Great Kagoshima win today at home against Yokogawa Musashino 4-0 in front of over 3500 people more than any j3 match today. Also Numazu won surprisingly against Sagawa Printing 2-1 at home in front of 1.872 people. It was considered by most Yamaguchi fans being a negative surprise that they only could muster 2.200 people at home. Hachinohe home game cancelled because of heavy snow. Kagoshima seems to be a top 4 team this season and a good bet for J3 if they can get the paper work done. btw. interesting fact Maruyasu played today in Toyota stadium while Grampus played in Mizuho stadium.
Tohoku regional Leagues started today. Reinmeer Aomori losing 3-0 to Ganju Iwate. Cobaltore Onagawa 7-1 Merry Fukushima
Starting from today I will publish a brief weekly recap of what is going on in the Regional Leagues. Last weekend: The Tohoku Division 1 was the first regional league to start its 2014 campaign, with two games played on Sunday. The remaining three games have been rescheduled to an unknown date. Newly promoted teams Rein Meer Aomori and Merry got a tough reality check after suffering defeats against Ganju Iwate (3-0) and Cobaltore Onagawa (7-1) respectively. It was a somewhat disappointing result for Rein Meer, which is aiming to become Aomori city's J.League team, while Ganju and Cobaltore are likely to battle for this season's title after Vanraure and Grulla were promoted at the end of last season. Next weekend: The Tohoku league will be the only active one for another weekend. Cobaltore will challenge Rein Meer, while Ganju will play against Shiogama NTFC Wiese. Merry will try to recover from its huge loss against Fuji Club 2003, while the two completely "new" pairings will be Akita FC Cambiare - FC Primeiro and Bandits Iwaki - Morioka Zebra.
Also to take in note that if Cobaltore Onagawa wins the tohoku title they will likely not play in regional playoffs.
That's a real shame though, they drew 400 people to yesterday's match. Of course people in Onagawa probably have to save money for things more important than soccer, but the iconic role the team has played after the 2011 tsunami makes it impossible to hate them.
Exactly but thats also the reason why to not participate in the regional playoffs if they wins. Which is a shame since we are then down to the situation that Ganju already more or less sure to play at the regional playoffs.
There's also a very interesting club in the Tohoku D2 North league -- Blancdieu Hirosaki. Last year they were the only ones in the division who have reported exact attendance down to one person, which I consider a sign of professionalism. And their attendances were even better than Reinmeer's -- if Aomori club averaged mere 156 people per game, Hirosaki lads managed to bring in about 190. And if we don't take into account three games on the "home" stadiums that were located very far from club's actual hometown, their average will raise to almost 250 peeps!
Aomori is a baseball city. But yes its interesting because Hirosaki, Aomori and Hachinohe all 3 are equal size. Hachinohe is basically an Iwate city (being the old capital for the Nambu clan before Morioka), Hirosaki being the enemy Tsugaru clans capital, Aomori being the...... erh......... the city to point as prefectural capital instead of the 2 rivalling. However I wonder if Aomori is big enough for all 3 teams.
