Japanese Non-league Football News

It was a weekend that saw two rounds of action in the Hokkaido League, with the main winners being champions-elect Norbritz Hokkaido, Barefoot Hokkaido and Tokachi Fairsky. Norbritz rattled off another six points towards their target of retaining the title with victories over a declining Blackpecker Hakodate and Toyota Motors Hokkaido and are now five points clear of their nearest challengers - who surprisingly are Barefoot Hokkaido, a defensive side that sneaked past struggling ACSC Asahikawa and Thank FC to make it five consecutive wins. New team Tokachi Fairsky managed a tremendous win over Sapporo Football Group on Saturday and followed it up by beating Blackpecker 2-0 to jump out of the relegation play-off spot; Sapporo bounced back to hammer Thank 5-0, but are surely too inconsistent to mount a serious assault on Norbritz' superiority.



Tokachi Fairsky take on Sapporo Football Group on a remote hillside

Sat 29 Jul: ACSC Asahikawa 0-2 Toyota Motors Hokkaido
Sat 29 Jul: Norbritz Hokkaido 2-0 Blackpecker Hakodate
Sat 29 Jul: Sapporo Football Group 1-3 Tokachi Fairsky
Sat 29 Jul: Thank FC 0-1 Barefoot Hokkaido

Sun 30 Jul: ACSC Asahikawa 1-2 Barefoot Hokkaido
Sun 30 Jul: Tokachi Fairsky 2-0 Blackpecker Hakodate
Sun 30 Jul: Sapporo Football Group 5-0 Thank FC
Sun 30 Jul: Toyota Motors Hokkaido 1-3 Norbritz Hokkaido

1 Norbritz Hokkaido 25 (+27)
2 Barefoot Hokkaido 20 (+4)
3 Sapporo Football Group 19 (+14)
4 Toyota Motors Hokkaido 14 (-7)
5 Blackpecker Hakodate 12 (-4)
6 Tokachi Fairsky 11 (-9)
7 Thank FC 10 (-2)
8 ACSC Asahikawa 4 (-23)



Barefoot have a blatantly misleading name, right? Anyway, against Thank FC

Kureha Chemicals made it seven defeats out of seven in the sole Tohoku League Division 2 (South) fixture on Sunday, as Kanai Club recovered from last week's thrashing by Marysol Matsushima to record their third win of the season and move further clear of the bottom of the table.

Sun 30 Jul: Kureha Chemicals 1-2 Kanai Club

1 Marysol Matsushima 21 (+26)
2 Furukawa Battery 18 (+17)
3 Northern Peaks Koriyama 12 (+9)
4 Kanai Club 9 (-3)
5 FC Perada Fukushima 4 (-11)
6 Shichigahama SC 4 (-15)
7 Kureha Chemicals 0 (-23)

At the ninth attempt, Fuji Club 2003 finally managed their first win in the Tohoku League Division 2 (North) and it was achieved in fine style, 7-1 against lowly TDK Shinwakai. This helped Fuji to move two places up the table, as Hokuto Bank went down 2-1 at home to Vanrarure Hachinohe.

Sun 30 Jul: Fuji Club 2003 7-1 TDK Shinwakai
Sun 30 Jul: Hokuto Bank 1-2 Vanrarure Hachinohe

1 FC Akita Cambiare 24 (+18)
2 Mizusawa United Club 18 (+12)
3 Tono Club 10 (+6)
4 Vanrarure Hachinohe 10 (-3)
5 Fuji Club 2003 7 (-2)
6 Hokuto Bank 5 (-3)
7 TDK Shinwakai 5 (-17)
8 Aster Aomori 3 (-11)

The top-of-the-table clash in the Kanto League Division 2 on Sunday was won comfortably enough by frontrunners FC Machida Zelvia, 3-1 over the side who had emerged as their nearest challengers, Furukawa Electrics Chiba. But this caps a disastrous last two rounds for Furukawa, who a week ago went down 5-2 to Hitachi Tochigi Uva - and these two results, combined with Hitachi's stroll past Nirasaki Astros, sees Furukawa slip out of the promotion places and down to third. Changes too at the bottom, where All Kamisu SC take a tumble to the foot of the division. Their 2-0 loss at home to Ome FC was their sixth in seven matches, meaning that Aries FC's first win of the season - 3-1 at Kanagawa Teachers - was enough to leapfrog All Kamisu.

