KIDS DREAM OF SOCCER STARDOM:
Youth and Junior Soccer in Japan

The All-Japan High-School Soccer Tournament, which takes place every year around the New Year holidays, attracts a lot of interest from young soccer fans in Japan. Tens of thousands of people turn up to watch the final of the tournament at the National Stadium of Japan in Tokyo every year.

The final of the eightieth tournament took place on January 8 in Tokyo. Kunimi High School of Nagasaki Prefecture beat Gifu Technical High School to reach the top of youth soccer in Japan. It was the second straight championship for Kunimi and its fifth overall. Only two other schools have been champions five times or more, showing just how strong Kunimi is.

	Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, a goalkeeper on Japan's national team. (AFP/Jiji)

Players who do well in this tournament often join professional J. League clubs after graduating from high school. This year, the Kunimi High School goalkeeper joined Urawa Reds, and a Gifu Technical High School forward joined Nagoya Grampus Eight. Another six players from teams that reached the quarterfinals joined J. League clubs.

The All-Japan High-School Tournament is like a gateway to professional soccer. Countless players have gone from high schools that are strong in soccer straight into a professional career, including midfielder Hidetoshi Nakata (who now plays for Parma in Italy) and goalkeeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi (of Portsmouth in England).

Past results of the All-Japan High-School Soccer Tournament show that schools from Saitama Prefecture have won 13 times, schools from Shizuoka Prefecture 10 times, and schools from Hiroshima Prefecture 7 times. The reason these three prefectures have been the most successful is said to be that kids' and youth soccer has long been popular there.

The team from Kunimi High School, Nagasaki Prefecture, after winning the tournament. (Jiji)

Shizuoka Prefecture, in particular, is famous for youth soccer. The All-Japan Boys' Football Tournament, for elementary-school students, has been held 25 times. It has been won by Shimizu F.C. eight times, Hamamatsu J.F.C. three times, and Shizuoka F.C. once; all of these teams come from Shizuoka Prefecture. Reflecting the prefecture's soccer culture, several of Japan's national team also come from Shizuoka, including Kawaguchi, striker Masashi Nakayama of Jubilo Iwata, and midfielder Shinji Ono, who plays for Feyenoord in Holland.

Each J. League club has a youth team for high-school students and a junior youth team for middle-school students. The kids go to local schools but practice with these teams instead of their school soccer clubs. The advantage of this is that the J. League clubs have much better pitches and other facilities. On the other hand, it is sometimes difficult for the kids to fit soccer practice around school events. There is a tournament for J. League youth teams, called the J. Youth Cup, which has been held every year since 1994. Tokyo Verdy and Gamba Osaka have won this cup twice each.

There is also a tournament pitting youth teams against high-school teams that come through regional qualifying competitions. Called the All-Japan Youth Championship, it began in 1990. Its aim is to find the best team of high-school age in Japan. Jubilo Iwata Youth is the only J. League team to win it so far, in 2000.

Meanwhile, the All-Japan Junior Youth Championship, in which junior youth teams and middle-school teams take part, started in 1999. From 2000 it was renamed the All-Japan Youth (Under-15) Championship, and the former All-Japan Youth Championship was renamed the All-Japan Youth (Under-18) Championship.

Although high-school and youth soccer has been growing in popularity and excitement, university soccer has recently been on the decline. Since the J. League was launched, promising high-school players have tended to join J. League teams directly, without going on to higher education. The current Japan team includes only a few players who went on to higher education. The All-Japan College Football Championship celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 2001, but it is not as popular as it used to be.