Weekly recap #2 Last week: Once again, Tohoku's first division was the only one on the field. Ganju Iwate and Cobaltore won again, and their high-scoring results suggest that they are the favourite for the champions crown: Cobaltore won against Rein Meer (4-2) while Ganju thrashed Shiogama NTFC Wiese with a remarkable 8-0. Rein Meer's fellow newly promoted side Merry lost its second game in a row as well, although with a less dramatic score- a narrow 1-0 at home against Fuji Club 2003. Morioka Zebra lost by the same scoreline against Bandits Iwaki, while the remaining matchup ended up in a 1-1 draw between Akita Cambiare and Primeiro. Next week: Five more leagues will kick off next week, while folks in Tohoku will be back on the pitch for the 3rd matchday. Most leagues are structured in a way that the highest ranked teams from last season play the lowest ranked, so there might be some huge scores on the way! The Shikoku League kicks off on Sunday- all games will be held in Kochi. Defending champions FC Imabari will be playing against Minami Club, which has been narrowly escaping relegation for a few seasons; the Kochi trio will play three different games- in other words, no derby is scheduled. Igosso (formerly Nangoku Kochi) gets rookie Nakamura Club, while Llamas and Torastar will probably have a harder debut as they are scheduled to play R.Velho and Tadotsu FC respectively. Both the Kyushu and the Chugoku league will play two games over the weekend, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. In Kyushu, the now-merged Kagoshima teams have left a void which has been filled by United's reserve team, Fukuoka University's Nanakuma Tombins and Miyazaki's MSU FC, back to the Kyu League after a one-year absence. Volca and FC Kagoshima used to dominate the scene in recent years, but things were balanced behind them- none of the contenders is probably JFL material, but there should be a closely fought rush to the title this season. Highlights of the weekend include the Mitsubishi derby on Saturday, while the Sunday clash between Mitsubishi Nagasaki and Okinawa Kaiho Bank might be the most interesting feature table-wise. In Chugoku, both Renofa Yamaguchi and FagiNext were promoted to JFL, hence Dezzolla Shimane should have an easy task on paper- I say should because their pre-season results have been far from exciting, and their neighbours Matsue City might actually be a better prospect for the 2014 title, although probably not JFL material yet. This season also marks the return to the Regional Leagues of Ube Yahh-Man, whose name pretty much says it all- a club you HAVE to love. All the games will be played in Yamaguchi; Dezzolla and Matsue get to play the same two teams (Hitachi Kasado and Ube), so we may get a good hint of what next season holds for the Shimane teams. Kanto League's two divisions will kick off as well, and it's going to start with a blast as last season's winner and runner-up will immediately get tested by the ambitious rookies from Chiba prefecture: FC Korea will play against VONDS Ichihara, a club with J.League ambitions, while Vertfee Takahara Nasu will host last season's Divison 2 dominators Urayasu SC. Tonan Maebashi, another J.League bound team, will host Saitama SC, while the two remaining games are set to be played in Tokyo: Aries will play the derby against Hitachi Building Systems, and Tokyo 23 FC will try to re-gain the momentum they lost last year against Ryutsu Keizai University. In the second division, last year's Shakajin surprise package Joyful Honda Tsukuba will play against recently relegated Toho Titanium. The other pairings see Atsugi Marcus vs Nihon Kogakuin F-Marinos, Kanagawa Teachers vs Taisei Sakado, Tonan Maebashi Satellite vs Club Dragons and Yokohama Takeru vs Tokyo Marine Nichido. Last but not least, the Hokushinetsu league will kick off as well, though it's only going to be one game: Week 7's Nagano derby between Antelope Shiojiri and Artista Tomi has been rescheduled to Saturday. In Tohoku, table leaders Ganju Iwate will play the derby against Morioka Zebra, while their colleagues Cobaltore Onagawa will meet FC Primeiro. Merry will meet Shiogama NTFC Wiese; points from this game might come handy later in the season, as both teams share the negative record for goals conceded (8). Fuji Club will have its home debut against Bandits Iwaki, while Rein Meer Aomori will seek its first points from Akita FC Cambiare.
Dont count on Dezzola Shimane this year, they look like a club thats has collapsed. Around New Year their GM died and that died, and that meant plans with economy and new players and keeping old players dissapeared. Most of the existing squad ran away to other clubs so out of the 27 players on the roster on 7 stayed. They managed to scrape some players together put they havent really announced anything about them until a week ago. Also several of the players on the 2014 roster are also club coaches (which it wasnt before). It hasnt helped them that the local Shoyu Company which not only was the mainsponsor but also accomodated the club offices has pulled out Matsue on other hand has aquired som really decent players most famous is the person called Mr. Gainare mr. Sanenobu, whether Matsue City has enough power to become Chugoku League champions are a question, however Dezzola Shimane is out the championship race, I would even say they can risk relegation this season if everything goes wrong.
Weekly Update #2 and a half Forgot the Tohoku League's 2nd division, which kicks off next Sunday as well. Newcomers Tozawa SC and Toroku Nostalgia take on the Sendai duo- Sendai Nakata and Sendai Sasuke respectively, which ended last season in 2nd and 3rd place. Soma SC will host prefectural rivals Scheinen Fukushima, while Parafrente Yonezawa will play Marisol Matsushima. The Iwaki derby between Iwaki Furukawa and Kureha Soccer Club has been postponed to August.
