SAWA Homare, who led INAC Kobe Leonessa and women’s national team for a long time, finished her career as a football player at the end of last year’s Empress’s Cup. At the same time, goalkeeper KAIHORI Ayumi also retired. She was also one of the winning members of the FIFA Women's World Cup Germany 2011.

Their season started without these two key players, but there was a positive news—goalkeeper TAKENAKA Rei came back from Vegalta Sendai to rejoin the team. Despite the pre-season worries, they posted three consecutive wins from the beginning of this season. Even though they lost against Nippon TV and AC NAGANO, they ended their first half with 6 wins, 2 losses and 1 draw.

However, they performed poorly and got eliminated in the group stage of the Nadeshiko League Cup, which was held during the mid-season break. This result had negatively impacted the team, and they lost three consecutive matches after the season intermission. However, the team rebuilt their confidence by ending the season with a six-game winning streak, displaying their full strength as one of powerhouses of the Nadeshiko League. They are now in prime form entering the quarter-finals of the Empress Cup.

The team roster is filled with well-known players who led the national squad and built the history of women’s football in Japan, namely SAMESHIMA Aya, TANAKA Asuna, KAWASUMI Nahomi, OHNO Shinobu, and TAKASE Megumi. The team got stronger as many of the younger players, who idolised them, grew up and started to display their comparable talents on the pitch. We have seen significant improvements from MASUYA Rika, MIYAKE Shiori, and KYOKAWA Mai—all of those who had more chances to play starting from last season. Furthermore, SUGITA Hina, who was named the MVP of the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Papua New Guinea 2016, improved greatly as she was also given more playing time during this season.

The team also announced that they acquired a new goalkeeper, FUKUMOTO Miho, from Okayama Yunogo Belle right before the Empress’s Cup. The competition within the team for a starting spot is likely to add depth and benefit them in the long run.

Before the quarter-finals of this Empress’s Cup, defender KAI Junko who has been a member of the team since they were founded in 2001, announced that she would retire at the end of this season. Being more united after this announcement, INAC Kobe are heading towards the competition to claim their first title of this season.

JFA-TV (Japanese version only)

Empress' Cup Quarter-finals (12/17)

Fixtures and Results (Japanese version only)

38th Empress's Cup All Japan Women's Football Tournament

2016-10-22(Sat.) ～ 2016-12-25(Sun.)
Quarter-finals：17 December (Sat.)　Yurtec Stadium Sendai・Pikara Stadium (Kagawa Prefecture Marugame Stadium)
Semi-finals：23 December(Fri.)　Ajinomoto Field Nishigaoka 
Final：25 December(Sun.)　Fukuda Denshi Arena

Tournament Information
Ticket Information (Japanese version only)