November 11 – Japan took the AFC U-19 Women’s Championship beating North Korea 2-1 at the Chonburi Stadium in Thailand at the weekend.
Japan will defend their U-20 World title at the finals next year that look most likely to be hosted in Nigeria. They will be joined by North and South Korea from the Asian Confederation. South Korea beat Australia 9-1 in the third place paly-off.
The Nigerian championship will be the tenth U-20 Women’s World Cup, held every two years. The AFC’s U-19 championship was its sixth and once again showed the domination of Japan and the Koreans in the women’s youth game in the region.
Japan, who were appearing in their seventh youth final, sealed their third consecutive title triumph thanks to goals from Yuzuki Yamamoto and Hana Takahashi.
Saturday’s final was the fifth major women’s youth final between DPR Korea and Japan in four years. The two nations have amassed a staggering six world titles between them – North Korea have four global championships and Japan two.
AFC President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa said: “Japan have performed remarkably over the past two weeks and the whole Asian football family joins me in congratulating them not only for this tournament, but for their incredible consistency over the years.
“Together with DPR Korea and Korea Republic, I am confident that our three representatives will make us proud and continue Asia’s excellent women’s youth football record on the world stage.
“Both the DPR Korea Football Association and Japan Football Association deserve our praise for showing great vision and capability in producing world-class youth teams and their achievement in every way exemplifies our Vision to see our teams succeed in the world’s biggest competitions.”
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