Late weekly report! LAST WEEK Tohoku D1: Ganju and Cobaltore keep sharing the top of the league, although with opposite performances: the Morioka guys demolished Zebra with a stunning 9-0 win, while Cobaltore only scored one goal against Primeiro. Merry and Rein Meer met their first wins, with strong showing against Shiogama Wiese (4-0) and Akita Cambiare (4-1) respectively; in the remaining fixture, Fuji Club won its second consecutive game against Bandits Iwaki (2-1) Tohoku D2S: The Sendai duo debuted with a strong performance, as easily predictable: Sasuke won 5-2 against Toroku Nostalgia, while Nakata defeated Tozawa by 4-2. Soma won the Fukushima derby against Scheinen with a 2-1 score, while Parafrente-Marysol ended with a 1-1 draw. Kanto D1: the Kanto League kicked off in a very balanced fashion- three games ended with a draw, and the remaining two had relatively narrow scorelines. Vonds Ichihara sent a big message by defeating defending champions FC Korea with a 2-0 result, while Tonan Maebashi only managed to score after 89', earning three points from Saitama SC. The big match between Vertfee and Urayasu as well as the Tokyo derby between Aries and Hitachi Builsys ended with a 1-1 draw, while Tokyo 23-Ryutsu Keizai University remained scoreless. Kanto D2: the second division was even more balanced, with four games out of five ending with the teams splitting points. The only team to emerge victorious was Joyful Honda Tsukuba, which defeated Toho Titanium with a 3-1 scoreline. Tonan Satellite-Club Dragons and Kanagawa Teachers-Taisei Sakado both ended 2-2, while Atsugi Marcus-Nihon Kogakuin F Marinos and Yokohama Takeru-Tokio Marine ended 1-1. Hokushinetsu: Only an appetizer was played on Saturday, as the Week 7 between Artista Tomi and Antelope Shiojiri game took place roughly two months earlier than scheduled. Looks like it was a tense game, as it ended 3-2 in Ante's favour after Artista took the lead twice- the game was solved by a PK deep into injury time. The attendance was over 300 people for this game! Chugoku: the first two matchdays were played between Saturday and Sunday, with all games hosted in Yamaguchi. As Lupin stated, there were concerns about J.League hopefuls Dezzolla Shimane, which may encounter a troubled season; however, they earned six points from the two newly promoted sides, Hitachi Kasado (1-0) and Ube Yahhh-Man (5-2). Their crosstown rivals Matsue City kept their pace playing the same two teams and defeating them with 2-0 and 3-0 scorelines. The only other team with two wins from the first two games is SRC Hiroshima, an estabilished team which has been around for quite a while but never managed exciting results. Shikoku: everything went according to plans as Imabari and the Kochi trio won their games easily; Imabari defeated Minami with a 5-0 scoreline, both Igosso-Nakamura and Torastar-Tadotsu ended 6-1, while Llamas “only” beat R.Velho by 4-0. Furtho's blog reports a remarkable 1000 people on the stands to watch the Igosso game. Kyushu: the dictatorship of the Kagoshima duo is long gone, and apart from a 7-0 win by Kyushu Mitsubishi against MSU on Sunday, things are looking a lot more balanced than the previous seasons. Three teams are leading the rankings after the Okinawa weekend: the aforementioned Kyushu Mitsubishi, which also won against Mitsubishi Nagasaki (3-2), host side Okinawa Kaiho Bank, which collected wins against Saga Lixil (4-1) and Mitsubishi Nagasaki (4-2), and Nippon Steel Oita, whose six points come from Nanakuma Tombins (3-0) and Naha (1-0). Kagoshima United's reserve team collected a win against MSU and a penalty loss against Nanakuma; the most disappointing results were probably Mitsubishi's, as the company team from Nagasaki had been a competitive side for the past few seasons but has so far lost twice. CONT.
