Japanese Non-league Football News

FC Ube Yahhh-man from Yamaguchi and Okayama's NTN Okayama have gained promotion to the Chugoku League for the 2008 season. The two clubs made their way to the final of the Prefectural Leagues Play-off tournament that was staged in Okayama over last weekend. Both sides have been amongst the strongest teams in their local prefectures for a number of seasons, but had previously failed to negotiate the play-offs; they will now hope that they can make the step up to playing Regional League football. Below is a full list of participants and results from the play-off competition.

Participants

FC Ube Yahhh-man ＦＣ宇部ヤーマン (Yamaguchi)
Fuji Xerox Hiroshima 富士ゼロックス広島 (Hiroshima)
Genki SC 元気ＳＣ (Tottori)
Hamada FC Cosmos 浜田ＦＣコスモス (Shimane)
Hiroshima Teachers 広島教員 (Hiroshima)
Iwakuni SC 岩国ＳＣ (Yamaguchi)
Iwami FC 石見ＦＣ (Shimane)
Kibi International Industry 吉備国際工華 (Okayama)
NTN Okayama ＮＴＮ岡山 (Okayama)
Tottori KFC 鳥取ＫＦＣ (Tottori)

Preliminary Round

Sat 10 Nov: Hamada FC Cosmos 1-1 Hiroshima Teachers (PK 5-6)
Sat 10 Nov: Kibi International Industry 2-0 Iwami FC

First Round

Sun 11 Nov: FC Ube Yahhh-man 4-1 Genki SC
Sun 11 Nov: Fuji Xerox Hiroshima 0-1 Kibi International Industry
Sun 11 Nov: Hamada FC Cosmos 0-0 Tottori KFC (PK 2-4)
Sun 11 Nov: NTN Okayama 7-1 Iwakuni SC

Semi-Finals

Mon 12 Nov: FC Ube Yahhh-man 1-0 Kibi International Industry
Mon 12 Nov: Tottori KFC 1-3 NTN Okayama

Final

Mon 12 Nov: NTN Okayama 2-0 FC Ube Yahhh-man