However, the shock of demotion may have been the best thing to happen to the club in its entire history, and in a strange twist of fate, they may owe their subsequent success to one of the biggest financial mistakes (or perhaps "boondoggle" is a better word) in Nagano history. At a time when Japan was still assuming that its bid for the 2002 World Cup would be approved even without co-hosting support from Korea, Nagano politicians poured millions into construction efforts which were aimed not only at the World Cup, but also the Nagano Olympics. Once a building boom got started in the prefecture it was like a boulder breaking loose from a peak in the Northern Alps -- there was just no stopping it. Matsumoto did not benefit quite as much as the neighboring city of Nagano, but it did get a simply spectacular football-only stadium named Matsumoto "Alwin" Stadium. But due to the co-hosting, Japan had to eliminate several stadia from the hosting plan, and in the end Alwin Stadium was used only for one week, as a training facility for Paraguay's national team.

In 2003, the city was startiing to panic, wondering what they were going to do with a huge, state-of-the-art football only stadium and no football team to play in it. So when Yamaga Club was relegated in 2003, Matsumoto's city fathers decided they had to take action. An ambitions plan centering on the stadium -- known as the "Alwin Project" -- was established, and Yamaga Club became a central element of the plan. The team got a makeover, changing its name to Matsumoto Yamaga FC, adopting the Rock Ptarmigan (a bird that lives high in the mountains of Nagano) as its mascot, and beginning a modest programme of player acquisitions.

The Ptarmigans have been slowly building their base ever since. In 2006 they rebounded to the Hokushinetsu League's top division, and they claimed their second-ever league title the following year. Several former J.Leaguers have been lured in to serve as veteran "guides" for a relatively young core team, and based on their recent performance, they may be on the verge of reaching the JFL at last. Unfortunately, several other teams in the region have also become keen on reaching the J.League, so competition for a berth in the Nationwide Regional League Championship Tournament will be fierce. Nevertheless, Matsumoto Yamaga must be included among the leading candidates to win this year's competition

Formed more recently than their local rivals, the club was founded under the name "Nagano Elsa", in 1990. They took the name from Elsa, the lion star of the movie "Born Free", and consequently their choice of a mascot was never in doubt. The team began a slow climb throough the lower ranks and only gained promotion to the top Prefectural League in 2000. However, from there the momentum for growth surged ahead, and after winning promotion to the Hokushinetsu League at the end of the same year, they claimed their first Hokushinetsu title in 2002.

Nagano Elsa won their second Regional League title in 2005, in dramatic fashion, crushing Kanazawa SC, who were leading the race at that stage, in a 6-1 rout on the penultimate week of the season. At this point the team seems to have reached the conclusion that it was time for a concerted push towards JFL admission and ultimate advancement to the J.League. In mid-2006 they hired the aging Brazilian coaching legend Valdeir "Badu" Vieira, whose credentials include national team stints with Costa Rica, Iran and Oman.

At the end of the year the team changed its name to "AC Nagano Parceiro" and adopted a corporate structure that meets J.League requirements. In 2008, Parceiro won the Hokushinetsu Regional League title for the third time, but failed to make any progress in the Nationwide Regional League Championship Tournament. The groundwork has clearly been laid in Nagano, but they may need to attract some former J.Leaguers if they hope to move on to the next stage.

A reduction in the number of teams in the Hokushinetsu League, ahead of the 1997 season, claimed Kanazawa SC as its most prominent victim, and for the next four seasons they were forced to look up at their former foe from the depths of the Ishikawa Regional League. But this was simply the prelude to a dramatic recovery of the sort that seems to be commonplace in Japanese history. When two closely-matched rivals meet on the field of battle, the first opponent to experience defeat, retreat, and a period in the wilderness invariably manages to regroup, focus its resources and stage a triumphant counterattack that crushes the opponent.

For Kanazawa SC the resurgence began in 2000 when the team finally regained a berth in the Hokushinetsu League. The following season the team overtook Teihens FC and finished third. Finally, in 2004, Kanazawa SC claimed its first-ever Hokushinetsu Leaguetitle. The momentum was unmistakable, and as more and more local fans jumped on the bandwagon, Kanazawa SC began to lay the groundwork for a J.League bid.

At the end of 2005 the team formed an independent corporation, Ishikawa Football Club Co., Ltd., and persuaded former JEF United star and NHK football commentator Michel Miyazawa to serve as the team's advisor and Technical DIrector. The following year the team adopted a new name to go with its new organization -- Zweigen Kanazawa. The name is derived from the German words "Zwei" (2) and "Gehen" (to go). It is supposed to indicate that the team and its fans, together, will advance to future glory as a professional football club. Based on the team's results since the name change, however, a more appropriate interpretation seems to be: "Go finish in second place"..

Be that as it may, Kanazawa does seem to have a credible candidate for J.League admission, at last. The competition from other ambitious teams like Matsumoto Yamaga and Nagano Parceiro may make it difficult for Zweigen to meet their goals immediately, but with a number of former J.Leaguers joining the roster in 2009, promotion to the JFL is not out of the question.

The name of the club was changed once or twice, but by the mid-1980s -- under the name "Nishitomo Club" -- it had accumulated enough "graduates" who wanted to continue playing that the organization formed a "seniors" team. By the early 1990s this team had advanced to the Hokushinetsu League for the first time. But following a string of low-end finishes it returned to the Toyama Prefectural league at the end of 1996. At about this time the club (that is to say, the soccer school) adopted the corporate name "Valiente Toyama Junior Co., Ltd.", and the youth teams took part in local leagues under the moniker Valiente Toyama Junior. To distinguish themselves from the kids, the adult team adopted its current official name, "Valiente Toyama Senior", though most people simply refer to it as Valiente Toyama.

