The 2023 All Japan High School Soccer Tournament (第102回全国高等学校サッカー選手権大会; All Japan JFA 102nd High School Soccer Tournament) marked the 102nd edition of the referred annually contested cup for High Schools over Japan, contested by all 48 prefectural qualifications' winning schools.
The defending champions were Okayama Gakugeikan, from Okayama Prefecture, who won the 2022 final with a 3–1 win over Kyoto Prefecture's Higashiyama in the Final, becoming the first high school from Okayama to ever win the competition. They won the title despite not playing at the top tier of Japan's youth league system, having finished the previous season as a mid-table team in the Chugoku Prince League, one of the nine regional leagues that composes the second tier.
As the norm, from the first round to the quarterfinals, the matches had a duration of 80 minutes, split into two halves of 40 minutes each (not counting injury time). The semi-finals and the final had matches the traditional format of around 90 minutes, however, matching the standard match length of professional football. During the tournament, if a match should be tied, it directly required a penalty shoot-outs, except for the final, where extra-time would be played if the match was kept tied for 90 minutes.
The entire tournament, including the prefectural tournament finals, was streamed on SportsBull and TVer free of charge. The semi-finals and the final were aired on NTV. Alongside it, NTV G+ in cable TV., NTV and Nippon News Network (NNN) local stations has also shown selected games from the first round to the quarter-finals.
Calendar The tournament took place in a 12-day span, with the tournament split into a total of 6 stages. The draw to decide the tournament schedule and the match pairings was done in 20 November.
Round Date Matches Clubs First round 28–29 December 2023 16 Second round 31 December 2023 16 32 (16+16) → 16 Third round 2 January 2024 8 16 → 8 Quarter-finals 4 January 2024 4 8 → 4 Semi-finals 6 January 2024 2 4 → 2 Final 8 January 2024 1 2 → 1
Venues The venues for the tournament were split into four different prefectures. In total, nine different stadiums hosted matches for the tournament. Two stadiums are located for each of the Kanagawa, Chiba, and Saitama prefectures, while three stadiums are located in Tokyo.
Tokyo – Japan National Stadium, Komazawa Olympic Park Stadium and Ajinomoto Field Nishigaoka Kanagawa – Kawasaki Todoroki Stadium and NHK Spring Mitsuzawa Football Stadium Saitama – Urawa Komaba Stadium and Saitama Stadium 2002 Chiba – Kashiwanoha Stadium and ZA Oripri Stadium
Qualifying rounds All the 47 prefectures holds knockout stage qualifiers for their respective High Schools. Tokyo's qualifiers is the only to qualify two teams to the competition, as they have the largest amount of registered High Schools affiliated with the All-Japan High School Soccer Federation. Teams playing at national/regional-level leagues earns a bye from the early stages, getting automatically allocated into the third or fourth round of their respective qualifiers, specially to accommodate their busier schedule.
Participating schools Notable absentees from the tournament were Premier League high schools Asahikawa Jitsugyo, Riseisha, Higashi Fukuoka and RKU Kashiwa, respectively Hokkaido qualifiers' runner-up, Osaka qualifiers' runner-up, Fukuoka qualifiers' runner-up and Chiba qualifiers' semi-finalist. Prince League's Higashiyama, who last year was the national tournament's runner-up ended also as a runner-up on this year's Kyoto qualifiers, and one of Tokyo's qualifiers semi-finalists Teikyo, who since 2009 was unable to qualify for the national tournament, despite being the only school from Tokyo to reach the 1st division of the Kanto Prince League since 2015, playing on it since 2019.
