38th Shimizu Cup Amateur Junior Soccer League Guidelines
1.

Main Hosts:

Japan Football Assoc. (JFA); Shizuoka Pref. Football Assoc.;
City of Shizuoka; Shimizu Football Assoc.; Shizuoka Football Assoc.
(Shimizu Cup Amateur Junior Soccer League Organizing Committee)

2.

Co-Host:The Asahi Shimbun Company

3.

Body in Charge:

Shimizu Cup Amateur Junior Soccer League Executive Committee

4.

Sponsor:DAIICHI SANKYO HEALTHCARE CO., LTD.

5.

Support:Japan Sports Agency; Shizuoka Pref.; Shizuoka Pref. Board of Education; Shizuoka
City Board of Education; Shizuoka City Council; Shizuoka City Sports Assoc.;
Shimizu Ward Athletic Fed.; Shizuoka Asahi TV; The Asahi Gakusei Shimbun Co.;
Nikkan Sports News; The Shizuoka Chamber of Commerce & Industry; SURUGA
Marketing & Tourism Bureau; Shizuoka City Residents’ Assoc. Fed.; J-League(Japan Professional Football League); WE LEAGUE (Japan Women’s Empowerment
Professional Football League)

6.

Collaboration:

YONEX CO., LTD.; The Shimizu Bank Ltd.; The Shizuoka Bank Ltd.; Suzuyo Group;
ITEC Corp.; TOKAI Group; JA Shimizu; Shimizu Women’s Club; Shimizu Hotel InnUnion; Shizuoka City Hotel & Ryokan Assoc.; Fuji City Hotel & Ryokan Business
Assoc.; S-Pulse; IAI Corporation; and others

7.

Tournament
Period:Boys’ Division
Premier Cup:Sat 21 to Sun 22 Dec 2024

Sat 21 Dec

09:00: League matches

Sun 22 Dec

09:00: Tournament matches
based on league rankings
15:20: Final matchThurs 26 to Sat 28 Dec 2024
09:00: League matches

Prince Cup:Thurs 26 Dec

Fri 27 Dec
Sat 28 Dec

Girls’ DivisionPrincess Cup:Sat 21 Dec
Sun 22 Dec

8.

Venue:

09:00: Tournament matches
based on league rankings
09:00: Tournament matches
based on league rankings
10:50: Final MatchSat 21 to Sun 22 Dec 2024
09:00: League matches
09:00: Tournament matches
based on league rankings
15:20: Final match

IAI Stadium Nihondaira and other venues

National
Training
CenterShimizu J-Step (tentative)‘’‘’National
Training
CenterShimizu J-Step, Hebitsuka
Sports Ground, etc. (tentative)
‘’
‘’
IAI
Stadium(tentative)

Hebitsuka(tentative)

Sports‘’‘’Nihondaira

GroundNo. of Teams:

Boys’ Division, Premier Cup: 24 teams
Boys’ Division, Prince Cup: 72 teams (3 blocks of 24 teams)
Girls’ Division, Princess Cup: 24 Teams
Numbers of teams subject to change (reductions). Particulars for running matches insection 18(2) may change depending on number of teams.

10. No. of Registered
Participants per
Team:

5 Trainers
8-16 Players (please inquire if you plan to bring 17 or more)* Up to 3 trainers are allowed on the bench and must be listed on the program (atleast 2 are preferred).

11. Eligibility forParticipation:

(1)
(2)
(3)

12. Fees:(1) a. Boys’ Division Premier Cup and b. Girl’s Division Princess Cup
Total Participation Fee: 20,000 JPY per team
*Entry fee of 10,000 JPY plus program fee of 10,000 JPY (20 programs to be
distributed to each team).
c. Boys’ Division Prince Cup
Total Participation Fee: 25,000 JPY*Entry fee of 15,000 JPY plus program fee of 10,000 JPY (20 programs to be
distributed to each team).
(2) All transportation and accommodation costs are to be borne by the teams
themselves.

9.

Players and teams must be registered with the Japan Football Assoc. (JFA).
Players must agree to and uphold the values of JFA’s “Respect Project”.
Players in the Boys’ Division must be elementary school students born
between 2 April 2012 and 1 April 2015.
(4)Players in the Girls’ Division must be female elementary school students born
between 2 April 2012 and 1 April 2018.
(5)
For the Boy’s Division Prince Cup and the Girls Division, each JFA-registered
team can participate as up to two teams.
For the Boy’s Division Premier Cup, each JFA-registered team must
participate as a single team.
(6)
Teams must be enrolled in sports-related accident insurance.
(7)
Teams must agree to and uphold the 38th Shimizu Cup Amateur Junior Soccer
League guidelines, and all other rules related to the running of the tournament.
(8)Teams with selected players may not participate.
(9)
Association teams and teams from abroad must apply to the Executive
Committee in advance and receive approval before being allowed toparticipate.
(10) In principle, any association team restructuring must be done within the sameprefecture.
(11) Teams must participate in all events during the competition period.
(12) In addition to the above, teams must fulfill one of the following criteria toparticipate in the Boys’ Division Premier Cup.
a. Teams that have placed first or second in this competition.
b. Teams that have achieved good results in tournaments held by prefectural
football associations, and that the executive committee deems suitable totake part in this competition.
c. Teams from J-League subsidiary organizations.
d. Other teams that the executive committee deems equivalent to those in i toiii above.

