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.^[1][2]

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.^[3][4]

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^[5] and TVer free of charge.^[6] The semi-finals and the final were aired on NTV.^[7] Alongside it, NTV G+ in cable TV.,^[8] 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.

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.^[9]

• 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 absences 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, eight 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.^[10]

• Note: In the sections below, team tiers (league levels) will be presented as follows:
  • National: (1): Premier League
  • Regional: (2): Prince League 1st Divs.; (3): Prince Leagues 2nd Divs.
  • Prefectural: (4): Football League 1st Divs.; (5): Football League 2nd Divs.

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.^[11][12]

Final

8 January 2024

14:05

Match 47

Aomori Yamada (1)	3–1	(2) Ohmi
Kenta Fukushima 33' Soji Yoneya 60' Own goal 70' (o.g.)	Report	Ryo Yamamoto 47'

Japan National Stadium, Tokyo

Attendance: 55,019

Referee: Shu Kawamata

GK 1 Shoei Suzuki DF 2 Takuto Kobayashi DF 3 Soju Konuma  90+2' DF 4 Tora Yamamoto (c) DF 5 Kaito Koizumi DF 6 Toki Sugasawa MF 8 Ryosuke Kawahara  78' MF 10 Rei Shibata MF 13 Kenta Fukushima  78' MF 14 Hidetaka Sugimoto  85' FW 11 Soji Yoneya  90+2' Substitutes: FW 16 Raichi Goto  78' MF 7 Yushi Tanikawa  78' FW 9 Takumi Tsushima  85' MF 15 Kazuki Saito  90+2' MF 17 Ikuma Beppu  90+2' Manager: Masanori Masaki

