the goal, I was able to anticipate on what they were going to do next. You could tell from the cheering seats that there are many people waiting for Sendai to return to the F.League, so I want to bring smiles to as many of those people as possible in this tournament.

GK #12 FUJIWARA Jun (Bardral Urayasu)
Fuchu Athletic FC Satelight is another young team, who carried a lot of momentum from the qualifiers. I think the fact that we were able to hold them scoreless after a few close opportunities in the first period was the key to this result. There are other players besides me who are retiring or leaving the team this year. I am sure other teams are thinking the same, but we want to play as many matches as possible with this squad, so we will try to score as many goals while conceding as few goals as possible. Tomorrow we will face an opponent who played through overtime, but in a knockout tournament, teams who have struggled their way through tend to gain momentum, regardless of fatigue, so we must be prepared for a tough match.

FP #77 Gabriel PENEZIO (Nagoya Oceans)
Last year, I participated in the Japan Futsal Championship for the first time. Although we were not able to win the title, it allowed me to understand what kind of competition it is and gave me a great learning experience. We have trained very hard for this tournament. It was a bit alarming when we conceded the first goal, but we were able to turn our switch back on and regain our game intuition after being away from the game for a while. Out of the five goals I scored today, I am happy with the way I scored the fourth goal with my weaker foot.

FP #14 SHIRAKATA Hidekazu (Shinagawa City)
The F1/F2 Play-offs took place last week, and I still find myself speechless when I think back on it,,, but I think that experience has led us to this victory. The opponent's power-play at the end was very scary, but we were able to hold on, which reminded me once again that we are a very good team. If we can make it to next week, some of the players are coming back from injury, so we will try to win tomorrow's match so that we can play in Tokyo.

JFA 27th Japan Futsal Championship

Tournament dates: Sat. 12 - Mon. 21 March
Tournament venue: Kishiwada City Gymnasium (Osaka), Green Arena Kobe (Hyogo), Hamamatsu Arena (Shizuoka), Komazawa Olympic Park (Tokyo)

Tournament information