Meanwhile, 8 of the 11 high schools that on 2023 played on the Premier League were able to qualify to the national competition. Defending champions Okayama Gakugeikan qualified for the third consecutive time, and for the sixth-ever time in their history. Waseda Jitsugyo and Nago, competition debutants, were both the lowest-ranked teams in the tournament, as they played the 2023 season in their respective prefecture's 2nd divisions, which are part of the 5th tier of U-18 football in Japan. PrefectureHigh SchoolLeague (U-18)Apps.Hokkaido Hokkai High School Hokkaido Prince League 2 13thAomori Aomori Yamada High School Premier League East1 29thIwate Tono High School Iwate Football League 4 30thMiyagi Sendai Ikuei Gakuen High School Miyagi Football League 4 37thAkita North Asia Univ. Meioh High SchoolAkita Football League 4 6thYamagata Yamagata Meisei High School Yamagata Football League 4 1stFukushima Shoshi High School Premier League East1 14thIbaraki Meishu Gakuen Hitachi High School Ibaraki Football League 4 5thTochigi Yaita Chuo High School Kanto Prince League D1 2 13thGunma Maebashi Ikuei High School Premier League East1 26thSaitama Shohei High School Premier League East1 6thChiba Ichiritsu Funabashi High School Premier League East1 24thTokyo A Horikoshi High School Tokyo T1 League 4 5thTokyo B Waseda Jitsugyo SchoolTokyo T2 League 5 1stKanagawa Nihon Univ. Fujisawa High School Kanagawa Football League 4 7thYamanashi Teikyo Daisan High School Yamanashi Football League 4 11thNagano Matsumoto Kokusai High School Hokushinetsu Prince League D2 3 6thNiigata Teikyo Nagaoka High School Hokushinetsu Prince League D1 2 10thToyama Toyama Daiichi High School Hokushinetsu Prince League D1 2 34thIshikawa Seiryo High School Hokushinetsu Prince League D1 2 32nd Fukui Maruoka High School Hokushinetsu Prince League D2 3 34thShizuoka Shizuoka Gakuen High School Premier League West1 14thAichi Nagoya High School Aichi Football League 4 1stMie Yokkaichi Chuo Kogyo High School Mie Football League 4 35thGifu Teikyo Univ. Kani High School Gifu Football League 4 10thShiga Ohmi High School Kansai Prince League D1 2 3rdKyoto Kyoto Tachibana High SchoolKansai Prince League D1 2 10thOsaka Tokai Univ. Osaka Gyosei High School Kansai Prince League D1 2 6thHyogo Kobe Koryo Gakuen High School Kansai Prince League D2 3 12thNara Nara Ikuei High School Nara Football League 4 16thWakayama Hatsushiba Hashimoto High School Wakayama Football League 4 17thTottori Yonago Kita High School Premier League West1 19thShimane Rissho Univ. Shonan High School Chugoku Prince League 2 20thOkayama Okayama Gakugeikan High School Chugoku Prince League 2 6thHiroshima Hiroshima Kokusai Gakuin High School Hiroshima Football League 4 1stYamaguchi Takagawa Gakuen High School Yamaguchi Football League 4 29thKagawa Otemae Takamatsu High School Shikoku Prince League 2 3rdTokushima Tokushima Ichiritsu High School Shikoku Prince League 2 20thEhime Imabari Higashi Secondary School Shikoku Prince League 2 3rdKochi Meitoku Gijuku High School Kochi Football League 4 9thFukuoka Iizuka High School Kyushu Prince League D2 3 2ndSaga Saga Higashi High School Kyushu Prince League D2 3 13thNagasaki Nagasaki Inst. of Applied Sciences High School Kyushu Prince League D1 2 9thKumamoto Ohzu High School Premier League West1 20thOita Yanagigaura High School Oita Football League 4 2ndMiyazaki Nissho Gakuen High School Kyushu Prince League D1 2 17thKagoshima Kamimura Gakuen High School Premier League West1 11thOkinawa Nago High School Okinawa Football League D2 5 1st
Schedule The schedule was announced on 20 November 2023, after the draw was conducted by the JFA, following the completion of the competition's prefectural qualifications.
First round
Second round
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
GK 1 Shoei SuzukiRB 2 Takuto KobayashiCB 5 Kaito KoizumiCB 4 Tora Yamamoto (c)LB 3 Soju Konuma CM 10 Rei ShibataCM 6 Toki SugasawaRM 14 Hidetaka Sugimoto AM 13 Kenta Fukushima LM 8 Ryosuke Kawahara ST 11 Soji Yoneya Substitutes:GK 12 Ryuya HasegawaDF 19 Yuki IkedaDF 23 Kai OgawaMF 7 Yushi Tanikawa MF 15 Kazuki Saito MF 16 Raichi Goto MF 17 Ikuma Beppu FW 9 Takumi Tsushima FW 18 Tokiya YamashitaManager: Masanori Masaki GK 1 Koki Yamazaki (c)CB 2 Asahi YasudaCB 5 Sodai NishimuraCB 10 Yota KanayamaRWB 7 Eiji UtoLWB 17 Shuto Hirose CM 6 Shunsuke KawakamiCM 4 Hyugo NishiAM 8 Riu YamakadoAM 14 Haku Arai ST 9 Mahiro Koyama Substitutes:GK 25 Tsubasa KoideDF 3 Kai SatomiDF 24 Riku FujiiMF 13 Ryo Yamamoto MF 15 Issa Kawachi MF 16 Miki TenraiMF 18 Yuito OtaniMF 20 Ryunosuke IchibaFW 11 Hiroto Arasuna Manager: Takanori Maeda
Assistant referees: Takeshi Asada Tatsuya Fujisawa Fourth official: Kohei Ando Match rules 90 minutes. Extra-time of 10 minutes for each half if scores still level. Persisting a draw after extra-time, a penalty shoot-out would be held. Nine named substitutes. Maximum of five substitutions.
