On 12 November, the 4th All Japan Seniors (over 40) Football Tournament will kick off in Fujieda city, Shizuoka. This article is about the story of former Japanese squad forward MAEDA Osamu, who plays in this tournament. He talks about why he wanted to start senior football as well as about his team T-Dreams.

――Why did you start senior football?

Maeda: After my retirement in 1996, I became a football coach and I then had some time that I worked in a different career. During that period of time, I played for the team of ex-squad players but only occasionally. Ten years after I stopped working for football, I was 41 years old, and my ex-high school teammate of Teikyo High School invited me to play together in his team. Since I had been away from football, I was excited to play football again. At the same time, I had interest in senior football because I didn’t know that there were opportunities for senior people to enjoy football.

――What are routine activities of T-Dreams?

Maeda: Most of T-Dreams’s members are ex-players of Teikyo High School Football Club. Our season starts with a qualifier for the national tournament and a senior league in March, and we have official matches every weekend until November. When we don’t have these official matches, we organise practice matches to maintain our level. When I joined in the team, our main activity was playing matches but 2 years ago when HONDA Yasuto joined us as a playing manager, we started to practice more and all of our activities as a team became more active. Members are bonded with a sense pride “we are players of Teikyo”. Even now we have to keep the strict relationship as younger and senior players amongst each other like we used to have, but most of all we are united well with a good mood in this age group.

――Are there any particular things that you experience as the team of a strong former high school team?

Maeda: Since we were the strong team at that time, many opposing teams face us to take their revenge. In Tokyo Senior Football League there are many teams who try to beat us remembering the bitter memories of being beaten when they were younger. In this age group, all of us should be busy and there are responsibilities to spend weekends with their families, but somehow our opposing teams in the senior league play against us with their best members. We find it quite funny and enjoy this “fate” even after decades. However, you can see this is how much our opponents are highly motivated to play against us.

――Any characteristics of the team?

Maeda: We are often told that we have decent skills with a good knowledge of football. These are based on our experience in playing for the Teikyo High School Football Club, and I think it enables us to keep taking control in any of our matches. Since this year, the regulations changed and regional squad teams cannot qualify for the tournament, and I have heard that the teams who will play in the tournament can get the information of the other teams more easily. The teams we struggled against in the qualification rounds were the ones who focused on defending before counter-attacking. As a forward player, how to break through this type of persistent defence is my challenge.

The 4th All Japan Seniors (over 40) Football Tournament

2016-11-12(Sat.)-14(Mon.)
Match Venue： Fujieda Sports Complex Park Athletic Field(Natural Turf), Sports Complex Park Athletic Field (Artificial Turf), Fujieda Sports Complex Park Soccer Stadium (Natural Turf), Fujieda City Soccer Ground (Natural Turf)
Tournament Information