The Prince Takamado Trophy JFA U-18 Football Premier League 2019 Play-Off is about to take place on Friday 13 and Sunday 15 December at various locations in Hiroshima. The play-off will be competed by the top 16 teams of the Prince League, where they will play in a knockout tournament. The final four teams of this play-off tournament will earn their spots into the top tier league of the U-18 category.

In the first block of the bracket, three teams will be seeking for their return to the Premier League. One of the team is FC Tokyo U-18 (Kanto1/Tokyo), who is seeking to make their return to the top league after being relegated two seasons ago. Despite losing their core players to the U-23 squad, FC Tokyo U-18 proved their strengths by winning the Kanto division. Led by YUMOTO Soya and OKA Teppei, their defence conceded the fewest goals in the Prince League Kanto division, and they will seek to shutout the offence of Asahikawa-Jitsugyo High School (Hokkaido2) at the first round. In the same block, the fixture between Montedio Yamagata Youth (Tohoku1/Yamagata) and Oita Trinita U-18 (Kyushu2/Oita) features an enticing matchup between the two captains, Yamagata’s HANDA Riku and Oita’s NAGAMORI Shun.

Two intriguing fixtures await in the next block, where Teikyo Nagaoka High School (Hokushinetsu1/Niigata) and Yokohama F・Marinos Youth (Kanto2/Kanagawa) will go head to head in the first round. While Teikyo Nagaoka consists three players who are drafted to the J.League, the Marinos Youth side consists top attacking prospects like, MATSUDA Eitaro and BROWNE Noakenshin. The other fixture will be played between Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo U-18 (Hokkaido1) and Yonago Kita High School (Chugoku2/Tottori), as the attack-minded Hokkaido side led by HOMMA Yohei will clash against the Tottori side, who can initiate lightning fast counter attacks from their solid defence.

Sagan Tosu U-18 (Kyushu1/Saga) is the standout team in the third block, after scoring the most goals while conceding the fewest goals to claim their third consecutive title at the Prince League Kyushu division. They will face Tokushima Vortis Youth (Shikoku/Tokushima) in the first round, where the performances of the two #10s; Tosu’s HONDA Fuchi and Tokushima’s MORITA Rin, will likely determine the outcome of the match. In the other fixture of this block, Hannan University Senior High School (Kansai/Osaka) will face Vegalta Sendai Youth (Tohoku2/Miyagi). While the Osaka side will be seeking to make their return to the Premier League after getting relegated two seasons ago, Vegalta Sendai will try to win through the play-off in their fifth try.

The final block of the bracket features four well-balanced teams, leaving the doors open for all four teams to make it through to the Premier League. The first fixture features a matchup between Okayama Gakugeikan High School (Chugoku1/Okayama) and Yokohama FC Youth (Kanto3/Kanagawa), two teams who have won through many close matches to earn their spot into this play-off. The two aces; Okayama’s OKADA Tomoya and Yokohama’s SASAKI Tsubasa, will play a key role in this tight matchup. In the other match, JFA Academy Fukushima U-18 (Tokai/Shizuoka) and Toyama Daiichi High School (Hokushinetsu2/Toyama) will go head to head, where Fukushima’s KATO Hijiri and UENAKA Asahi will form a hot-line to break through Toyama Daiichi’s solid defence led by YOSHIFUJI Ren.

With the play-off featuring numbers of intriguing fixtures, it will be interesting to see who will win out of the tournament to claim their seats to next year’s Premier League.

Prince Takamado Trophy JFA U-18 Football Premier League 2019 Play-Off

Play-Off Dates: Fri. 13 & Sun. 15 December 2019

Play-Off Information