Japanese Non-league Football News

Putting aside for one moment the trifling fact that they have failed to acclimatise in the JFL following promotion from the Kyushu League at the end of 2005, FC Ryukyu have nevertheless announced their intention to apply for J-League associate membership during 2007. Regular readers of these pages will be aware that acceptance of such an application by the J-League is a necessary step in achieving promotion for any of the ambitious clubs currently populating the upper reaches of the semi-pro game in Japan - Rosso Kumamoto recently became associate members, while Tochigi SC were invited to re-apply in November. A further part of Ryukyu's application is likely to be their intention to develop a 10,000 capacity football-only stadium.



FC Ryukyu’s proposed new ground. Well, a model of it, obviously

Chasing runaway Tohoku League Division 2 (North) leaders FC Akita Cambiare in the solitary fixture on Sunday, the wheels of Mizusawa United Club's season came crashing off in totally unexpected fashion as they went down to a 3-1 defeat at the hands of mid-table Hokuto Bank. This brought to an end Mizusawa's four-game winning run and leaves them nine points behind Cambiare with no more games in hand.

Sun 27 Aug: Mizusawa United Club 1-3 Hokuto Bank

1 FC Akita Cambiare 27 (+21)
2 Mizusawa United Club 18 (+10)
3 Tono Club 13 (+11)
4 Hokuto Bank 11 (-1)
5 Vanraure Hachinohe 10 (-8)
6 Fuji Club 2003 7 (-2)
7 TDK Shinwakai 5 (-20)
8 Aster Aomori 3 (-11)

After a month's break the Hokkaido League returned to action at the weekend with Round 11 of this season's fixtures - and leaders Norbritz Hokkaido found themselves held to a shock goalless draw by strugglers Tokachi Fairsky. This enabled Barefoot Hokkaido to close the gap to three points following a vital 3-2 win at Sapporo Football Group, with Barefoot and Norbritz scheduled to meet head-to-head in the next match on 9th September. It was also a vital point for Tokachi in their fight to avoid relegation, though, as it kept the Regional League newcomers a point above the play-off place that is currently occupied by Thank FC, who could only pick up a draw at bottom place ACSC Asahikawa. The other match was a mid-table affair between Blackpecker Hakodate and Toyota Motors Hokkaido, Blackpecker managing a 2-0 win to break a run of four consecutive defeats.



Norbritz and Tokachi see out a 0-0 draw under blue Hokkaido skies

Sun 27 Aug: ACSC Asahikawa 3-3 Thank FC
Sun 27 Aug: Blackpecker Hakodate 2-0 Toyota Motors Hokkaido
Sun 27 Aug: Norbritz Hokkaido 0-0 Tokachi Fairsky
Sun 27 Aug: Sapporo Football Group 2-3 Barefoot Hokkaido

1 Norbritz Hokkaido 26 (+27)
2 Barefoot Hokkaido 23 (+5)
3 Sapporo Football Group 19 (+13)
4 Blackpecker Hakodate 15 (-2)
5 Toyota Motors Hokkaido 14 (-9)
6 Tokachi Fairsky 12 (-9)
7 Thank FC 11 (-2)
8 ACSC Asahikawa 5 (-23)



Barefoot Hokkaido in red on the way to victory over Sapporo