There were a couple of surprise eliminations as the Emperor's Cup JFA 105th Japan Football Championship 1st Round got underway on Saturday, with Veroskronos Tsuno of the Japanese Regional Leagues defeating 2025 MEIJI YASUDA J3 LEAGUE side Gainare Tottori 2-1 and S.C. Sagamihara, also of the J3 LEAGUE, claiming a 1-0 victory over one of the 2025 MEIJI YASUDA J2 LEAGUE’s in-form sides, Mito Hollyhock.
Tsuno, who play in the Kyushu Soccer League, took the lead through Kanta Matsumoto in the 20th minute, before Shuto Kammera doubled the hosts’ advantage in the 67th minute. Makoto Fukoin pulled one back for Tottori with 14 minutes remaining, but Tsuno stood firm to see out a famous win.
Things were tighter at K's denki Stadium Mito, where the deadlock wasn’t broken until very late on by visitors Sagamihara. Yuki Muto, who won the Emperor's Cup in 2018 when playing for Urawa Reds, struck the only goal of the game in the 86th minute, side-footing home from close to the penalty spot.
There was another tight battle in Shikoku, where Kamatamare Sanuki and Kochi United SC needed a penalty shoot-out to be separated after a thrilling 2-2 draw.
Visitors Kochi took the lead through Masaki Shintani in the 50th minute, but Kazuki Iwamoto equalised for Sanuki nine minutes later to send the game into extra-time. Shosei Kozuki then put Kochi back in front three minutes into the second period of extra-time, but Taiga Maekawa again struck back for Sanuki with four minutes remaining.
Kochi managed to best hold their nerve from 12 yards, however, converting all five of their spot kicks to progress as 5-4 victors.
Meanwhile, J3 LEAGUE side Nara Club needed extra-time to secure a 3-1 win over Niigata University of Health and Welfare.
Konosuke Takehara’s equaliser in the 75th minute for NUHW cancelled out Kensei Nakashima’s 25th-minute opener for Nara, but Nagi Kawatani and Shota Tamura both found the net again for Nara in extra-time.
Elsewhere, Tochigi SC were the day’s biggest winners as they beat Oyama SC 5-0 thanks to a Soki Hoshino hat-trick and goals from Taiyo Igarashi and Rita Mori, FC Gifu beat Toyama Shinjo Club 3-1 - Shohei Aihara, Kentaro Kai, and Riku Nozawa all on the scoresheet for FC Gifu and Koya Matsuoka hitting a late consolation for Toyama Shinjo - and Ryo Kubota’s solitary 55th-minute strike was enough to earn Ehime FC a 1-0 win against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki SC.
