Soccer: Maric strike lifts Urawa to Emperor's Cup title
January 1, 2006Croatian striker Tomislav Maric struck the winner to give Urawa Reds their first Emperor's Cup title in 25 years with a 2-1 defeat of Shimizu S-Pulse in the final on Sunday. Defender Satoshi Horinouchi put Urawa on their way to victory with a header late in the first half at a sold-out National Stadium and Maric scored what turned out to be the decider 17 minutes from time with his sixth goal in five matches.
Rakuten to release baseball, soccer club shares to fans: Mikitani
January 1, 2006Rakuten Inc. plans to allow shares in its professional baseball and soccer clubs to be owned by local fans and business circles in the future, the company's president, Hiroshi Mikitani, said in an interview with Kyodo News. Rakuten, a major Japanese Internet shopping mall operator, owns the Rakuten Eagles baseball team of the Pacific League, based in Sendai, and a company managing Mikitani's personal assets owns the Kobe-based Vissel Kobe soccer club.