Author: lojmit

2026 Prefectural Championships

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SRC Hiroshima and supporters. Source.

This year Round One of the Emperor’s Cup has been shifted from May to August. Some prefectural associations have followed suit, moving their championships to late July or early August, but most kept to the traditional spring schedule.

April 19th:
36th Akita Prefecture General Soccer Championship Final:
North Asia University 1 – 3 Akita University
31st Shimane Prefecture Football Championship Final:
Bergarosso Iwami 4 – 0 Forza Hikawa
MIKASACUP All Hiroshima Football Championship Final Tournament – Final:
Fukuyama City FC 1-1 SRC Hiroshima (SRC won on PK)
46th Okayama Prefecture Football Championship Final:
Okayama University 0-2 International Pacific University

April 26th:
31st Annual Saitama Cup Final:
Josai University 1-3 Tokyo International University FC
30th Yamagata Prefecture Football Championship Final:
Oyama Soccer Club 7-0 Tohoku University of Community Service and Science
79th Aomori Prefecture Football Championship Final:
ReinMeer Aomori 4-0 Hachinohe Gakuin University

May 9th:
31st Chiba Prefecture Football Championship
Briobecca Urayasu Ichikawa 4-1 FC Grasion Tokatsu
31st Tokyo Football Tournament
Yokogawa Musashino FC 0-1 Criacão Shinjuku
AIFA 31st Aichi Prefecture Football Championship
FC Maruyasu Okazaki 1-1 FC Kariya (Maruyasu win on PK)
Kyoto FA Cup 2026 31st Kyoto Football Championship
Kyoto Sangyo University 2-1 Doshisha University
2026 (29th) Hyogo Prefecture Football Championship
FC Basara Hyogo 2-1 Kwansei Gakuin University

May 10th:
2026 HKFA 8th Hokkaido Football Championship
BTOP Hokkaido 0 – 1 Sapporo University Goal Plunderers
76th Iwate Prefecture Football Championship
Iwate Grulla Morioka 2-0 FC Ganju Iwate Kahoku Cup
30th Miyagi Prefecture Football Championship
Sendai University 0 – 1 Tohoku Gakuin University
29th Ibaraki Prefecture Football Championship
University of Tsukuba 1-2 Ryutsu Keizai University
31st Yamanashi Prefecture Amateur Football Championship Spring Tournament
Yamanashi Gakuin University 1-0 Yamanashi Gakuin University Pegasus
2026 Niigata Nippo Cup / Kyodo News Cup 31st Niigata Prefecture Football Championship
Niigata University of Health and Welfare 2-2 Japan Soccer College (Japan Soccer College win on PK)
31st Toyama Prefecture Football Championship
Toyama Shinjo Club 4-0 N-Style
2026 Fukui Prefecture Football Championship
Fukui United FC 2-1 Sakai Phoenix
2026 Shizuoka Prefecture Football Championship
Azul Claro Numazu 0-0 Honda FC (Azul Claro win on PK)
2026 Mie Prefecture Football Championship, 31st Edition
Veertien Mie 0-1 Atletico Suzuka
Nakata Foods Cup 31st Wakayama Prefecture Football Championship
FC Azul Wakayama 1-9 Arterivo Wakayama
2026 31st Tokushima Prefecture Football Championship
Yellow Monkeys 0-9 FC Tokushima
SFA 31st Saga Prefecture Football Championship
Brew Saga 0-1 Kawazoe Club
37th Nagasaki Prefecture Football Championship
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki SC 1-2 Nagasaki International University
2026 Oita Prefecture Football Championship
Verspah Oita 3-0 J-Lease FC
MFA 30th Miyazaki Nichinichi Shimbun Flag MRT Cup Miyazaki Prefecture Football Championship
Veloskronos Tsuno 1-0 FC Nobeoka Agata

