U-12 Junior Soccer World Challenge


The U-12 Junior Soccer World Challenge is a football tournament for players age 12 or younger in Tokyo, Japan organized by Amazing Sports Lab Japan, Inc. and Tokyo Football Association, Osaka Football Association.

History

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.
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.
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.

Regulations

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

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

Most Valuable Player

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.

Sponsorship