2018 Pearl Bowl


The Pearl Bowl is a spring mini-tournament for XLeague (X1 Division) teams that serves as both preseason & exhibition showcase for the Kanto region.

Given that Osaka’s Panasonic Impulse is the only non-Kanto team to even reach a Japan X Bowl in the past 16 seasons, it also offers a chance to see some of the best football Japan has to offer this time of year.

The 2018 edition of the Pearl Bowl kicked off on April 21st at Fujitsu Stadium, Kawasaki – the location of all games bar the final, which takes place on June 28th in Tokyo Dome.

The tournament has four groups of three teams competing in a round-robin format, with the winners of each group progressing directly to the semifinals.

The groups are seeded which generally means most of the early contests end up being facile victories as the lowest ranked team in each group plays the two sides above it first. Given that the bottom team would be expected to lose both of those games, it sets up the final round of group games as quarterfinals in effect.

However a couple of factors this year have led to some surprisingly competitive early games and one shock result.

 

2018 April 21st


Lixil Deers 53 - 0 Bulls Football Club
Lixil Deers 53 - 0 Bulls Football Club
IBM Big Blue 63 - 0 Dentsu Club Caterpillars
IBM Big Blue 63 - 0 Dentsu Club Caterpillars

2018 April 22nd


Fujitsu Frontiers 49 - 10 Meiji Yasuda Penta Ocean Pirates
Fujitsu Frontiers 49 - 10 Meiji Yasuda Penta Ocean Pirates
Nojima Sagamihara Rise 31 - 11 Tokyo Gas Creators
Nojima Sagamihara Rise 31 - 11 Tokyo Gas Creators


2018 May 3rd

Obic Seagulls 59 - 0 Meiji Yasuda Penta Ocean Pirates
Obic Seagulls 59 - 0 Meiji Yasuda Penta Ocean Pirates
Fuji Xerox Minerva AFC 14 - 6 Dentsu Club Caterpillars
Fuji Xerox Minerva AFC 14 - 6 Dentsu Club Caterpillars


2018 May 4th

All Mitsubishi Lions 40 - 0 Bulls Football Club
All Mitsubishi Lions 40 - 0 Bulls Football Club
Tokyo Gas Creators 24 - 23 Asahi Beer Silver Star
Tokyo Gas Creators 24 - 23 Asahi Beer Silver Star


2018 May 19th

Lixil Deers 24 - 20 All Mitsubishi Lions
Lixil Deers 24 - 20 All Mitsubishi Lions
IBM Big Blue 37 - 0 Fuji Xerox Minerva AFC
IBM Big Blue 37 - 0 Fuji Xerox Minerva AFC


2018 May 20th