U-12 Junior Soccer World Challenge

The U-12 Junior Soccer World Challenge(U-12ジュニアサッカーワールドチャレンジ) is a football tournament for players age 12 or younger in Tokyo, Japan organized by Amazing Sports Lab Japan, Inc. and Tokyo Football Association(2013 - 2017), Osaka Football Association(2018 -).

U-12 Junior Soccer World Challenge
Founded2013 (2013)
Number of teams16
Current championsFC Barcelona(5th title)
Most successful team(s)FC Barcelona (5 titles)
Websitehttp://u12-juniorsoccer-wc.com/

History
Official Logo

The first year of the tournament in 2013. 12 teams took place for 4 days, from 27 to 31 August. The final match was FC Barcelona against Liverpool FC, and FC Barcelona was the first year’s champion.[1]

The second year of the tournament had more participants, in total, 16 teams took part. Not only Football club FC Barcelona and A.C. Milan, the 2 big European clubs took place, but also Asiop Apacinti from Indonesia came to the tournament. From Japan, some youth category teams from J-League’s club, and a small regional club came to play this tournament. The tournament was held from 28 to 31 August, and the winner was FC Barcelona.[2]

The 3rd tournament in 2015 invited FC Barcelona and RCD Espanyol from Spain, Deportivo Camioneros from Argentine, and Vietnam U-12 from Asia. The tournament was held from 27th to 30 August. One of the semi-finals match was played between FC Barcelona and Tokyo U-12, and FC Barcelona, who was the champions for 2 consecutive years, was defeated by Tokyo U-12. The final was played between Tokyo U-12 and RCD Espanyol, after 90 min., the match has ended draw. And they ended up with the penalty shoot-out, finally, RCD Espanyol won the trophy.[3]

Regulations
Nishigaoka Stadium is used in the final
  • The tournament will be played in accordance with the regulations of Japan Football Association. (Regulations will be the new one)
  • Match balls will be size 4.
  • The tournament will be 11v11.
  • The clubs play the group matches, and 8 best teams go to the play off. (Direct elimination)
  • Every match will be made up of two halves of 25 minutes. With 5 minutes break. (During the playing periods include substitutions and drink water).
  • The play off of the group matches will be 2 halves of 20 minutes.
  • The semifinal, third place play off　and final match´s break will be 10 min.
  • In case of tied match, during the group matches will be finished as tied match, and play-off will play penalty kicks. (3 penalties)

Qualifying round

Qualifying J-League youth academies has been carried out from 2016 because the clubs wish to participate in the tournament has increased. Six teams from 15 teams that participated in the East Japan qualifying and three teams from the seven teams that participated in the West Japan qualifying has competed in this 2016 tournament.

Results
FC Barcelona won the tournament in 2016
EditionSeasonWinnersScoreRunners-upThird placeFourth place
12013FC Barcelona5-0Liverpool FCKashiwa Reysol
U-12		Tokyo Verdy
Junior
22014FC Barcelona２-0Tokyo U-12Kashiwa Reysol
U-12		Omiya Ardija
Junior
32015RCD Espanyol0-0
（PK2-1）		Tokyo U-12FC BarcelonaVietnam U-12
42016FC Barcelona1-0Omiya Ardija
Junior		Tokyo Verdy
Junior		Kawasaki Frontale
Junior
52017FC Barcelona2-1Tokyo U-12Nagoya Grampus
U-12		Omiya Ardija
Junior
62018FC Barcelona3-1Arsenal F.C.Club TijuanaJFA Training Center
OSAKA U-12
62019Nigeria Select1-0Guangzhou R&FToyota ThailandJFA Training Center
OSAKA U-12

Awards
Adriá Capdevila Puigmal, 2016

Most Valuable Player
  • 2013 Eric García (FC Barcelona)
  • 2014 Pablo Moreno (FC Barcelona)
  • 2015 Yuki Nagata (Tokyo U-12)
  • 2016 Adriá Capdevila Puigmal (FC Barcelona)
  • 2017 Marc Bombardo Poyato (FC Barcelona)
  • 2018 Myles Lewis-Skelly (Arsenal F.C.)

Best Scorer
  • 2013 Anssumane Fati (FC Barcelona), Paul Glatzel ( Liverpool FC)
  • 2014 Tomoya Osawa (Omiya Ardija Junior)
  • 2015 Pelaz Ruiz Marc (FC Barcelona)
  • 2016 Takumi Minamino (Gamba Osaka Junior)
  • 2017 Kouhei Terasawa (Tokyo U-12) Yu Imanishi (Gamba Osaka Junior) Hisatsugu Ishii (Fukuyama Rosas Seleson)
  • 2018 (Nagoya Grampus U-12)

Squads from Outside Japan

Episodes
The boys of FC Barcelona showed sportsmanship

FC Barcelona’s Under 12 team won the 2016 tournament. After beating Omiya 1-0 in the final, The Catalan juniors showed some sportsmanship, taking time to console their distraught opponents. This situation was reported in many countries.[5][6]

Sponsorship

  • Daiwa House (Special Sponsor)
  • Daiwa House Next (Sponsor)
  • Daiwa Living (Sponsor)
  • Daiwa Lease (Sponsor)
  • Cosmos Initia (Sponsor)
  • Global Community (Sponsor)
  • Daiwa Roynet Hotels (Sponsor)
  • Sports Club NAS (Sponsor)
  • Cosmos More (Sponsor)
  • Nippon Travel Agency (Sub Sponsor)
  • Nike, Inc. (Sub Sponsor)
  • CP5 (Sub Sponsor)
  • Japan Sports Promotion (Partner)
  • Tokyo Verdy (Partner)
  • SKY PerfecTV! (Media Partner)

References
  1. "U-12 Junior Soccer World Challenge 2013". U-12 Junior Soccer World Challenge. 2016-05-01. Retrieved 2016-09-01.
  2. "U-12 Junior Soccer World Challenge 2014". U-12 Junior Soccer World Challenge. 2016-05-01. Retrieved 2016-09-01.
  3. "U-12 Junior Soccer World Challenge 2015". U-12 Junior Soccer World Challenge. 2016-05-01. Retrieved 2016-09-01.
  4. "South East Asia Qualifiers SCHEDULE". u12-juniorsoccer-wc.com. Retrieved 2019-09-02.
  5. "El Infantil B del Barça conquista el World Challenge Cup de Tokio". SPORT. 2016-08-29. Retrieved 2016-09-01.
  6. "Barcellona, l'abbraccio dei ragazzini agli avversari sconfitti". Gazzetta.it. 2016-08-29. Retrieved 2016-09-01.
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