Hi, people and welcome to 2026. Our annual thread has made quite some history, by now, so it doesn't need much introduction. We're even in the middle of a discussion about the Empress' Cup's final, that was played today and that probably will generate some other words here. We're also in the middle of the WE League, since by some years it's become a winter league, instead of a summer league, so it now spans over two solar years (INAC at the top, at the moment, but they just lost the Empress' Cup's final to Regina and they don't seem super-brilliant, so could they end up losing like they did last year? ). Finally, we're in the middle of the AFC Women's Champions' League, where we do hope that NTV Tokyo Verdy Beleza will be able to do better than Urawa Red Ladies did last season (they already made sure that they can't do worse). This was where we're at with club women's football (although, as we well know, it willingly ignores the fact that our best players actually now play overseas, so this thread often follows other leagues as FA-WSL, NWSL, Frauen-Bundesliga and so on... ). And what about our beloved National Team? This year we'll have the AFC Women's Asian Cup, that will be played in Australia in March: Nadeshiko Japan picked the cakewalk-group in the draw, since they'll have to face Vietnam, India and Chinese Taipei. Only (marginal) problem is that they play the group stage in Perth (West of Australia), but if they win the group they will have to move to Sydney (East of Australia), in a two-hours-far different time-zone. Let's hope Japan, who are by far the best Asian NT in FIFA Women's rankings, can take their revenge over China, who has beaten us in the last edition. Then, of course, we'll have the U-20 WWC and the U-17 WWC (that's become an annual competition). Did I forget anything? Of course I sure have! But that's why this thread is alive and brimming with contributions from its members. Let's start the (2026) discussion!
By the way, with her goal today (at 90'+1': I was VERY close with my second prediction! ), Yoshino Nakashima passed a bunch of players at 3 goals and became the best scorer of this edition of the Empress' Cup with 4 goals! It's not often that the winners of this competition also include the top-scorer, because minor clubs have so many more chance to score in the first stages of the tournament, that WE League's teams aren't playing. So congratulations again to Sanfrecce Hiroshima Regina and to their top-scorer.
Although it is not in the international window, the Asian Games will be held late september in the Nagoya region. I guess only We League players will be called as the U20 world cup will be at the same time.
I love watching Nakashima Express on full throttle, if only she could recreate it on national team...
I've confirmed that she is a top winger in WE, but she needs wide space to show her skill. That's why Regina can fight against so-called big three teams evenly.
Well, I was a little disappeared these holidays, but here I am for the start of our annual thread. Happy new year everyone and hope for the best for Nadeshiko and our teams
Lots to look forward to in 2026 I hope your 2026 turns out to be everything you wish it to be everyone Happy New Year to you all
Happy New Year to everyone. --------------------------------------- The 34th All Japan High School Women's Football Championship, 3rd round. 3rd Jan. Shohei (Saitama Prefecture) vs Seiwa Gakuen (Miyagi Prefecture) 11:00 ko Kashima Gakuen (Ibaraki Prefecture) vs Kaisi JSC (Niigata Prefecture) 14:00 ko --------------------------------------- JFA 29th All Japan U-18 Women's Football Championship. 1st round. 3rd Jan. https://www.jfa.jp/match/joshi_youth_u18_2025/schedule_result/ As expected with - JFA vs Womens football - No livestream until the final.
47th Empress Cup - Final INAC Kobe Leonessa 1 - 2 Sanfrecce Hiroshima Regina Kubota 66' --- Lee 31', Nakashima 90'+1 (att: 16 527)
Inac had a strategy but obviously it didn’t work. https://inac-kobe.com/match/result/483 "Google translate"
Fun facts: Regina's victory ended the nearly 20-year monopoly of three clubs (Beleza, INAC, Urawa), which had alternately won the Empress Cup since 2007. The last winner outside this trio was Tasaki Perule F.C., which defeated Okayama Yunogo Belle in the 2006 final. Sanfrecce Hiroshima Regina is only the 11th club to win the trophy in the 47-year history of the Empress Cup.
MVP is of course Nakashima, but Regina's special strength is their MF trio's hard work in a sense, so I want to appreciate Yanase and Watanabe more, and congratulations Mai, who announced her marriage.
