Japanese Non-league Football News

It was right down to the wire in the final round of the Hokushinetsu League Division 1 on Sunday, with a head-to-head between Japan Soccer College and reigning title holders Nagano Elsa to decide the destination of this year's championship crown. And it was the students who took it with a 1-0 win, to deny Nagano the opportunity to take anothe crack at a JFL slot; indeed, Elsa even failed to hold on to second place in the division, thanks to neighbours' Matsumoto Yamaga Club's 3-2 defeat of Niigata University of Management. The true disappointments of the season, however, have undoubtedly been Zweigen Kanazawa, whose 2-1 loss at Fervorosa meant they could finish only fourth. Teihens FC are relegated to Division 2, while Ueda Gentian must face a play-off to keep their place in the top division.



The distinctly chirpy-looking Japan Soccer College, Hokushinetsu League champions

Sun 10 Sep: Fervorosa 2-1 Zweigen Kanazawa
Sun 10 Sep: Japan Soccer College 1-0 Nagano Elsa
Sun 10 Sep: Matsumoto Yamaga Club 3-2 Niigata University of Management
Sun 10 Sep: Ueda Gentian 4-0 Teihens FC

1 Japan Soccer College 35 (+33)
2 Matsumoto Yamaga Club 34 (+24)
3 Nagano Elsa 33 (+43)
4 Zweigen Kanazawa 21 (+21)
5 Fervorosa 14 (-9)
6 Niigata University of Management 11 (-33)
7 Ueda Gentian 10 (-25)
8 Teihens FC 2 (-54)



Pick that one out! Fervorosa go one up against Zweigen

Two games over one weekend in Nagasaki wound up the 2006 Kyushu League season, but with the local big guns of V Varen Nagasaki already crowned champions and Nippon Steel Oita 99% certain to follow them into the Regional League Championship Winners' Play-off, there wasn't in truth a whole lot to play for. V Varen eased to a 3-1 win over Volca Kagoshima on Saturday, but then rather blotted their season's copybook when they lost for the first time this year against Nippon Steel the following day. All of which left New Wave Kitakyushu to finish strongly in third, a standing that must ultimately rank as a disappointment considering the level of investment that went into the club pre-season.

It's not clear what will happen at the bottom of the table just at present as far as relegation is concerned, but it can probably be fairly safely assumed that the Okinawans of Kaiho Bank SC won't be playing Regional level football next year, despite rounding off the season with a win over Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki. The former Fukuoka University students of Nanakuma Tombies have to some extent been the whipping boys of the league in 2006 and conceded another twelve goals over the weekend to finish a point ahead of Kaiho. Mitsubishi Nagasaki meanwhile dropped to third bottom as a consequence of their two defeats, to be overtaken by Osumi NIFS United.



Nanakuma Tombies concede against New Wave Kitakyushu

Sat 09 Sep: Kaiho Bank SC 1-4 Osumi NIFS United
Sat 09 Sep: New Wave Kitakyushu 6-3 Nanakuma Tombies
Sat 09 Sep: Okinawa Kariyushi 3-1 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki
Sat 09 Sep: V Varen Nagasaki 3-1 Volca Kagoshima

Sun 10 Sep: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki 1-3 Kaiho Bank SC
Sun 10 Sep: Nanakuma Tombies 1-6 Volca Kagoshima
Sun 10 Sep: Nippon Steel Oita 2-1 V Varen Nagasaki
Sun 10 Sep: Osumi NIFS United 2-6 New Wave Kitakyushu

1 V Varen Nagasaki 43 (+30)
2 Nippon Steel Oita 39 (+26)
3 New Wave Kitakyushu 36 (+22)
4 Volca Kagoshima 30 (+17)
5 Okinawa Kariyushi 27 (+3)
6 Osumi NIFS United 14 (-15)
7 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki 12 (-14)
8 Nanakuma Tombies 8 (-43)
9 Kaiho Bank SC 7 (-28)

The Hokkaido League staged a double-header of fixtures over the weekend and with now only one match remaining, Norbritz Hokkaido have reclaimed the title. Their 3-0 defeat of closest challengers Barefoot Hokkaido on Saturday did the trick, a draw against Sapporo Football Group on Sunday meaning that the Hokkaido Electric Power company side are now six points clear at the top. But while Barefoot and Sapporo are left to fight it out for second place - and ACSC Asahikawa are definitely relegated - the relegation play-off that comes with a seventh place finish is up for grabs. At the moment it looks as if Toyota Motors Hokkaido's recent slump might mean that they end up in the same position as last year, as they picked up just a single point from the two weekend games. The other contenders are Thank FC from Kuriyama and first timers at this level of football Tokachi Fairsky, who both picked up valuable wins on Saturday and may just squeeze to safety as a result.



Norbritz Hokkaido line up to celebrate their Hokkaido League title win

Sat 09 Sep: Barefoot Hokkaido 0-3 Norbritz Hokkaido
Sat 09 Sep: Sapporo Football Group 4-2 ACSC Asahikawa
Sat 09 Sep: Thank FC 3-2 Blackpecker Hakodate
Sat 09 Sep: Toyota Motors Hokkaido 1-4 Tokachi Fairsky

Sun 10 Sep: ACSC Asahikawa 0-5 Blackpecker Hakodate
Sun 10 Sep: Barefoot Hokkaido 0-0 Toyota Motors Hokkaido
Sun 10 Sep: Norbritz Hokkaido 1-1 Sapporo Football Group
Sun 10 Sep: Tokachi Fairsky 1-1 Thank FC

1 Norbritz Hokkaido 30 (+30)
2 Barefoot Hokkaido 24 (+2)
3 Sapporo Football Group 23 (+15)
4 Blackpecker Hakodate 18 (+2)
5 Tokachi Fairsky 16 (-6)
6 Thank FC 15 (-1)
7 Toyota Motors Hokkaido 15 (-12)
8 ACSC Asahikawa 5 (-30)



Sapporo FC on the attack against ACSC Asahikawa