July 25th:
Fukushima Minpo Cup/NHK Cup 31st Fukushima Prefecture Football Championship
Fukushima United 7 – 0 Furukawa FC (including a goal by 59-year-old Kazuyoshi Miura. Story.)
41st Kagoshima Football Championship
Kagoshima United 1 – 0 NIFS Kanoya

July 26th:
69th Tottori Prefecture Football Championship
Gainare Tottori 2 – 0 Yonago Genki SC
31st Kagawa Prefecture Football Championship
Kamatamare Sanuki 4 – 0 Sonio Takamatsu
31st Kochi Prefecture Football Championship
Kochi United 4 – 0 Kochi University

July 29th:
55th Ishikawa Prefecture Football Championship
Zweigen Kanazawa 0 – 1 Kanazawa Seiryo University

August 1st:
NEZAS Cup 31st Tochigi Prefecture Football Championship
Tochigi SC 4 – 1 Tochigi City U-25
Reiwa 8 (2026) Gunma Prefecture Football Association President’s Cup
Thespa Gunma 2 – 0 Tonan Maebashi
31st Kanagawa Prefecture Football Championship
SC Sagamihara 0 – 1 Senshu University
31st Gifu Prefecture Football Championship
FC Gifu 11 – 0 FC Bombonera
31st Shiga Prefecture Football Championship
Reilac Shiga 1 – 0 Moriyama Samurai 2000
31st Nara Prefecture Football Championship
Nara Club 1 – 0 Ikoma FC Nara
Reiwa 8th Year Yamaguchi Prefecture Football Championship
Renofa Yamaguchi 6 – 1 Baleine Shimonoseki
2026 Ehime Prefecture Football Championship
Ehime FC 2 – 0 Revenirosso
2026 Fukuoka Prefecture Football Championship, 30th Edition
Giravanz Kitakyushu 3 – 2 Fukuoka University

August 2nd:
31st Nagano Prefecture Football Championship
Nagano Parceiro [2 – 0] Matsumoto Yamaga
2026 Osaka Football Championship, 31st Edition
FC Osaka [3 – 1] Tiamo Hirakata
The Times Cup OFA 31st Okinawa Prefecture Football Championship
Okinawa SV [3 – 0] FC Ryukyu
The Emperor’s Cup JFA 106th All Japan Football Championship Kumamoto Prefecture Representative Selection Match was cancelled following the July 28th Kumamoto earthquake and Roasso Kumamoto have been designated the Kumamoto representative.

Source.

PS Caledonia

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The life of a Clyde paddle steamer is nowhere near as tough as the life of a Greenock pedestrian underpass beautification scheme. Read about it.

The 2026-27 SPFL Championship begins. Morton embark on their twelfth consecutive season in this division. Since 1994 Morton has been the Championship’s most frequent member. (See below.)

There are three new teams this year: St Johnstone, Airdrie and Ross County are out; Livingston, Inverness CT and Stenhousemuir are in. Stenny have never played in the Championship before. The last time Inverness and Livingston were in the Championship together (2017-18) Dumbarton and Brechin were also in it. Dumbarton are now in League 2 and Brechin are in the Lowland League East.

Morton tend to do well in seasons ending in 6 and 7. They won promotion in 2006-07, 1986-87, 1966-67 and 1936-37. They finished second in the SFL in 1916-17, behind only Celtic. The last time they made the promotion playoffs was in 2016-17.

However, they finished dead last among Championship clubs in the League Cup group stage.

Morton are scoreless in their first four competitive matches of the season, a club record. The next worse start is 1998-99 when they went without a goal in their first three matches.

Today Morton host Partick Thistle. The last time Morton opened the league season with a match against Partick Thistle at Cappielow was August 10th, 1991. Morton won 2 – 1.

Partick’s manager is Mark Wilson, who has been in the job since February 2025. His record against Morton is 3 wins, 2 draws and 0 losses.

Partick Thistle’s Alex Samuel played for Morton in 2015-16, as did Robbie Crawford from 2022 to 2024. Goalkeeper Lewis Budinaukas made four appearances for Morton in 2024. Cale Loughrey is a former HFX Wanderer. Nobody on the present Morton squad has played for Partick.

