Japanese Non-league Football News

The Kyushu League season is now heading for a thrilling climax in the final double header of the year in Kitakyushu at the end of the October. New Wave Kitakyushu might be in second place now, but they are arguably favourites given that their last two matches are against lower teams, whereas their nearest rivals Honda Lock and V Varen Nagasaki must play each other in the last game. And this potential advantage for New Wave came about as they beat current leaders Lock 3-1 on penalties after a 1-1 draw, meaning under local rules that they pick up two points to Lock's one.

V Varen, meanwhile, were winning 2-0 at Nippon Steel Oita to close the gap in third place - and with a superior goal difference, they cannot yet be discounted. With Nippon Steel safe in fourth, Okinawa Kariyushi remain one place behind them after a local derby defeat of Kaiho Bank SC, while Volca Kagoshima are also mid-table following their 4-1 win over Kumamoto Teachers. Still rooted to the foot of the table, however, are Nanakuma Tombies, 6-0 losers to Osumi NIFS United.

Sun 09 Sep: Kaiho Bank SC 2-5 Okinawa Kariyushi
Sun 09 Sep: Kumamoto Teachers 1-4 Volca Kagoshima
Sun 09 Sep: Nanakuma Tombies 0-6 Osumi NIFS United
Sun 09 Sep: New Wave Kitakyushu 1-1 Honda Lock (PK 3-1)
Sun 09 Sep: Nippon Steel Oita 0-2 V Varen Nagasaki

1. Honda Lock 49 (+56)
2. New Wave Kitakyushu 48 (+43)
3. V Varen Nagasaki 47 (+61)
4. Nippon Steel Oita 34 (+13)
5. Okinawa Kariyushi 27 (+2)
6. Volca Kagoshima 27 (-3)
7. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki 22 (-22)
8. Osumi NIFS United 19 (-13)
9. Kaiho Bank SC 12 (-53)
10. Kumamoto Teachers 6 (-36)
11. Nanakuma Tombies 3 (-64)

Promoted from Division 2 of the Kanto League at the first attempt are Ryutsu Keizai University reserves - or Club Dragons, to give them their proper name - who celebrated their title by beating Yonoshukonkai 4-2 in the last match of the season on Sunday. Moving up with them will be MSDF Atsugi Marcus, who rounded off their year with a 4-4 draw at Hanno Bruder. Relegated back to the Prefectural Leagues are Nirasaki Astros and Ome FC, who both concluded the campaign with a win against Furukawa Electrics Chiba and Kanagawa Teachers respectively.

Sun 09 Sep: Club Dragons 4-2 Yonoshukonkai
Sun 09 Sep: Hanno Bruder 4-4 MSDF Atsugi Marcus
Sun 09 Sep: Nirasaki Astros 4-2 Furukawa Electrics Chiba
Sun 09 Sep: Ome FC 3-2 Kanagawa Teachers

1. Club Dragons 32 (+31)
2. MSDF Atsugi Marcus 27 (+14)
3. Hanno Bruder 21 (+10)
4. Furukawa Electrics Chiba 20 (-4)
5. Yonoshukonkai 16 (-6)
6. Kanagawa Teachers 14 (-5)
7. Ome FC 13 (-11)
8. Nirasaki Astros 10 (-29)

It was runners-up Hitachi Tochigi Uva who spoiled the party for Kanto League Division 1 champions FC Machida Zelvia in the final game of the season on Sunday, inflicting upon Machida their first defeat of the year with a 1-0 win. Luminozo Sayama finished third in spite of a 2-1 loss at home to last year's champions YSCC, while the relegated sides are Yaita SC - who drew at Saitama SC - and Toshiba Fuchu, 2-1 winners over Toho Titanium.

Sun 09 Sep: FC Machida Zelvia 0-1 Hitachi Tochigi Uva
Sun 09 Sep: Luminozo Sayama 1-2 YSCC
Sun 09 Sep: Saitama SC 0-0 Yaita SC
Sun 09 Sep: Toshiba Fuchu 2-1 Toho Titanium

1. FC Machida Zelvia 37 (+26)
2. Hitachi Tochigi Uva 27 (+16)
3. Luminozo Sayama 20 (-4)
4. YSCC 19 (-)
5. Toho Titanium 18 (-7)
6. Saitama SC 15 (-6)
7. Toshiba Fuchu 14 (-3)
8. Yaita SC 10 (-22)

Granscena Niigata sealed promotion from Division 2 of the Hokushinetsu League in the final round of matches on Sunday, their 2-0 defeat of Maruoka Phoenix being the team's ninth win in ten games since May. Ambitious Saurcos Fukui will take on Niigata University of Management in the play-offs, although they brought to an end their run of three consecutive losses with a 2-0 win over Teihens FC. Toyama Shinjo Club are relegated to their local Prefectural League despite drawing 2-2 with FC Antelope Shiojiri, and Ohara School JaSRA completed a good first season at Regional level with a 4-0 victory at CUPS Niigata.