Sun 30 Jul: All Kamisu SC 0-2 Ome FC
Sun 30 Jul: FC Machida Zelvia 3-1 Furukawa Electrics Chiba
Sun 30 Jul: Kanagawa Teachers 1-3 Aries FC
Sun 30 Jul: Nirasaki Astros 0-3 Hitachi Tochigi Uva

1 FC Machida Zelvia 26 (+25)
2 Hitachi Tochigi Uva 24 (+13)
3 Furukawa Electrics Chiba 22 (+7)
4 Ome FC 18 (-)
5 Nirasaki Astros 18 (-5)
6 Kanagawa Teachers 11 (-10)
7 Aries FC 8 (-12)
8 All Kamisu SC 6 (-18)

Sunday was the day that the bottom of the Kanto League Division 1 table bit back, the three lowest teams all winning in clashes with their higher-positioned opponents. Shock of the round on paper at least was Hanno Bruder's 2-1 triumph over leaders Yaita SC - only Hanno's second win of the campaign, but Yaita's early season burst of good form is well and truly over and with only five points from their last five matches, they're limping towards the finish line. But Luminozo Sayama were unable to take advantage of another slip-up by their nearest rivals, losing 2-1 at Toho Titanium to remain three points off the pace, while Toho keep a four-point gap between themselves and MSDF Atsugi Marcus in the relegation zone. The sailors from Atsugi managed a good 3-1 victory over Saitama SC and in the fourth fixture of the round, YSCC beat Toshiba Fuchu 3-1 to reclaim third place.



Toho Titanium let Luminozo Sayama get a shot in

Sun 30 Jul: Hanno Bruder 2-1 Yaita SC
Sun 30 Jul: MSDF Atsugi Marcus 3-1 Saitama SC
Sun 30 Jul: Toho Titanium 2-1 Luminozo Sayama
Sun 30 Jul: YSCC 3-1 Toshiba Fuchu

1 Yaita SC 24 (+11)
2 Luminozo Sayama 21 (+10)
3 YSCC 18 (+6)
4 Saitama SC 16 (+4)
5 Toshiba Fuchu 16 (-)
6 Toho Titanium 16 (-10)
7 MSDF Atsugi Marcus 12 (-8)
8 Hanno Bruder 10 (-13)

While V Varen Nagasaki continued their apparently unstoppable progress to the Kyushu League title with a 3-1 win on Saturday over bottom side Kaiho Bank SC, Nippon Steel Oita stole a march in the race for the second spot in the end-of-season play-offs for promotion to the JFL. For Nippon Steel beat New Wave Kitakyushu 4-2 on penalties following a 2-2 draw, to take two points as against New Wave's one, thus meaning that there is now a three-point gap between the pair - with New Wave scheduled to take on V Varen next weekend, in a game they surely cannot afford to lose. Lower down the table, Okinawa Kariyushi gained a predicted 2-1 win against relegation-threatened Nanakuma Tombies, but Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki gained three vital points in their own battle with the drop, as they beat Osumi NIFS United 3-2.



New Wave on the defensive against Nippon Steel

Sat 29 Jul: V Varen Nagasaki 3-1 Kaiho Bank SC

Sun 30 Jul: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki 3-2 Osumi NIFS United
Sun 30 Jul: New Wave Kitakyushu 2-2 Nippon Steel Oita (PK 2-4)
Sun 30 Jul: Okinawa Kariyushi 2-1 Nanakuma Tombies

1 V Varen Nagasaki 37 (+26)
2 Nippon Steel Oita 33 (+25)
3 New Wave Kitakyushu 30 (+17)
4 Volca Kagoshima 27 (+17)
5 Okinawa Kariyushi 24 (+5)
6 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki 12 (-10)
7 Osumi NIFS United 8 (-18)
8 Nanakuma Tombies 5 (-38)
9 Kaiho Bank SC 4 (-24)

第42回全国社会人ｻｯｶｰ選手権大会・四国予選

Sat 29 Jul: Kamatamare Sanuki 6-0 FC Yanagimachi
Sat 29 Jul: Sanyo Electric Tokushima 4-0 Ventana AC
Sat 29 Jul: Nangoku Kochi 5-1 Takamatsu Minami Club
Sat 29 Jul: Alex SC 6-5 Ehime Shimanami

Sun 30 Jul: Kamatamare Sanuki 6-0 Sanyo Electric Tokushima
Sun 30 Jul: Nangoku Kochi 5-0 Alex SC



Kamatamare Sanuki put the Sanyo Tokushima defence under pressure

Kamatamare Sanuki and Nangoku Kochi therefore qualify for the national finals in Akita in October.