Japanese Non-league Football News

Hamamatsu University provided the shock of the round as Division 2 of the Tokai League commenced its new season on Sunday. The students, promoted from the Shizuoka Prefectural League at the end of 2007, won 3-2 at Aichi's experienced Kasugai Club... the other newcomers, KMEW Iga FC, lost at Honda Suzuka... ambitious MIE Rampole squeezed past Nagoya Club...

Sun 11 May: Honda Suzuka 3-0 KMEW Iga FC
Sun 11 May: Kasugai Club 2-3 Hamamatsu University
Sun 11 May: MIE Rampole 1-0 Nagoya Club
Sun 11 May: Toyota Football Group 2-1 Fuyo Club

Tokai League Division 1 champions Shizuoka FC began their 2008 season with a 5-1 defeat of Konica Minolta Toyokawa on Saturday... runners up Yazaki Valente by coincidence won by the same scoreline against Division 2 title holders Mind House Yokkaichi...

Sat 10 May: Shizuoka FC 5-1 Konica Minolta Toyokawa

Sun 11 May: Fujieda City Hall 6-1 Maruyasu Industries
Sun 11 May: Sagawa Kyubin Chukyo 0-4 Chukyo University
Sun 11 May: Yazaki Valente 5-1 Mind House Yokkaichi

There was one late fixture to conclude Division 1 of the Tokai League, with the civil servants of Fujieda City Hall claiming an easy win over the deliverymen of Sagawa Kyubin Chukyo. This didn't impact upon either the top or bottom of the table, however, with Shizuoka FC and Yazaki Valente still looking forward to participating in the Regional League Championship Winners' Play-off tournament next weekend, while Kasugai Club and Honda Suzuka are both relegated straight back to Division 2.

Sat 27 Oct: Sagawa Kyubin Chukyo 1-4 Fujieda City Hall

1. Shizuoka FC 39 (+39)
2. Yazaki Valente 34 (+27)
3. Fujieda City Hall 20 (-)
4. Sagawa Kyubin Chukyo 16 (-16)
5. Chukyo University 15 (-1)
6. Maruyasu Industries 14 (-17)
7. Kasugai Club 13 (-10)
8. Honda Suzuka 12 (-22)

A catch-up too in the results of the Tokai League Division 2, where Mind House Yokkaichi are now at the top after a series of good results, including most notably a 1-0 win at previous leaders Konica Minolta Toyokawa. Both sides have two games to play and are already confirmed as being promoted to the top division for next season.

MIE Rampole have finished their fixtures and therefore must be satisfied with a third-place finish in their first season at Regional level. At the other end of the table, with only one game to play FC Kawasaki are already relegated, while Morishin's FC have only the slimmest chance of avoiding the drop with Fuyo Club the only other team in danger.

Sun 02 Sep: Toyota Football Group 0-0 Fuyo Club

Sun 09 Sep: Konica Minolta Toyokawa 3-3 FC Kawasaki
Sun 09 Sep: Mind House Yokkaichi 2-1 MIE Rampole
Sun 09 Sep: Nagoya Club 2-2 Morishin's FC

Sun 16 Sep: MIE Rampole 3-0 FC Kawasaki
Sun 16 Sep: Morishin's FC 1-1 Toyota Football Group
Sun 16 Sep: Nagoya Club 1-2 Konica Minolta Toyokawa

Sun 23 Sep: MIE Rampole 2-0 Morishin's FC
Sun 23 Sep: Mind House Yokkaichi 2-1 Nagoya Club
Sun 23 Sep: Toyota Football Group 0-0 FC Kawasaki

Sun 30 Sep: Nagoya Club 1-1 Fuyo Club
Sun 30 Sep: Toyota Football Group 1-1 MIE Rampole

Sun 07 Oct: FC Kawasaki 3-2 Morishin's FC
Sun 07 Oct: Fuyo Club 1-2 Toyota Football Group
Sun 07 Oct: Konica Minolta Toyokawa 0-1 Mind House Yokkaichi
Sun 07 Oct: Nagoya Club 1-2 MIE Rampole

1. Mind House Yokkaichi 25 (+9)
2. Konica Minolta Toyokawa 24 (+14)
3. MIE Rampole 24 (+11)
4. Toyota Football Group 18 (+2)
5. Nagoya Club 15 (+3)
6. Fuyo Club 12 (-6)
7. Morishin's FC 10 (-15)
8. FC Kawasaki 7 (-18)

A brief catch-up on results in Division 1 of the Tokai League, where one single fixture remains to be played at the end of this month - a more or less meaningless mid-table affair between Sagawa Kyubin Chukyo and Fujieda City Hall. As expected, Shizuoka FC have bounced back from the disappointment of losing out last year to FC Gifu and have re-taken the title with only one game lost during the whole year. Following them into the Regional League Championship Winners' Play-off are prefectural neighbours Yazaki Valente, who finished fully seventeen points ahead of a weak field.

Indeed the other clubs were mainly concentrating on staying out of the relegation places in a close battle at the wrong end of the table. In the end it was Kasugai Club and Honda Suzuka who went down to Division 2, both clubs having played just a single season in the top flight since winning promotion twelve months ago. The well-established Maruyasu Industries club just avoided the drop with a vital draw against Honda in their last match, but overall it is clear that there is little in the Tokai region to challenge Shizuoka and Yazaki.

Sat 08 Sep: Shizuoka FC 3-0 Fujieda City Hall
Sat 08 Sep: Yazaki Valente 3-1 Honda Suzuka

Sun 09 Sep: Maruyasu Industries 1-0 Chukyo University
Sun 09 Sep: Sagawa Kyubin Chukyo 1-0 Kasugai Club

Sun 16 Sep: Honda Suzuka 1-1 Fujieda City Hall
Sun 16 Sep: Kasugai Club 2-0 Chukyo University
Sun 16 Sep: Maruyasu Industries 1-5 Shizuoka FC
Sun 16 Sep: Sagawa Kyubin Chukyo 0-3 Yazaki Valente

Sat 22 Sep: Shizuoka FC 6-0 Sagawa Kyubin Chukyo
Sat 22 Sep: Yazaki Valente 5-0 Maruyasu Industries

Sun 23 Sep: Chukyo University 5-0 Honda Suzuka
Sun 23 Sep: Kasugai Club 2-0 Fujieda City Hall

Sat 29 Sep: Yazaki Valente 1-3 Shizuoka FC

Sun 30 Sep: Chukyo University 4-0 Fujieda City Hall
Sun 30 Sep: Honda Suzuka 0-1 Kasugai Club
Sun 30 Sep: Maruyasu Industries 2-6 Sagawa Kyubin Chukyo

Sun 07 Oct: Kasugai Club 1-4 Sagawa Kyubin Chukyo
Sun 07 Oct: Maruyasu Industries 2-2 Honda Suzuka

1. Shizuoka FC 39 (+39)
2. Yazaki Valente 34 (+27)
3. Fujieda City Hall 17 (-3)
4. Sagawa Kyubin Chukyo 16 (-13)
5. Chukyo University 15 (-1)
6. Maruyasu Industries 14 (-17)
7. Kasugai Club 13 (-10)
8. Honda Suzuka 12 (-22)