With the support of Japan Sport Council (JSC), Japan Football Association (JFA) will organise an international football exchange programme from Tuesday19 February until Saturday 23 February 2019 in the Republic of Chile as part of “SPORT FOR TOMORROW”(SFT), an initiative led by the Japanese government for the promotion of international cooperation and exchange through sports. As part of the exchange programme, a football tournament consisting of three U-17 teams will take place, with an aim to provide an opportunity for the participating teams to prepare for FIFA U-17 World Cup Peru 2019.

During the duration of the exchange programme, JFA will be inviting their National Training Centre coach from Japan to conduct a coaching course dedicated to coaches of women’s football in Chile. In addition, a football exchange event for Chilean kids of Japanese descendants will also be organised. The event will act as a platform for the local community to interact and socialise with the U-17 Japan National Team delegation which will cultivate their cross-cultural awareness and help them learn the significance of football and sports.

According to SFT, this will be the 5th international football exchange programme to be organised under the SFT initiative.

Programme outline

Dates:

Tuesday 19 February - 23 February 2019

Venue:

Estadio Municipal de San Bernardo (Santiago, Chile)

Participating Teams:　

U-17 Chile National Team, U-17 Paraguay National Team and U-17 Japan National Team

Tournament format:

Single round-robin tournament (total of 3 matches)

Coaching course:

To take place at a separate venues (TBC); participants will consist of women’s football coaches of Football Federation of Chile

About “SPORT FOR TOMORROW”

“SPORT FOR TOMORROW” is an international sport contribution initiative led by the Japanese government, which was announced by Prime Minister ABE Shinzo during the IOC Congress in order to promote the bidding activities for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo. It is aimed to spread the value of ‘SPORT’ to more than 10 million people across all generations in over 100 nations, especially in developing countries, from the year 2014 leading up to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.