Football in Toyama has received a huge boost over the past two years with the formation of Kataller Toyama, and that team's subsequent advance to the J2, at the end of 2008. Naturally this rules out any prospects for Valiente to raise its ambitions any higher than the JFL. In a region where most clubs are becoming increasingly professional, Valiente will face stiff competition just to maintain its spot in the Hokushinetsu Regional League. Onthe other hand, the increased interest in football in Toyama city should have some benefits for the club, and perhaps it can maintain its current position as a feisty amateur club, battling for survival among the bigger fish.

It is conceivable that "the CUPS" could manage another title if they have a bit of luck and if the main opposition takes them too lightly. Unlike the presumably J.League-bound teams, Japan Soccer College has a relatively young squad with lots of energy and tremendous motivation. After all, what better way to attract the attention of Albirex' coaches than to put in a star performance on the school's championship-winning team? This can be an important advantage when playing against teams of lifetime amateurs bolstered by a few thirtysomething former J.Leaguers. Probably the competition from Matsumoto Yamaga, Nagano Parceiro and Zweigen Kanazawa will be a bit more than the college kids can overcome in 2009. But nobody should view the CUPS as an empty threat.

Ueda is Nagano's third city, and unlike Matsumoto and Nagano, which lie in a broad valley with many outlying towns and suburban areas, Ueda is a fairly compact city in a bucholic and isolated pocket on the mountain road from northern Nagano to the Kanto area. While it does have its own distinctive history and identity, it is questionable whether it is large enough to support a professional team. Though the team has now regained its spot in the top Hokushinetsu division, only time will tell whether this Gentian can bear fruit.

But in 2006, local leaders decided to change all that, and established a new independent corporation aimed at developing a J.League team in the prefecture. Kanazu FC was adopted as the base for this effort, mainly because it was the only club in the area which had ever managed to make it into the Hokushinetsu Regional League. Thus, in 2006, the newly formed "Saurcos Fukui" began its climb towards the J.League from the Hokushinetsu League's second division.

Saurcos takes its name from the denizens of Jurassic Park. Thats right . . . according to the club, the name means "Dinosaur Army", though they neglect to mention which language this term supposedly is derived from. The name is fairly catchy, though, and the potential for future development of this theme in graphic design is intriguing (to be honest, the current "Barney-ish" rendering of their mascot is bound to invite laughs from opposing teams, rather than foreboding. But the team flag points in a very interesting direction).

Saurcos Fukui's progress, in its breif history, has been quite good. The team earned promotion to the top Hokushinetsu division in its first year under the new name. A seventh-place finish in 2008 was somewhat less impressive, but give them some time. Last time around it took 600 million years for dinosaurs to reach the top of the competitive pyramid. Hopefully it wont take quite as long in this incarnation.

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For the time being, however, their main challenge is just to break back into the first division. Ferverosa was relegated in 2008, after their weakest performance this decade, and if they want people in the area to take their bid seriously (particularly now that Zweigen Kanazawa has thrown their hat into the ring), the club will need to improve the quality of their roster significantly. We think the team can rebound to Division I at the end of this season, but what happens after that is anyone's guess.

The "antelope" which represents this club is actually a type of mountain goat -- the Japanese Serow -- which lives in the mountains of Nagano, Niigata, Gifu and Toyama prefectures. This animal was also adopted as a mascot by Alo's Hokuriku, one of the teams that later merged to form Kataller Toyama. The team began to improve its competitiveness under the new name and a new coach, Masaaki Nakazawa, and it eventually earned promotion to the Hokushinetsu Regional League in 2003. At the end of 2003, when the league split into two divisions, Antelope FC was relegated to the lower division. However, the following season the club earned promotion to the top division once more, and celebrated by changing its name to "FC Antelope Shiojiri". Unfortunately, as competition grew increasingly intense and rivals set their sights on future professional status, the Pronghorns were only able to remain in division I for a single season. Since 2006 they have been a member of the Hokushinetsu Regional League Division II.

Isolated in the most remote area of the Japan Sea coast, Kanazawa was always a bit of a "Japanese Switzerland" -- robust enough and isolated enough to maintain its independence, yet not strong enough to challenge any of its more powerful neighbors, this region survived the vicissitudes of the Warring States period as well as the Edo era without ever really changing its hereditary leadership or its insular character. So when real change finally arrived, the feifdom collapsed entirely, losing even the magnificent castle that commanded a steep bluff in the center of the city and symbolized Kanazawa for six centuries.

In much the same way, the changes blowing through Japan's football kingdom seem to have brought Teihens to its knees. In 2006 local fans organized to establish Zweigen Kanazawa (on the base of Teihens' closest traditional rival, Kanazawa FC), and in doing so, they dealt a sudden and dramatic death blow to the formerly proud, if mediocre team. Teihens was relegated to the second division that same year, they finished a disastrous seventh in division 2, in 2007, and in 2008 they were sent back in disgrace to the Ishikawa Prefectural League.

It is still a bit too early to declare Teihens FC dead and buried. Most of the players have already fled to the Zweigen fold, but considering the team's long history, thre are still enough "old boys" and lifetime supporters around to keep the team afloat. Perhaps the disgrace of 2008's return to the prefectural league will energise these supporters, and provide the team with the impetus to climb back towards the regional league ranks. Nevertheless, Zweigen has clearly taken over the castle, and only a merger with their local rival would allow Teihens to return to the heights it once called home.

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