NEXT WEEK All the leagues that were on the field last weekend will resume play during the weekend except for the Kyushu League, which comes back on Easter Sunday. In addition to them, we will have the official first game for every remaining Hokushinetsu side, the Kansai league and for the Northern group of Tohoku's 2nd division. Tohoku D1: Ganju Iwate and Cobaltore continue their head-to-head battle- they will play away against Merry and Akita Cambiare respectively. Tohoku D2N: The Northern group of the second tier kicks off as well on Sunday. Title favourite Blancdieu Hirosaki plays Saruda Kogyo. The other four games are Fuji08-Mizusawa, TDK-Iwate Club, Omiya SC-Oirase FC and Nippon Steel Kamaishi-Akita University. Tohoku D2S: Sasuke's season already comes to a stop as its game against Tozawa has been rescheduled and will be played in June. Nakata gets a chance to build a temporary gap and put some pressure on their crosstown rivals, against Scheinen Fukushima. Iwaki Furukawa and Kureha debut against Toroku Nostalgia and Parafrente Yonezawa respectively. Marysol and Soma play the remaining fixture. Kanto D1: Korea and Ventforet will swap opponents- the northern Tochigi team will play Vonds Ichihara, while FC Korea will meet Urayasu SC. This of course makes for two very interesting games. In the remaining fixtures, Tonan will try to stay on top against Ryutsu Keizai, Hitachi will play Tokyo 23 while Aries will travel north to face Saitama SC. Kanto D2: Joyful Honda might already build a little lead but in order to do so they have to win the derby against Club Dragons. Hard to give any predictions on the other games seeing how the first week went- fixtures are Nihon Kogakuin F Marinos-Kanagawa Teachers, Toho Titanium-Tonan Satellite, Taisei Sakado-Yokohama Takeru and Tokio Marine-Atsugi Marcus. Hokushinetsu D1: Saurcos Fukui starts its campaign with a derby against newly promoted side Sakai Phoenix. Their title rivals at Japan Soccer College will instead play hosts to the other rookies, Ueda Gentian. The remaining fixtures see temporary table leaders Antelope Shiojiri hosting Valente Toyama and Artista Tomi seeking revenge vs FC Hokuriku. Hokushinetsu D2: The season kicks off in the lower division as well. Relegated sides Toyama Shinjo and Teihens play rookies Hokuriku University Futures and FC Okuetsu respectively. The other two contests are Jamineiro-Abies Chino and '09 Keidai FC-Nagaoka Billboard. Kansai: the Kansai leagues debut on next weekend. In the top tier, FC Osaka put together an impressive roster and should be cruising to the title with little to no difficulty. Still, Hannan University will be the first obstacle they'll meet on the road. Main rivals Amitie SC will be busy with an university team as well- Kansai University. Banditonce meets Nara in the lost boys derby, with the fourth and last game between Lagend Shiga and Arterivo Wakayama. In the second division, relegated teams Ain Food and Laranja Kyoto will play newcomers Tatsuno FC and Tiamo. Kwangaku Club meets Diablossa Nara while Takasago Mineiro plays Kyoto Shiko Club. Chugoku: Highlight of the weekend is the clash between Matsue City and SRC Hiroshima- SRC's campaign started off with a blast, but they are still playing the underdog role, while Matsue is aiming to first place. The remaining leaders, Dezzolla Shimane, play JX Mizushima on Saturday. Shikoku: the four teams that won last week's opening games will play against the four losers, with Torastar hosting R.Velho and Llamas and Igosso playing away, respectively against Tadotsu and Minami Club. Defending champions Imabari are playing away as well, against Nakamura Club.
hey guys I haven't had much time to follow any J.League football these past two months, even less regional leagues. Still here is a recap of what's happened so far: Hokkaido league: local powerhouses Norbritz are in a bit of a slump having lost two games out of four. This was somewhat expected- it was reported they lost backing from Hokkaido Power Company. Tokachi Fairsky Genesis is currently leading with 12 points- if they win this, it might be huge as no team from eastern Hokkaido has ever won the Hokkaido league (and no team from outside the Sapporo metropolitan area has won since 2002). Sapporo University sliding towards the bottom of the table while Sapporo FC and Nippon Steel Muroran are looking healthy. Hokkaido block leagues: as I'm shamelessly biased towards Hokkaido here are some news from the squid head island. The Sapporo Block has a four-team lead made up by Sapporo Shinei Grande, Sapporo Hyacinth, Nippon Express and Hokkaido Motomo. This is remarkable as the division itself has 6 teams. The Southern Block has a shared lead as well, as cult team Blackpecker Hakodate shares the top with crosstown rivals Shindou Denki and Toyota Motor Hokkaido. In the Central Block, last season's winners FC Menino already have an undisputed lead- 5 points advantage after 3 