Top scorers RankPlayerHigh SchoolGoals1 Riku GunjiIchiritsu Funabashi5 Soji YoneyaAomori Yamada3 Kaito KoizumiAomori Yamada3 Shinyu KuboharaIchiritsu Funabashi Gaku NawataKamimura Gakuen Ryuki OsaShohei Ayumu UkonSaga Higashi Eiji UtoOhmi Riu YamakadoOhmi Ryo YamamotoOhmi
Selected best players The following 34 players featured in the Tournament's Best Players Squad:
P. Player High School GKShoei SuzukiAomori Yamada3rdTokai UniversityGKSoma AmanoMaebashi Ikuei3rdWaseda UniversityGKShuto YoshitomiHorikoshi3rdTakushoku UniversityDFTora YamamotoAomori Yamada3rdToyo UniversityDFKaito KoizumiAomori Yamada3rdMeiji UniversityDFToki SugasawaAomori Yamada3rdKokushikan UniversityDFKanade MoriHorikoshi2ndHorikoshiDFRyoma AdachiNagoya3rdNanzan UniversityDFSodai NishimuraOhmi3rdKyoto Sangyo UniversityDFYota KanayamaOhmi3rdKwansei Gakuin UniversityDFSena EgashiraSaga Higashi2ndSaga HigashiDFNatsuki GotoOhzu2ndOhzuDFYumeki YoshinagaKamimura Gakuen3rd GenkMFRei ShibataAomori Yamada3rdMeiji UniversityMFHidetaka SugimotoAomori Yamada3rdToin University of YokohamaMFYuya YoshidaMeishu Hitachi3rdKokushikan UniversityMFJunki OsaShohei3rdJuntendo University
P. Player High School MFShungo OtaIchiritsu Funabashi3rdToin University of YokohamaMFYu TakadaShizuoka Gakuen3rdTokushima VortisMFHyugo NishiOhmi3rdKyoto Tachibana UniversityMFRiu YamakadoOhmi3rdKonan UniversityMFHaku AsaiOhmi3rdBiwako Seikei S. CollegeMFShota MiyagawaSaga Higashi3rdOsaka University HSSMFGaku NawataKamimura Gakuen2ndKamimura GakuenFWSoji YoneyaAomori Yamada3rdTokai UniversityFWSena UsudaMeioh3rdOsaka University HSSFWKohei OdaShohei3rdTokai UniversityFWRiku GunjiIchiritsu Funabashi3rdShimizu S-PulseFWShinyu KuboharaIchiritsu Funabashi2ndIchiritsu FunabashiFWKenta NakamuraHorikoshi3rdTakushoku UniversityFWSota HoriTeikyo Nagaoka3rdKansai UniversityFWNaotaro MizunagaTokai Gyosei3rdOsaka University of EconomicsFWSaku KitafujiKobe Koryo Gakuen3rdKwansei Gakuin UniversityFWMinto NishimaruKamimura Gakuen3rdVegalta Sendai
Joining J.League clubs on 2024 Pos.PlayerMoving fromMoving toLeagueGK Keisuke Nakamura Shizuoka Gakuen Tokyo Verdy J1DF Yota Fujii Iizuka Fagiano Okayama J2DF Yuhi Ono Nihon Fujisawa Mito HollyHock J2MF Yuto Anzai Shoshi Kyoto Sanga J1MF Kosuke Hara Nagoya Consadole Sapporo J1MF Asuma Ikari Ohzu Mito HollyHock J2MF Yu Takada Shizuoka Gakuen Tokushima Vortis J2FW Riku Gunji Ichiritsu Funabashi Shimizu S-Pulse J2FW Soma Kanda Shizuoka Gakuen Kawasaki Frontale J1FW Minto Nishimaru Kamimura Gakuen Vegalta Sendai J2FW Rento Takaoka(DSP) Nissho Gakuen Tegevajaro Miyazaki J3
References
External links Official Schedule (JFA) About the Tournament (JFA)