Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Tokyo: Thousands of kids under the age of six took part in three grassroots festivals recently organised by the Japan Football Association in celebration of AFC Grassroots Day and AFC Grassroots Year 2013.
The JFA Kids Soccer Festival ‘UNIQLO Soccer Kids!’ were held at Yafuoku Dome (Fukuoka), Tokyo Dome (Tokyo) and Toyama Athletic Recreation Park (Toyama) attended by the children together with their parents and coaches.
The footballs festivals are designed for children under six years of age with games of eight or less kids per team and have been taking place all over Japan for the past 10 years since 2003 as part of the JFA Kids Programme.
At the opening ceremony, former Japan national team and women’s national team players made an announcement about the AFC Grassroots Year 2013 and AFC Grassroots Day which fell on May 15 and encouraged the children to enjoy the beautiful game and become leading players in Asian and the world.
The festivals are scheduled to be held 14 times in major sports domes such as in Sapporo (Hokkaido), Seibu (Saitama), Nagoya (Aichi) and in football stadiums such as Kashima Stadium (Ibaraki), gathering 20,000 kids in a year.
In addition to the festivals, JFA holds about 300 festivals per year in close cooperation with prefectural football associations reaching 600,000 kids per year.
Starting from this year, JFA/Kirin Ladies/Girls Soccer Festivals have also been introduced to provide opportunities for those who are new to football.
JFA Calendars with AFC Grassroots Year logos are distributed in all the festivals.
Grassroots coaching courses based on the FIFA grassroots method will also be held in close cooperation with the J.League.
Below is a complete list of upcoming festivals:
In major domes
July 15: Nagoya Dome, Nagoya
September 1: Sapporo Dome, Sapporo
November 24: Seibu Dome, Saitama
In football stadiums
August 17: Okinawa Comprehensive Athletic Park, Okinawa
September 29: Iwate Athletic Park, Iwate
October 13: Sabae East Athletic Park, Fukui
November 24: Kashima Soccer Stadium, Ibaraki
November 30: Umakana Yokana Stadium, Kumamoto
December 14: Best Amenity Stadium, Saga
December 15: Kanko Stadium, Okayama
Photo: JFA