13. Applications:(1) Boys’ Division Premier Cup
There will be no general applications. Teams will be selected by the executivecommittee.
Teams wishing to participate in the Boys’ Division Prince Cup and Girls’ DivisionPrincess Cup should apply via the website (https://www.kusa1987.jp).
(2) Boys’ Division Prince Cup
a. Applications for teams in charge of venue operations open Tue 4 June 2024.
b. General applications open 18:00, Mon 17 June 2024 (applications can bemade for up to two teams).
(3) Girls’ Division Princess Cup
a. Applications from teams in charge of venue operations open Tue 4 June2024.
b. General applications open Mon 17 June 2024, 18:00 (1st team) and Mon 24
June 2024 (2nd team).
⚫
⚫
⚫

⚫
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Application deadline: Tue 20 August 2024
Please transfer the participation fees immediately after applying (transfer fees
are to be borne by the applicant).
In principle, participation in the Boys’ Division Prince Cup and Girls’ DivisionPrincess Cup will be confirmed in order of fee payment. Participation in the Boys’
Division Premier Cup will be confirmed via the executive committee’s teamselection process.
Participation fees will not be refunded if teams cancel (due to their own reasons)after participation has been formalized.
If the tournament is cancelled due to reasons out of the control of the organizer,
such as earthquake, storm, flood, incident, accident, illness, the decision as towhether and to what extent participation fees will be refunded by will be madeconsidering actual costs incurred up to the point when cancellation was decided.

14. RegisteringPlayers andOfficials:⚫

15. Groupings:

Groupings will be decided by the Shimizu Cup Executive Committee.

16. Accommodation
Applications:

⚫

⚫

⚫

17. Running ofMatches:⚫
⚫

Confirmed teams must register participating players and officials via theShimizu Cup website by Tue 8 October.
Changes to registration details can be made up until Mon 21 October, after
which the program will be finalized. In principle, changes beyond this date willnot be accepted.

When applying to participate via the Shimizu Cup website, teams should state
whether they require accommodation.
Teams that require accommodation will be contacted directly by a travel agency
designated by the executive committee. Please apply via this travel agency.
Matches will be run mainly by the Competition Management Committee and theteams in charge of each venue.
In principle, the referees for this tournament will be high school students fromShizuoka City (Level 4 Referees), and records will be taken by junior high school
students from Shizuoka City.

18. Particulars for
Running Matches:(1) Match rules: Equivalent to Japan Football Assoc. (JFA) rules.
(2) Match Style: League matches in groups of 3 teams, followed by a rank-based
tournament.
(3) Methods for determining league rankings:⚫ By number of victory points (win=3, tie=1, loss=0)⚫ When still undecided, alternative methods will be used in the following
order: a. the victor when the applicable teams faced each other, b. goaldifferentials, c. total goals scored, d. coin toss (lottery in the case of 3 ormore teams).
(4) Match Length:⚫ Two halves of 20min each, with a 5min break in between. No extra time.
⚫ In principle, there will be 15min allocated after each match for a friendly
match. (This excludes each team’s 2nd match on the 2nd day of matches in
the Boys’ Division Premier Cup and the Girls’ Division Princess Cup, as wellas the 3rd day of matches.)⚫ If a victor has not been determined within the above time during rank-based
tournament matches, the victor will be determined via penalty shootout (3players per side).
(5) Procedure for events such as bad weather, natural disaster, or outbreak ofinfectious disease:a. Competition dates, content, match lengths, and kickoff times may be changed,
or the competition cancelled due to bad weather, natural disasters, etc.
(i) If, as at 4am, a warning has been announced, competition’s head office willhold a meeting from 5am and consider how to respond. If an advisory isannounced, the head office will consider whether to hold a meeting.
(ii) If the head office gives instructions to cancel part of the competition or change
its contents, the persons in charge at each venue will decide rankings using
whichever method is possible given the circumstances. The method used isto be stated on the record form and the results (including rankings in the caseof league matches) are to be reported. The aforementioned methods are to
be used in the following order of priority: ①Shortened match length; ②Penalty shootout; ③Coin toss. *Wins and losses for a given day’s matches
must be decided during the same day, by one method or another.
・Method for determining rankings if even one of the league matches isconducted using the above methods: ①Victory points; ②The victor whenapplicable teams faced each other if both teams have the same number ofvictory points; ③Coin toss (or lottery in the case of 3 or more teams)(iii) In an emergency, emails will be sent to the head chaperone for each teamand to each match venue.
b. In the event of an earthquake with seismic intensity of 5 or more, all matches forthe day will be cancelled and evacuation will take place. The tournament’s head
office will give instructions on how to proceed. Any matches that were inprogress at the time of the earthquake will be recorded as 0-0 draws.
c. If all the matches for a given day are cancelled due to factors such as badweather or natural disaster, in principle, the schedule will be postponed to thenext day or later. This may result in not all the matches in the competition
being played.
d. If a team withdraws during the competition, the team’s matches for the day ofwithdrawal will all be recorded as 0-8 losses-by-default.
e. In the case of withdrawals such as in the previous paragraph, in principle, thewithdrawing team will be excluded when deciding match pairings from thefollowing day onwards.

