Arab News Japan

DUBAI: The 13^th edition of the Japanese Gulf Cup is set to take place on Feb. 3 with football players from the Japanese community in GCC countries competing in the tournament.

In the UAE, there will be seven teams competing: two from the Dubai, one from Abu Dhabi, two from Saudi Arabia, one joint team with Bahrain, one from Singapore and one from Thailand.

President of Dubai Japanese Association Football Team, Dubai Blue Jun Negishi spoke to Arab News Japan about the physical and mental preparations the teams must go through right before the tournament starts.

“We have this event every year, but throughout the year we tend to practice and join local soccer leagues,” Negishi said. “Around October and November, People start preparing and practicing, the Qatar World Cup also helped with that this year.”

According to Negishi, Dubai Blue was split into two teams, one called Dubai Blue Oceans and the other Dubai Blue Falcons.

With the Qatar World Cup recently ending, the Dubai Blue manager explained that it was inspiring for players to watch the Samurai Blue’s outstanding performance at the global tournament.

“They beat Germany and Spain, it was an amazing advancement in Japanese football,” he said. “Our team was very excited watching this, it helps a lot with motivation.”

Negishi told Arab News Japan that the national football team’s performance helped increase participation for the upcoming Japanese Gulf Cup.

“50-70 people registered by the end of November, after the World Cup, I saw quite a lot of newcomers in both adult and kids teams,” he added.

The fans at the tournament generally include friends and family members of the players, however Negishi said it would be exciting to one day include people from other communities like the Chinese or Korean communities.

Read more: Japanese Football Association hosts exciting tournament in Dubai