Sun 09 Sep: CUPS Niigata 0-4 Ohara School JaSRA
Sun 09 Sep: Granscena Niigata 2-0 Maruoka Phoenix
Sun 09 Sep: Teihens FC 0-2 Saurcos Fukui
Sun 09 Sep: Toyama Shinjo Club 2-2 FC Antelope Shiojiri

1. Granscena Niigata 31 (+9)
2. Saurcos Fukui 28 (+13)
3. Ohara School JaSRA 26 (+11)
4. FC Antelope Shiojiri 23 (+5)
5. CUPS Niigata 20 (-1)
6. Maruoka Phoenix 15 (+2)
7. Teihens FC 12 (-14)
8. Toyama Shinjo Club 5 (-35)

Matsumoto Yamaga Club took the title in Division 1 of the Hokushinetsu League on Sunday, thanks to a 2-2 draw at reigning champions Japan Soccer College. This enabled Yamaga to pip their near neighbours AC Nagano Parceiro on goal difference, despite the latter's 4-1 defeat of Zweigen Kanazawa. Niigata University of Management did their best to stay out of the relegation play-offs with a 4-2 win over a Fervorosa side who are releasing large numbers of players at present, but the fact that Valiente Toyama beat relegated Ueda Gentian means that the students will indeed have to play off in order to remain in the top flight.

Sun 09 Sep: AC Nagano Parceiro 4-1 Zweigen Kanazawa
Sun 09 Sep: Japan Soccer College 2-2 Matsumoto Yamaga Club
Sun 09 Sep: Niigata University of Management 4-2 Fervorosa
Sun 09 Sep: Ueda Gentian 0-3 Valiente Toyama

1. Matsumoto Yamaga Club 31 (+32)
2. AC Nagano Parceiro 31 (+17)
3. Japan Soccer College 29 (+24)
4. Zweigen Kanazawa 27 (+19)
5. Fervorosa 24 (+14)
6. Valiente Toyama 10 (-16)
7. Niigata University of Management 9 (-44)
8. Ueda Gentian 2 (-46)

There was a double header of fixtures over the weekend in the Hokkaido League, the chief outcome being that local top dogs Norbritz Hokkaido have confirmed their 2007 title win. With one game remaining, the former Hokkaido Electric Power side have won all thirteen matches so far this year, including 5-0 and 4-1 wins over Sapporo Winds and Sapporo FC respectively. In fact it was a bad weekend all round for Winds, in that as well as their heavy loss to Norbritz, they also went down 4-1 to Toyota Motors Hokkaido, taking something of a shine off what has been an excellent season for them following promotion.

If everything is sorted out at the top of the table, things could scarcely be tighter, though, at the bottom. Tokachifairsky Genesis have sunk to the foot of the standings after losing to Sapporo FC and Hokushukai, although any of that trio could find themselves in the Block Leagues next year. Blackpecker Hakodate are not out of the woods yet either, despite beating Toyota Motors Hokkaido and a draw at Barefoot Hokkaido.

Sat 08 Sep: Hokushukai 1-3 Barefoot Hokkaido
Sat 08 Sep: Sapporo FC 3-1 Tokachifairsky Genesis
Sat 08 Sep: Sapporo Winds 0-5 Norbritz Hokkaido
Sat 08 Sep: Toyota Motors Hokkaido 1-4 Blackpecker Hakodate

Sun 09 Sep: Barefoot Hokkaido 3-3 Blackpecker Hakodate
Sun 09 Sep: Hokushukai 4-3 Tokachifairsky Genesis
Sun 09 Sep: Norbritz Hokkaido 4-1 Sapporo FC
Sun 09 Sep: Toyota Motors Hokkaido 4-1 Sapporo Winds

1. Norbritz Hokkaido 39 (+52)
2. Sapporo Winds 28 (+14)
3. Barefoot Hokkaido 20 (+3)
4. Toyota Motors Hokkaido 17 (-6)
5. Blackpecker Hakodate 12 (-11)
6. Hokushukai 12 (-21)
7. Sapporo FC 11 (-14)
8. Tokachifairsky Genesis 10 (-17)