Morton have signed 20-year-old goalkeeper Elyh Harrison on loan from Manchester United.

[Morton 0 – 1 Partick Thistle]

The other Championship matches:
Ayr United [2 – 0] Arbroath
Inverness CT [0 – 0] Dunfermline Athletic
Livingston [2 – 0] Queen’s Park
Raith Rovers [1 – 1] Stenhousemuir

Other matches:
Celtic B 6 – 1 Clydebank (July 28)
Carluke Rovers 2 – 2 East Kilbride YM (July 28)
Greenock High School Former Pupils AFC 4 – 2 Houston AFC (July 28)
Port Glasgow 3 – 0 Kilsyth Athletic (July 29)
Scrosoppi 7 – 2 North Toronto (yesterday)
St Pauli [2 – 2] Deportivo de A Coruña (friendly)
Stirling Albion [2 – 0] Dumbarton
Albion Rovers [0 – 2] Largs Thistle
Invergordon [1 – 2] Lossiemouth
Ashfield [0 – 3] Port Glasgow
Greenock Juniors [1 – 3] Yoker Athletic
Greenock HSFP [5 – 2] Plains AFC
Kello Rovers [1 – 4] Carluke Rovers
Calgary Stampeders [44 – 20] Hamilton Tiger-Cats
Hokkaido Tokachi Sky Earth [4 – 0] Norbritz Hokkaido (tomorrow)
Göteborg [2 – 0] Degerfors (tomorrow) [Halfway through the season Göteborg are 13th out of 16.]
East Fife [6 – 0] Morton Women (tomorrow)
HFX Wanderers [0 – 0] Forge (tomorrow)

Video: Footy Adventures visits Largs Thistle.

Scottish Cup, preliminary round 1:
St Andrews United [1 – 0] Jeanfield Swifts
Whitletts Victoria [1 – 0] Sauchie Juniors
Hawick Royal Albert [1 – 2] Penicuik Athletic
Glenafton Athletic [0 – 0] Stonehaven [Stonehaven win on PK]
Shortlees Amateurs [2 – 3] Dundee North End
Shortlees are here as Scottish Amateur Cup holder, Dundee North End as Midlands League champion, Stonehaven as North of Scotland League champion. The rest are SFA members.

UEFA Champions League QR2, leg 2:
Hearts 0 – 2 Sturm Graz (July 28)
Red Star Belgrade 5 – 0 Larne (July 29)
Shamrock Rovers 2 – 1 Ararat-Armenia (July 28)
Hearts, Larne and Shamrock Rovers all drop to the Europa League.

UEFA Conference League QR2, leg 2 (all July 30):
HB 0 – 3 Motherwell
Hibs 4 – 1 Maleshiva
Kalju 2 – 1 Shelbourne
Coleraine 0 – 3 HJK
The New Saints 1 – 0 Flora
Ballkani 3 – 2 Bohemians
Derry City 0 – 1 Rijeka
Levadia 1 – 3 Göteborg
Bohemians, Göteborg, Hibs, Motherwell and Shelbourne advance. Coleraine, Derry City and The New Saints are out.

UEFA has voted to boycott the World Cup if FIFA proceeds with its plan to privatize the tournament.

Years in tiers since 1994:

That Was the Group Stage That Was

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Morton defeated Hibs to make it into the 1963-64 League Cup final. Source.

The League Cup group stage comes to a conclusion today.

Matchday Four was Tuesday. Morton were off that day, so I didn’t make a post about it. The scores were:
East Fife 3 – 1 Linlithgow Rose
Inverness CT 1 – 0 St Johnstone

Group F standings after Day Four:

Today Morton host Inverness Caledonian Thistle. ICT enter today’s game with 8 points, Morton with 0. No Championship side has ever finished the modern group stage with 0 points. Brechin finished with 2 points in 2017-18. Dumbarton finished with 2 in 2016-17 and with 1 in 2017-18.

