Football at the 2024 Inter High School Sports Festival – Men's tournament

The men's football tournament at the 2024 Inter High School Sports Festival (令和6年度全国高等学校総合体育大会サッカー競技大会; Reiwa 6 Inter High School Sports Festival Football Tournament) marks the 68th edition of the Festival's football tournament.^[1] It will be held from 26 July to 3 August 2024 on Fukushima Prefecture, during the high school summer break in Japan. It will be contested by 52 prefectural qualifications' winning schools, with two teams from Fukushima (host), Hokkaido, Tokyo, Kanagawa and Osaka, and one team from each of the other prefectures.

The defending champions are Meishu Gakuen Hitachi, from Ibaraki Prefecture, who won the 2022 final against Toko Gakuen by 7–6 on penalties, after a 2–2 draw after extra-time. On the previous edition, curiously, neither of the teams who played at the semi-finals were on 2023 at the U-18 Premier League, the top division for youth teams in Japan.^[2]

During the tournament, all matches will have a duration of 70 minutes, split into two halves of 35 minutes each, with a draw in normal time leading the match directly into penalty shoot-outs. In the final, in case of a draw, the match will be led into an extra-time of 20 minutes, split into two halves of 10 minutes. Only after extra-time, should the draw persists, there will be penalty shoot-outs.

By online streaming, in the 2023 edition, the entire tournament was streamed on inhai.tv, a website within control of SportsBull. The semi-finals and the final were also streamed on J-Sports. By TV, the final was broadcast by J Sports 4.^[3] There is no confirmation about the broadcasting of the 2024 tournament.^[4]

Calendar

Venues

The men's tournament will be held on different areas within Fukushima Prefecture. It's the second time that Fukushima hosts the football tournament, with its first time being on 1978.^[6][7][8][9]

• Iwaki – Hawaiians Stadium Iwaki and Aloha Field
• Naraha – J-Village and Sumiko Energy Materials Naraha Pitch
• Hirono – J-Village Stadium and Hirono Football Field

Participating schools

• Note: In the sections below, team tiers (league levels) will be presented as follows:
  • National: (1): Premier League
  • Regional: (2): Prince League 1st Divs.; (3): Prince Leagues 2nd Divs.
  • Prefectural: (4): Prefectural League 1st Divs.; (5): Prefectural League 2nd Divs.

Schedule

The pairings and match-ups for the tournament are yet to be announced by the Japan Football Association. It will likely be announced after the completion of all qualification rounds.^[11]

References

External links

• Official Schedule (JFA)
• About the Tournament (JFA)