‘The 96th Emperor's Cup All Japan Football Championship’, the tournament to decide the best team in Japan, will start this weekend. The 1st Round, 36 matches in total, will be held on Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 August across the country.

The prefectural representative teams, including ones from the J.League Division3, universities, and senior teams, all 22 clubs from the J.League Division2, as well as Jubilo Iwata and Avispa Fukuoka, both of whom are from in J.League Division1 will participate in the 1st Round. Amateur and professional teams will play in some exciting games.

Kwansei Gakuin University, the winner of the 64th All Japan University Championship, will take part in the Cup as a seeded team, and will meet Mio Biwako Shiga (Shiga) in their first match. The team is currently sitting in second place in the Kansai University Football League, and have a number of players who have experience in nationwide tournaments in their high school (J youth) period, such as the defender YONEHARA Yu, the midfielder NAKANO Katsuya, and the forward DEOKA Daiki. Their fearless performance against opponents from different categories will draw much attention.

Newcomers VONDS Ichihara (Chiba) will play against Tokyo Verdy (J2) in the Ajinomoto Field Nishigaoka in Tokyo. Most of the players of VONDS Ichihara work in a nursing home next to their ground. They attended practice sessions starting at 5:00 before work to book a place in this Cup.

The team boasts players, who used to play against Tokyo Verdy in the youth category, such as the midfielder NIHEI Tsubasa from F.C. Tokyo U-18 and the forward KIMURA Yoichiro from Mitsubishi Yowa SC. They will directly face Tokyo V, who have won the Cup five times in the past, including one of the former team, Yomiuri FC.

In their 28th appearance, WASEDA University (Tokyo), who are participating for the first time since the 77th tournament in 1997, will meet Grulla MORIOKA (Iwate). The team holds the forward NAKAYAMA Yuki, who scored the deciding goal in the win in the final of the Tokyo qualifying round, and the swift midfielder SOMA Yuki. We cannot wait to see whether they will display their aggressive playing style.

Personal records are also an interesting aspect of this tournament. The midfielder ITO Teruyoshi of BLAUBLITZ' AKITA has played 54 matches in this Cup. After the first game against VANRAURE HACHINOHE (Aomori), he will be only one game away from MATSUNAGA Shigetatsu in third place (56 matches) and four games difference to KAMAMOTO Kunishige in the lead (59 matches). Also, when 49-year-old MIURA Kazuyoshi of Yokohama FC (J2) is on the pitch in the game against Yamagata University (Yamagata), he will beat the record for the oldest player – 45 years and 219 days old of KONNO Etsuo.

Please come and see the 96th Emperor's Cup All Japan Football Championship with so many different facets to enjoy.

The 96th Emperor's Cup All Japan Football Championship

2016-8-27-2017-1-1

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