GK 1 Koki Yamazaki (c) DF 2 Asahi Yasuda DF 5 Sodai Nishimura DF 10 Yota Kanayama MF 4 Hyugo Nishi MF 6 Shunsuke Kawakami MF 7 Eiji Uto MF 8 Riu Yamakado MF 14 Haku Arai  82' MF 17 Shuto Hirose  62' FW 9 Mahiro Koyama  45' Substitutes: MF 11 Hiroto Arasuna  82' MF 13 Ryo Yamamoto  45' MF 15 Issa Kawachi  62' 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 Rank Player High School Goals 1 Riku Gunji Ichiritsu Funabashi 5 Soji Yoneya Aomori Yamada 3 Kaito Koizumi Aomori Yamada 3 Shinyu Kubohara Ichiritsu Funabashi Gaku Nawata Kamimura Gakuen Ryuki Osa Shohei Ayumu Ukon Saga Higashi Eiji Uto Ohmi Riu Yamakado Ohmi Ryo Yamamoto Ohmi Selected best players The following 34 players featured in the Tournament's Best Players Squad:[14] Pos. Player High School Grade Moved to GK Shoei Suzuki Aomori Yamada 3rd GK Soma Amano Maebashi Ikuei 3rd GK Shuto Yoshitomi Horikoshi 3rd DF Tora Yamamoto Aomori Yamada 3rd DF Kaito Koizumi Aomori Yamada 3rd Meiji University DF Toki Sugasawa Aomori Yamada 3rd DF Kanade Mori Horikoshi 2nd DF Ryoma Adachi Nagoya 3rd DF Sodai Nishimura Ohmi 3rd DF Yota Kanayama Ohmi 3rd DF Sena Egashira Saga Higashi 2nd Saga Higashi DF Natsuki Goto Ohzu 2nd Ohzu DF Yumeki Yoshinaga Kamimura Gakuen 3rd Genk MF Rei Shibata Aomori Yamada 3rd MF Hidetaka Sugimoto Aomori Yamada 3rd MF Yuya Yoshida Meishu Hitachi 3rd MF Junki Osa Shohei 3rd Juntendo University Pos. Player High School Grade Moved to MF Shungo Ota Ichiritsu Funabashi 3rd MF Yu Takada Shizuoka Gakuen 3rd Tokushima Vortis MF Hyugo Nishi Ohmi 3rd MF Riu Yamakado Ohmi 3rd MF Haku Asai Ohmi 3rd MF Shota Miyagawa Saga Higashi 3rd MF Gaku Nawata Kamimura Gakuen 2nd Kamimura Gakuen FW Soji Yoneya Aomori Yamada 3rd FW Sena Usuda Meioh 3rd FW Kohei Oda Shohei 3rd Kanto Gakuin University FW Riku Gunji Ichiritsu Funabashi 3rd Shimizu S-Pulse FW Shinyu Kubohara Ichiritsu Funabashi 2nd Ichiritsu Funabashi FW Kenta Nakamura Horikoshi 3rd Takushoku University FW Sota Hori Teikyo Nagaoka 3rd FW Naotaro Mizunaga Tokai Gyosei 3rd FW Saku Kitafuji Kobe Koryo Gakuen 3rd FW Minto Nishimaru Kamimura Gakuen 3rd Vegalta Sendai Joining J.League clubs on 2024 Pos. Player Moving from Moving to[15][16][17] League GK Keisuke Nakamura Shizuoka Gakuen Tokyo Verdy J1 DF Yota Fujii Iizuka Fagiano Okayama J2 DF Yuhi Ono Nihon Fujisawa Mito HollyHock J2 MF Yuto Anzai Shoshi Kyoto Sanga J1 MF Asuma Ikari Ohzu Mito HollyHock J2 MF Yu Takada Shizuoka Gakuen Tokushima Vortis J2 FW Riku Gunji Ichiritsu Funabashi Shimizu S-Pulse J2 FW Soma Kanda Shizuoka Gakuen Kawasaki Frontale J1 FW Minto Nishimaru Kamimura Gakuen Vegalta Sendai J2 References ↑ "第102回全国高校サッカー選手権大会　大会概要" [102nd National High School Soccer Championship Tournament Overview]. jfa.jp (in Japanese). Japan Football Association. 23 October 2023. Retrieved 23 October 2023. ↑ "浅野拓磨「第102回全国高校サッカー選手権大会」応援リーダーに決定！高校生に向けてのメッセージも【コメント全文】" [Takuma Asano has been selected as the ambassador for the 102nd National High School Soccer Championship! Message for high school students [Read below]]. ntv.co.jp (in Japanese). NTV. 14 August 2023. Retrieved 21 September 2023. ↑ "高円宮杯 JFA U-18 サッカープリンスリーグ 2021" [Prince Takamado JFA U-18 Football Prince League 2021]. jfa.jp (in Japanese). JFA. 9 January 2023. Retrieved 23 October 2023. ↑ "Okayama Gakugeikan become first team from Okayama to win the All Japan High School Soccer Tournament - The 101st All Japan High School Soccer Tournament". jfa.jp. JFA. 9 January 2023. Retrieved 21 September 2023. ↑ "第102回全国高校サッカー選手権大会【全試合無料ライブ配信】" [The 102nd All Japan High School Soccer Tournament [Free live streaming of all matches]]. SportsBull (in Japanese). Retrieved 25 December 2023. ↑ TVer - 無料で動画見放題 [TVer - Unlimited free on-demand streaming] (in Japanese), retrieved 25 December 2023 ↑ "日本テレビ『第102回全国高校サッカー選手権大会』放送日程" [Nippon TV – "The 102nd All Japan High School Soccer Tournament" Schedule]. Nippon TV (in Japanese). Retrieved 27 December 2023. ↑ "High School Soccer Schedule". NTV G+ Official website (in Japanese). Retrieved 27 December 2023. ↑ "会場" [Venues]. jfa.jp (in Japanese). JFA. Retrieved 23 October 2023. ↑ "TEAMS". ntv.co.jp (in Japanese). NTV. Retrieved 4 November 2023. ↑ "組み合わせ決定　第102回全国高等学校サッカー選手権大会" [Pairings decided – 102nd All Japan High School Soccer Tournament]. jfa.jp. JFA. 20 November 2023. Retrieved 20 November 2023. ↑ "第１０２回全国高校サッカー選手権大会組み合わせ表" [Schedule – 102nd All Japan High School Soccer Tournament] (PDF). jfa.jp. JFA. 20 November 2023. Retrieved 20 November 2023. ↑ https://twitter.com/mrjeffu/status/1742407959341400483 ↑ "選手権の大会優秀選手34人が決定!!4度目Vの青森山田から最多7人、準優勝・近江から5人選出!" (in Japanese). 8 January 2023. Retrieved 8 January 2023. ↑ "2024シーズン 移籍情報" [2024 J1 League season transfer summary]. jleague.jp (in Japanese). Japan Professional Football League. Retrieved 27 December 2023. ↑ "2024シーズン 移籍情報" [2024 J2 League season transfer summary]. jleague.jp (in Japanese). Japan Professional Football League. Retrieved 27 December 2023. ↑ "2024シーズン 移籍情報" [2024 J3 League season transfer summary]. jleague.jp (in Japanese). Japan Professional Football League. Retrieved 27 December 2023.