games. Only two rounds have been played in the Northern Block, and Verdelazzo Asahikawa was the lone team that managed to keep a perfect record so far. Crosstown rivals Riogullo and former title winners Naie FC are lagging behind. Last but not least, the Eastern Block has lost its long time ruler R-Supelbe Kushiro, which is now in the top tier, and Shintoku FC are currently leading the division with a 3 points lead over K@ZOO and Obihiro Kita Club, having defeated both. Tohoku D1: After 9 rounds Cobaltore Onagawa and Ganju Iwate won all games and tied against each other. They look like the only candidates for the final win. Ganju is three points clear as they have played- and won- a game more than the Miyagi team. Rein-Meer Aomori are faring comfortably in their first season in the top division. On the relegation side, Shiogama Wiese lost every game they played, while Merry, Morioka Zebra and Bandits Iwaki will fight for the remaining spot. Ganju put together a remarkable 15-0 against Akita Cambiare. Tohoku D2N: Things are still looking pretty balanced with rookies Saruda Kogyo leading by one point on Blancdieu Hirosaki, though the latter have a game in hand. Akita University and TDK Shinwakai are also close to the top. Iwate Club and Oirase FC occupy the bottom spots, although the other teams aren't too distant. Tohoku D2S: It's hard to get a clear picture as several games have been rescheduled. Soma SC is currently leading four points clear of Sendai Sasuke, but the latter has played three games less than the leaders. Iwaki Furukawa sits in between them, one point below Soma with the same number of games played. Parafrente Yonezawa and Scheinen Fukushima also missed a couple games and might get closer to the top. The only thing that looks certain is that Tozawa SC will be back to the Yamagata pref. league at the end of the season. Kanto D1: The first half of the season is over and Urayasu SC has a five points advantage on Tokyo 23 FC. The rankings below are fairly balanced with only four points between 3rd and 8th place. Aries FC Tokyo and Saitama SC likely to be relegated as they respectively are 7 and 9 points below safety. Kanto D2: Joyful Honda Tsukuba have a 4-points lead on Club Dragons. The two Ibaraki teams haven't seen much competition for the promotion spots, although Toho Titanium and Taisei City Sakado aren't too much behind. The other 6 teams are fairly close and relegation is still a very open battle, with four points between 5th and 10th (last) place. Hokushinetsu D1: Artista Tomi's 4-0 win over Japan Soccer College gave Saurcos Fukui the solitary lead over the weekend. Artista currently sits in second place but has played a game more than JSC. These three teams look like the only title contenders, with the remaining five battling for relegation (with Hokuriku, having lost 4 out of 5, currently occupying last place). Hokushinetsu D2: Very balanced division with only a four points gap between first placed Toyama Shinjo and 6th placed FC Abies. Nagaoka Billboard and Hokuriku U Futures are currently occupying the relegation spots, but they aren't much behind Abies either- respectively 2 and 3 points. Tokai D1: Yazaki Valente are having a great season having won every game so far- they're leading the table with 12 points, 3 more than Suzuka Rampole and FC Kariya. The situation looks very balanced at the bottom with four teams (Gifu Second, Nagoya Club, Toyota FC and the immortal Fujieda City Hall) tied at last place. Neat piece of trivia- none of the 16 games played so far ended in a draw. Tokai D2: Tokiwa University, Mind House Yokkaichi and Kasugai Club have been the most lively teams in the first four round, occupying the first three spots. Kawasaki FC, with a game in hand, might get closer to the trio should they win the game they missed. JTEKT is yet to win a game, but they rescheduled two out of four. Kansai D1: Despite their remarkable winter signings (they got more pro players than any other regional league team), FC Osaka haven't been leading in the same dominant fashion as last year- with four win and three draws they're just one point above Nara Club, which might have found its 2011 form back. Banditonce Kakogawa, Amitie Kyoto and Lagend Shiga sit comfortably midtable but might still be in for a surprise in the second half of the season. Kansai U and Hannan U (last year's D2 winners) are currently in the bottom 2 positions, but they're not that far away from 6th placed Arterivo Wakayama. Kansai D2: Yet another balanced league with just six points between division leaders Takasago Mineiro and 7th placed Diablossa Nara. 7 teams out of 8 have a shot at promotion, including Laranja Kyoto and Ain Food which were relegated from D1 at the end of last season. Kyoto Shiko is the only team missing out, but they are four points behind Diablossa so they still have a shot at avoiding relegation. Chugoku: One of the most balanced edition of this