Japanese Non-league Football News

FC Antelope Shiojiri are the only team in Division 2 of the Hokushinetsu League to have defeated frontrunner Saurcos Fukui this season - and their 2-1 win on Sunday means that they've done it twice, following on from a 1-0 victory in round two in the middle of April. This enables Antelope to remain in touch with the two automatic promotion places, although Granscena Niigata still seems the most likely side to challenge Saurcos for the title.

Granscena managed their sixth consecutive win to beat likely relegation candidates Toyama Shinjo Club and now lie just a point behind Saurcos with three games to go (the two play each other next weekend). In danger of joining Shinjo in the Prefectural leagues next year are Maruoka Phoenix, losers at CUPS Niigata, while Teihens FC's slump continued as they went down 6-0 at Ohara School JaSRA.



Yet another shocker of a photo of Granscena Niigata

Sun 24 Jun: CUPS Niigata 2-0 Maruoka Phoenix
Sun 24 Jun: FC Antelope Shiojiri 2-1 Saurcos Fukui
Sun 24 Jun: Ohara School JaSRA 6-0 Teihens FC
Sun 24 Jun: Toyama Shinjo Club 1-2 Granscena Niigata

1. Saurcos Fukui 25 (+16)
2. Granscena Niigata 24 (+14)
3. FC Antelope Shiojiri 21 (+7)
4. Ohara School JaSRA 19 (+6)
5. CUPS Niigata 14 (-3)
6. Teihens FC 11 (-9)
7. Maruoka Phoenix 9 (-1)
8. Toyama Shinjo Club 4 (-30)

Fervorosa may be out of the hunt for the Hokushinetsu League Division 1 title, but they can still cause a considerable amount of difficulty for the teams still hoping to take on the crown from 2006 winners Japan Soccer College. For the Ishikawa prefecture side pulled off a remarkable 4-1 over Matsumoto Yamaga Club, which ultimately caused Yamaga to drop out of the top two in the standings - thereby raising huge doubts over whether or not they can hope to gain a place in the promotion Play-offs at the end of the year.

Moving into second above their neighbours from Matsumoto are AC Nagano Parceiro, who beat Niigata University of Management, while Zweigen Kanazawa still cannot be discounted after thrashing relegation favourites Ueda Gentian 9-0. But holding on to top spot and hoping that they can retain their title are Japan Soccer College, for whom their 8-0 drubbing of Valiente Toyama was their sixth consecutive win.



Party time in the rain for Fervorosa

Sun 24 Jun: Fervorosa 4-1 Matsumoto Yamaga Club
Sun 24 Jun: Niigata University of Management 0-2 AC Nagano Parceiro
Sun 24 Jun: Ueda Gentian 0-9 Zweigen Kanazawa
Sun 24 Jun: Valiente Toyama 0-8 Japan Soccer College

1. Japan Soccer College 28 (+26)
2. AC Nagano Parceiro 25 (+16)
3. Matsumoto Yamaga Club 24 (+28)
4. Zweigen Kanazawa 24 (+22)
5. Fervorosa 18 (+12)
6. Valiente Toyama 6 (-18)
7. Niigata University of Management 4 (-46)
8. Ueda Gentian 1 (-40)



Ueda Gentian try desperately to keep out Zweigen Kanazawa

Just two games were staged in the Chugoku League this weekend, with a day off for leaders Fagiano Okayama. But FC Central Chugoku took the opportunity to close the gap between themselves and Fagiano to a trifling twelve points as they squeezed past Mazda SC by the odd goal in five. Sagawa Kyubin Chugoku were hot favourites to maintain their own push for second place, but sensationally fell to a 2-1 defeat at Yamaguchi prefecture's lowly Hitachi Manufacturing Kasado.

Sun 24 Jun: FC Central Chugoku 3-2 Mazda SC
Sun 24 Jun: Hitachi Manufacturing Kasado 2-1 Sagawa Kyubin Chugoku

1. Fagiano Okayama 33 (+62)
2. FC Central Chugoku 21 (+12)
3. Sagawa Kyubin Chugoku 18 (+10)
4. Renofa Yamaguchi 18 (-4)
5. Hiroshima Fujita SC 11 (-7)
6. Mazda SC 8 (-16)
7. JFE Steel Western Japan 7 (-24)
8. Hitachi Manufacturing Kasado 6 (-41)