Former league champions NTV Beleza opened their 2014 Japanese women’s Nadeshiko League campaign on a winning note on Saturday, beating AS Elfen Saitama 5-1 in the season’s opener at Ajinomoto Field West Stadium in Tokyo.
　Nadeshiko Japan midfielder Sakaguchi Mizuho opened the scoring for Beleza in the 31st minute and Momiki Yuka followed with a strike in the 42nd minute for the home team’s 2-0 lead at halftime. 　Two minutes after the break, they quickly added a third through Nakasato Yu.
　Saitama replied in the 51st minute through Suzuki Kaoruko, but 12-time league winners Beleza dominated the game and forward Momiki made it 4-1 in the 58th minute with her second goal of the day.
　Shimada Chiaki completed the scoring for Beleza in the closing minute.
　Reigning league champions INAC Kobe Leonessa will play their season opener against Urawa Reds Ladies at home on Sunday along with the remaining matches of the opening round.
　The women’s top flight introduced a new league system this season, in which 10 teams will compete on a home-and-away basis in the first half of the season.
　Based on those results, in the second half of the season the top six teams will play home and away in their quest for the league title.  
　The bottom four teams from the first half will also play against each other for the remaining half of the season, and the team that ends up in last place will be relegated to the Nadeshiko Challenge League to be replaced by the champions from Japan’s de facto second division.
　The ninth-placed team will play off against the Challenge League’s second-placed team for the final promotion/relegation spot.