Japanese Non-league Football News

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)