Japanese Non-league Football News

The 2005 All-Japan Shakaijin knock-out tournament took place in the middle of October, with five rounds being played on five consecutive days in the middle of the month in Hyogo prefecture, central Japan. The competition ended in something of a surprising fashion with exhausted finalists Rosso Kumamoto and fellow Kyushu League side Nippon Steel Oita sharing the trophy after a 2-2 draw, when it had previously been announced that a penalty shoot-out would be used if the teams finished level.



Rosso Kumamoto celebrate their All-Japan Shakaijin win... well, joint win

That quirk aside, however, what was notable about Shakaijin this year was the extent to which it provided a dress rehearsal for the Regional League Championship Winners’ Play-offs at the end of November, which decide promotion to the JFL. Aside from Rosso, it’s probably Banditonce Kobe who came away from Hyogo feeling altogether better about themselves – outsiders, perhaps, as far as reaching the JFL is concerned, but nevertheless a team that succeeded in reaching the semi-finals of Shakaijin and, once there, gave Rosso a real run for their money in a 4-3 thriller. TDK Akita also impressed in beating both Kanazawa SC and Shizuoka FC, results which suggested that they too will have to be taken seriously as contenders for the play-offs.



Tokyo League side FC Machida Zelvia

But as well as offering a glimpse of the short-term future of the Japanese non-league game, the competition brought to the fore two clubs currently competing at prefectural level, but who are very definitely aiming to be involved in the spread of professional football over the next few years. FC Machida Zelvia have subsequently gone on to win this year's Tokyo Prefectural League and will be seeking to make the move up the ladder to membership of the Kanto League for 2006 - but at Shakaijin, they pulled off the shock of the tournament in beating experienced Kansai League outfit Ain Food 3-1 in the First Round, before being edged out the next day by TDK Akita on penalties after a goalless draw. Not quite as well backed but still a team to keep an eye on are FC Central Chugoku from Shimane prefecture towards the southern end of Honshu, who despite ultimately being eliminated by surprise package Hannan University had previously managed to overcome Nippon Steel Kamaishi from the Tohoku League.



Scorer for FC Central Chugoku against Nippon Steel Kamaishi, it's Takashi Shoji

All-Japan Shakaijin Round One - 15 Oct 05

Rosso Kumamoto 2-0 Sagawa Kyubin Kyoto
Norbritz Hokkaido 4-0 Honda Suzuka
Chukyo University 1-2 New Wave Kitakyushu
Sanyo Electric Sumoto 4-1 Ome FC Diego
Nippon Steel Kamaishi 1-1 FC Central Chugoku (PK 2-4)
Takamatsu FC 0-2 Japan Soccer College
Banditonce Kobe 6-0 FC Fighters
Hannan University 3-1 Furukawa Chiba
YSCC 2-4 FC Ryukyu
Shizuoka FC 3-2 Kobe FC 1970
TDK Akita 4-0 Kanazawa SC
FC Machida Zelvia 3-1 Ain Food
Takada FC 0-0 Hitachi Tochigi (PK 4-2)
Nippon Steel Oita 7-0 West Sagawa Kyubin
Sagawa Kyubin Chugoku 2-1 Yazaki Valente
Nangoku Kochi 2-1 Toho Titanium


Round Two - 16 Oct 05

Rosso Kumamoto 3-0 Norbritz Hokkaido
New Wave Kitakyushu 1-1 Sanyo Electric Sumoto (PK 2-4)
Japan Soccer College 0-1 Banditonce Kobe
Hannan University 4-1 FC Central Chugoku
FC Ryukyu 1-1 Shizuoka FC (PK 4-5)
TDK Akita 0-0 FC Machida Zelvia (PK 4-3)
Takada FC 0-7 Nippon Steel Oita
Sagawa Kyubin Chugoku 5-5 Nangoku Kochi (PK 0-3)



Shizuoka FC in white overcome FC Ryukyu in their penalty shoot-out

Round Three - 17 Oct 05

Rosso Kumamoto 5-0 Sanyo Electric Sumoto
Banditonce Kobe 4-0 Hannan University
Shizuoka FC 0-2 TDK Akita
Nippon Steel Oita 3-0 Nangoku Kochi


Semi-final - 18 Oct 05

Rosso Kumamoto 4-3 Banditonce Kobe
TDK Akita 1-1 Nippon Steel Oita (2-4 PK)


Final - 19 Oct 05

Rosso Kumamoto 2-2 Nippon Steel Oita AET, title shared