Today's result: High School Championship third round: Shohei 1-2 Seiwa Gakuen (Suzuki 2) Matsui Miyu (Shohei, U19 candidate) looked like the most outstanding player in this competition. She reminds me of Tsuda Anon. Tokoha Tachibana (Takekawa, Sato) 2-0 Kodai Fukui Nihon Airlines 1-2 Gyosei International (Miyazaki, Date) Sakuyo 0-0 (PK 5-6) Yanagigaura Kashjma Gakuen (Watanabe Nao) 1-1 ( PK 9-8) KaishiJSC Hinomoto (Ueda 2) 2-2 (PK 7-6) Shugakukan Saku Chosei 0-3 Fujieda Junshin (Horie 2, Kondo) Ohsaka Gakugei 2-3 Kamimura (Haraguchi, Yamano 2) Club Youth Championship 1st round: Menina (Matsuoka, Shikida, Aoki, OG) 4-0 Regina Ohmiya (KonNO, Miyazaki, Suwa, Nakamura Yuuna) 4-0 Izumo Cerezo (Nakamura Konoha) 1-0 Nojima Ryukyu Sakura 0-10 Jef (Kokubo 4, Souno, Kubota, Miyazawa, Nezu, Kubo, Uryu) Inac (Nakahira, Taira, Kinugawa, Kojima 2, Ohta, Kishida, Ogura 3) 10-0 Club Fields Linda Urawa (Kumagai, Takahashi Yuna 2, Ise) 4-1 Ehime Mikan Mynavi (Kikuchi Hana, Uchida) 2-1 Nagoya Albi (Tosaka 2, Ebina, Kikuchi Yui) 4-0 Anclas
My new game: Name the winner (20pts) extratime and PK winner gets half points. High School Championship quarterfinals 1 Tokoha Tachibana vs Gyosei International 2 Yanagigaura vs Seiwa Gakuen 3 Kashima Gakuen vs Hinomoto 4 Fujieda Junshin vs Kamimura Club Youth Championship quarterfinals 5 Menina vs Ohmiya 6 Cerezo vs Jef 7 Inac vs Urawa 8 Mynavi vs Albi Select one from three options (two winners and draw), the number is your possible points, extratime and PK winner gets half points. University Championship semifinal 9 Yamanashi(30) draw (20) Tokyo International (50) 10 Aichi Toho (80) draw (10) Nittaidai (10) 11 Scorers of all competitions (5, 20pts, perfect 5, 200pts)
In most cases here I'll completely shoot in the dark, although I at least remember some names from previous high school's championships. 1. Tokoha Tachibana 2. Seiwa Gakuen 3. Hinomoto 4. Fujieda Junshin 5. Menina 6. Cerezo 7. INAC 8. Mynavi 9. Yamanashi 10. Nittaidai 11. Shinoda (Nittaidai), Kitazawa (Nittaidai), Teramura (Yamanashi), Ito Kotone (Yamanashi), Ito Riri (Aichi)
My answer: 1 Tokoha Tachibana 2 Seiwa Gakuen 3 Kashima Gakuen 4 Kamimura 5 Menina 6 Jef 7 Urawa 8 Mynavi 9 Yamanashi 10 Nittaidai 11 Takahashi Yuuna (Urawa), Shikida Niko (Beleza), Nezu Ririka (Jef), Sumiya Runa (Jef), Ito Kotone (Yamanashi)
I have absolutely no knowledge about these teams so I "steal" the answer for question 11 from @blissett and @unepommekun 1 Tokoha 2 Yanagigaura 3 Kashima 4 Fujieda 5 Menina 6 Cerezo 7 Inac 8 Mynavi 9 Yamanashi 10 Aichi Toho 11 Ito Kotone, Shinoda, Takahashi, Kitazawa, Shikida
Today's result: University Championship semifinal Yamanashi (Ichinose) 1-0 Tokyo International Nittaidai (Honda) 1-0 Aichi Toho Club Youth Championship quarterfinal Menina (Ito Fuki 2) 2-0 Ohmiya Cerezo (Furuta, Tamamura) 2-2 (PK 4-2) Jef (Miyazawa, Inoue) Mynavi (Miyazaki, Higuchi) 2-0 Albi Inac (Kojima, Kishida) 2-2 (PK 4-5) Urawa (Takahashi, Aota)
Correct choice for her: she hadn't enough playing time at Chelsea. Also, Tottenham are having an aggressive market campaign, signing Swedish players from Häcken, so they could be soon battling for the top positions.
Today's result (1): Kashima Gakuen (OG, Ohbayashi, Tsukui 2, Takeda) 5-0 Hinomoto Tokoha Tachibana 0-2 Gyosei International (Kaawanishi, Yoshigaki) I have to apologize to Kashima. Their win vs Daisho was not a giant killing at all. Hinomoto was unable to give threats to Kashima's goal at all. As soon as Hinomoto possesed the ball and tried to attack, Kashima took the ball back in midfield. By the way, it might be off-topic, Ibaraki prefecture has dominated Japan's football scene recently. Kashima Antlers won J1 title, Mito Hollyhock won J2 title, both male and female Kashima Gakuen got best 4.