ICT’s head coach is Scott Kellacher who has been in the role since October 2024. No one on the ICT squad has played for Morton. No one on the Morton squad has played for ICT. The last Morton player to score against ICT was Kirk Broadfoot, May 3rd, 2024.

ICT are newly promoted to the Championship, so today’s match will give Morton an idea of what they’re in for this coming season.

Last weekend 15-year-old Calan Burgess became the youngest-ever Morton first-team player when he subbed on at 78′.

This is an A Ton of Snow Championship League Cup Round One match.

Morton [0 – 1] Inverness CT
St Johnstone [1 – 1] East Fife [East Fife win on PK]

Group F final standings:

The Lowland League begins today, or rather the Lowland Leagues. There are now two parallel leagues, East with 16 teams and West with 17. The Lowland League East is made up of eleven of last season’s Lowland League clubs, plus Brechin City from the Highland League, Lochee United from the Midlands League, and Hill of Beath Hawthorn, Musselburgh Athletic and Dunipace from the East of Scotland League. The Lowland League West has only six of last season’s Lowland League clubs, plus Dalbeattie Star and Newton Stewart from the South of Scotland League, and nine West of Scotland League clubs. Let’s follow Clydebank and Largs Thistle, both of the Lowland League West.

Clydebank [4 – 2] Newton Stewart
Largs Thistle [2 – 0] Cumbernauld Colts
Now that they’re in the Lowland League Largs have had to give up their 2:00 pm starts, but they’ve managed to keep them in the South Challenge Cup and Scottish Communities Cup.

Other matches:
Unionville Milliken 1 – 2 Scrosoppi (July 22)
St Pauli 1 – 4 AFC Bournemouth (friendly) (yesterday)
Raith Rovers 0 – 1 Hearts (friendly) (yesterday)
HFX Wanderers 2 – 3 Supra (yesterday) HFX goals by Kachwele and Linder.
HFX Wanderers U21 1 – 2 Nottingham Forest Academy at Charlottetown (yesterday)
HFX Wanderers have acquired forward Adonijah Reid (formerly of Pacific FC and York United) from SC Jacksonville in exchange for Marcus Godinho.
Dumbarton [2 – 0] Cove Rangers
Fraserburgh [0 – 0] Invergordon
Greenock Juniors [3 – 0] Girvan
St Andrews United [6 – 1] Edinburgh South
St Patrick’s FP vs Greenock HS FPs AFC
Larkhall Thistle [2 – 1] Port Glasgow Juniors
Royal Albert [1 – 1] Carluke Rovers
Vancouver Rise [0 – 1] Halifax Tides [Goal by de Filippo.]
Sabas [0 – 5] Hokkaido Tokachi Sky Earth (tomorrow)
Sirius [4 – 1] Göteborg (tomorrow)
Scrosoppi [2 – 1] International FC (tomorrow)
Ti-Cats [18 – 31] Alouettes (tomorrow)

Daizen Maeda is headed for Ipswich Town.

2026-27 UEFA Champions League, 2QR, leg 1 (July 21):
Sturm Graz 4 – 0 Hearts
Larne 0 – 4 Red Star Belgrade
Ararat-Armenia 2 – 0 Shamrock Rovers

2026-27 UEFA Europa League, 2QR, leg 1 (July 23):
There’s no club from Scotland, Wales or either Ireland in this round.

2026-27 UEFA Conference League, 2QR, leg 1 (mostly July 23):
Motherwell 2 – 0 HB (Faroes)
Maleshiva (Kosovo) 2 – 0 Hibs
Shelbourne 5 – 2 Kalju (Estonia)
HJK (Finland) 5 – 0 Coleraine
Flora (Estonia) 1 – 0 The New Saints
Bohemians 2 – 1 Ballkani (Kosovo) (July 22)
Rijeka (Croatia) 1 – 0 Derry City
Göteborg 1 – 2 Levadia (Estonia)