Academy Report

The NIKE ANTLERS CUP U-15 2nd was held over two days, from Saturday, February 15th to Sunday, February 16th, at Kamisu City Yatabe Soccer Field. This tournament was sponsored by NIKE Japan and Meiji Co., Ltd., and Antlers Hometown DMO assisted with its preparation and operation. All eight participating teams were divided into two groups, with two preliminary round matches played on the first day, and the remaining preliminary round match and the ranking matches played on the second day. The participating teams and final rankings are as follows: ◆Group A FC Koga (6th place)

V-Varen Nagasaki U-15 (2nd place)

1FC Kawagoe Kamisui Koen (7th place)

Kashima Antlers Junior Youth (4th place)

◆Group B FC Tokyo U-15 Musashi (1st place)

Ventforet Kofu U-15 (3rd place)

Nagaoka JYFC (8th place)

Kashima Antlers Norte Junior Youth (5th place)

As a special rule for this tournament, a three-player penalty shootout was introduced even in the preliminary rounds. This time, out of 16 matches in total, 3 matches, including 2 preliminary round matches, went to a penalty shootout. This rule is always popular among participating teams and parents, partly because it gives players the opportunity to experience a serious penalty shootout, which they rarely get to do. Furthermore, with referees dispatched by the Ibaraki Football Association, intense matches were played with the same tension as official games. The final match between V-Varen Nagasaki U-15 and FC Tokyo U-15 Musashi was decided with FC Tokyo U-15 Musashi winning by one point, but looking back at both teams' preliminary round matches, there was one penalty shootout and four matches decided by a single goal, indicating many well-contested and close games.

The winning team, FC Tokyo U-15 Musashi, received a certificate of commendation and a trophy, as well as a Zavas squeeze bottle as a supplementary prize from Meiji Co., Ltd.

Similarly, V-Varen Nagasaki U-15 (2nd place) and Ventforet Kofu (3rd place) also received Zavas squeeze bottles as supplementary prizes from Meiji Co., Ltd. Additionally, all participating players received Junior Protein as a participation prize from Meiji Co., Ltd.



The individual award winners are as follows: Best GK Award Reiko Takahashi (Ventforet Kofu U-15)

Best DF Award Taiga Hirasawa (FC Tokyo U-15 Musashi) Best MF Award Kōdai Tanabe (FC Tokyo U-15 Musashi)

Best FW Award Tatsuya Taguchi (V-Varen Nagasaki U-15)

The four individual award winners received protein from Meiji Co., Ltd. and spikes from NIKE Japan.