19. Competition
Rules:

Equivalent to JFA rules (2023-24) for teams of 8 players. Provided, however, that
Shimizu Cup rules apply with regards to the following:(1) As a rule, the field length (touchline) is 68m, and width (goal line) is 50m.
(2) The goals are youth sized.
(3) The match ball will be an official Size 4 (Youth) Ball (prepared by the head office)(4) Matches will have four referees (1 main referee, 2 assistant referees and a fourthreferee).
(5) Matches will not start if either team has less than 6 players. If, due to injury,
there are fewer than 6 players left on a team during a match, the match will bestopped. In this case, the score will be 0-8.
(6) The objective is for all registered players to play in each match.
(7) Player substitutions will be made using the substitution zone. There are no limits
on the number of players or times for substitution. Players that have left the field
once during a match are able to return. (Free Substitution) Furthermore,
approval is not needed for substitutions between field players. Substitutions
involving goalkeepers must be done with the approval of the main referee, while
the ball is out of play.
(8) When a player is sent off, their team can use a bench player to fill their position.
Players and coaches that are sent off will be banned for the following 1 match. This
competition will not implement bans due to accumulated warnings from different
matches.
(9) Both field players and goalkeepers must bring uniforms in two different color
options, with both color options bearing the same squad number on the back.
(10) Players must wear a uniform bearing a squad number that has been registered
for this tournament (registered squad number) on the back. However, when afield player takes on the role of goalkeeper (whether before or during a match)they may wear a goalkeeper uniform with a different number to their registeredsquad number, or a bib that is a different color to the field player uniforms (itdoesn’t matter whether the bib has a number, or what the number is). When agoalkeeper changes position to a field player during a match, they may keep on
the same shorts and socks and wear a field player jersey with a registered squad
number.
(11) Taping, etc. attached to or worn over the socks does not need to be the samecolor as the socks.
(12) Color of undershirts, undershorts, and tights is not designated. However, inprinciple, they should be the same between team members.
(13) Players must bring a digital Player ID or registered players list (with photos ofplayer’s faces) on the first day of the tournament and undergo a registration
check at the venue. Players whose registration cannot be confirmed will not beallowed to play. (Teams from overseas will be checked using a different formatof player list)(14) Two copies of the team roster should be brought to the head office at least 30
min prior to the start of the match (roster forms will be available during thetournament).
(15) The team with the lower team number uses the benches on the left side facing
the pitch and, in principle, wears their home uniform. Only those entered in thecompetition (and included on the members list) are allowed to sit on the bench.

Substitute players should wear different color clothes (bibs) to players on thepitch.
(16) The green card system will be in effect.
(17) In principle, a match welfare officer will be positioned at all tournament venues.
20. Awards:
Overall Rankings

Special Awards(Tentative)
Winning Team: Certificates, victors’ trophy, medals, City Council Chairperson’s Cup
2nd Place Team: Certificates, 2nd-place trophy, medals
3 rd Place Team: Certificates, 3rd-place trophy, medals
Three Tournament Awards (Fighting Spirit Award, Team Player Award, Good
Manners Award), Fair Play Awards (Captain Tsubasa Award, Shimizu Women’s ClubAward), MVP Awards, Player of Distinction Awards (medals)
The top teams in the Boys’ Division Prince Cup will earn a place in the Premier Cup
for the 39th Shimizu Cup Amateur Junior Soccer League.

21. Other:(1) All participating teams must submit the participation consent form (form 1) to thehead office of the venue on the first day of the competition. In addition, eachplayer (or other participant) must submit a participation consent form to the adultresponsible for their team.
(2) Dates, costs, and other stipulations in these guidelines are subject to changedue factors such as measures against Covid-19.

22. Contact:

Shimizu Cup Office
Location: Shimizu General Athletics Field Gym 2F
Address: 2-1-1 Seikai, Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka City, Shizuoka Pref. 424-0924 (Japan)
Tel: +81 54-337-0705 (weekdays 10:00 to 17:00; Japanese only)
Fax: +81 54-337-0722
URL: https://www.kusa1987.jp
Email: office@kusa1987.jp*The contents of these guidelines are subject to change.