league, Matsue City are currently cruising on top with a three points advantage on Mitsubishi Mizushima and Fuji Xerox Hiroshima and two games in hand. Crosstown rivals Dezzolla are four points behind, but also have to play three rescheduled games. The rest of the pack is pretty close with the exception of Hitachi Kasado (-10 points on 8th place) which looks bound to relegation and Ube Yahh-Man, who are not as endangered as Hitachi but are still 4 points below safety. Shikoku: After three titles in a row, FC Imabari might end their legacy as they sit in third place behind crosstown rivals Kochi U Torastar and Igosso Kochi, two teams battling to represent the only Shikoku prefecture without a professional team. While Igosso looks slightly more suited to the role, Torastar is currently one point above them. The last team from the Kochi trio, Llamas FC, is currently struggling in 6th place, behind the not-particularly-ambitious-but-planning-to-stick-around duo made up by R.VELHO and Tadotsu FC. Rookie Nakamura Club and several-times-relegation-playoff-survivor Minami Club occupy the bottom two spots. Kyushu: things have gotten a lot more balanced without the Kagoshima duo, though Kyushu Mitsubishi Motors' lead looks fairly solid so far. The Fukuoka-based company team has a 4 points lead on second placed Okinawa Kaiho Bank which has several other teams close behind (6 teams in four points). MSU FC, Nanahama Tombins and Saga Lixil FC occupy the bottom spots and are likely to be in contention for relegation.
Also Vanraure kicking asses with 3 wins in a row (after 9 games without wins), the latest of which was a 5-1 win vs MIO. Yay!
Thanks for the update I had considered making one too but lack of time made me not do it. For me the fall of Imabari are a bit surprising however I watched highlights between Igosso and Torastar and it was surprisingly well (and well attended), In Kanto League last years close 3rd. (not far behind winner and runner up) are down in the buttom. Tokachi Fairsky is strong because they got several players from the Rokkatei team from same city who closed down and moved to Asahikawa. The reason Norbritz are not doing well must be another since the financial backings are still until this season ends.
Yeah but dont forget Vanraure were in the buttom without any wins before they won 3 in a row. By the way it seems work on their new stadium has started (or are ready to start).
Heard that FC Osaka intends to apply for J3 this year. As I'm not much knowledgeable about Regional League teams, do you guys think it is possible for them to get promoted to J3?
I don't think it's possible to skip JFL and gain direct promotion from Regional League to J3 anymore - that pathway was only available for the inaugural season. FC Osaka will (most likely) have to spend at least a year in JFL.
One thing is to apply for J3 membership another is to get one. The new rule is you have to play at least one year in JFL before playing in J3. FC Osaka definately has a fantastic team but so does Nara (Probaly on paper the 2 best regional club rosters). If Nara get in the real drive (which they seem to get in) they will content FC Osaka for the regional playoff spot this year.
JFL expansion means that they may pick and choose some regional teams in addition to playoff winners, like last year.
No no it has been stated that promotion to JFL only through regional playoffs. Also spots for regional playoff will not be given anymore through the Shakaijin cup.
This weekend the first of the regional champions was decided. Matsue City (yay I have family there) won while Dezzola lost. after 16 out of 18 rounds they have secured the Chugoku Regional Championship and a place in the Regional Playoffs.
Today most of the regional champions were found in the regional leagues. Tokachi Fairsky secured their first Hokkaido Championship (though losing to Norbritz) Urayasu SC won the Kanto championship Saurcos Fukui beat Japan soccer college to take the Hokushinetsu Championship Suzuka Rampole took the Tokai Championship Matsue City the Chugoku Championship The surprise win was Nara taking the Kansai championship (FC Osaka in lead most of time lost to Nara a couple of matches ago) Igosso Kochi looked most of the season as being the first and most secure champions, though a big surprise however they went down the last 3 rounds and the championship went to city rivals Kochi Torastar Only leagus not decided are the Kyushu League and Tohoku League. In Tohoku League Ganju Iwate secured a defacto championship since their played 0-0 against nearest rival Cobaltore Onagawa. If Onagawa wants to take the Tohoku Championship from Ganju Iwate they have to win with a margin of 70 goals their last match.
I read on the wikipedia and jflnews site that three spots still be given through the Shakaijin cup. Do you have recent news about this? I also just knew that Tochigi Uva earned the associated club status back in May.