On April 29, the Rakuten Super Match was held at Noevir Stadium Kobe, Vissel Kobe’s home ground. This special once-a-year event also hosted various initiatives that helped visitors experience “a better future” through sport, and the messages they carried will surely remain in the hearts of fans and supporters for a long time to come, right alongside the memory of the players battling with everything they have.

The concept behind the Rakuten Super Match is captured in a single phrase: “Toward a better future, together with sports. A BETTER FUTURE TOGETHER.” This is not something unique to this year. It is the guiding principle that appears wherever Rakuten Group and sports meet. The Rakuten Super Nighter, held every year by the professional baseball club Rakuten Eagles, and syncSPORTS by Rakuten all fly this same flag.

Linked to that concept are two further commitments: “Sports for Everyone” and “A Greener Future.” “Sports for Everyone” serves as a guideline for creating an environment in which anyone can enjoy sports, regardless of gender, age or disability. “A Greener Future” aims to protect a rich global environment where sports can be enjoyed through action on climate change and the effective use of resources.

“Toward a better future, together with sports. A BETTER FUTURE TOGETHER,” “Sports for Everyone,” and “A Greener Future.” The Rakuten Super Match serves to inform visitors about the thinking behind these three phrases, experience them, and to think for themselves about these topics.

Protecting the future while having fun. A booth where visitors learn to care about the environment

Shoot a soccer ball at three color-coded waste-sorting goals!

The “Wakekko Shoot Booth” was a soccer game with a twist that let participants learn about sorting garbage while they played. Learning about the environment matters, but rather than cramming in knowledge, letting that awareness take root through a game that gets the body moving makes it easier for everyone to contribute. The message of “wakekko,” or sorting, surely reached the hearts of the children who came away smiling and saying, “That was fun!”

A long queue formed at the booth before the match.

Many families participated together.

Inside the stadium, “ECO STATION by Rakuten” was set up to sort garbage. Visitors could be seen actively cooperating with the sorting, making it clear how the awareness of each individual connects to a richer global environment.

The “ECO STATION by Rakuten” tent served as a landmark.

Waste was sorted with help from volunteers.

A close-up report on “Your Dream Journey with Rakuten”

Rakuten Group runs an initiative that invites Rakuten members to submit dreams they would like to see come true, and then actually make them happen. On this day, two dreams were realised: The dream to take a special tour of the restricted areas of the stadium, and the dream to be “escort kids” and walk onto the pitch holding hands with the players. We followed the winners closely.

The “Your Dream Journey with Rakuten” T-shirts handed out to the winners.

Participants of the special stadium tour were thrilled by the area displaying Vissel Kobe’s history and the shirts of club legends. “Getting to go somewhere that’s usually off-limits… the excitement is unreal.” Adults and children alike were wide-eyed with excitement.

A shirt belonging to Vissel Kobe legend Kazuyoshi Miura.

The special day will surely be remembered by the children in attendance, too.

Amid all this excitement came a surprise appearance by Kotaro Uchino in the conference room. When a fan asked, “What do you do when you get nervous?” Uchino shared a secret that only an active professional could offer: “I picture the nervous situation as specifically as I can. I personally really value these mental rehearsals.”

The winners got to sit in the press seats.

Uchino seemed to enjoy answering the questions.

It was a rare treat for fans to talk face-to-face with an active player.

The tour closed with a pitchside view of the pre-game warm-up. It was breathtaking to see such intense training up close.

Watching the pre-game warmup up close.

Every movement of their idols was burned into memory.

“I was able to feel the supporters’ energy out on the field, and I thought, ‘So you can hear the chants all the way out here.’ It made me want to add my own voice to the cheering, too,” said one participant. Participants kept talking about how thrilled they were to be there. No doubt it will be an unforgettable experience for all the families.

With the excitement still in the air, the stadium moved at last toward the kick-off ceremony, and the children chosen as the escort kids appeared on the field.

One participant described reading the notification email over and over the moment it arrived, and the whole family jumping for joy: “Yes! Our dream is coming true!” Before the big moment, the children all had nervous expressions on their faces, but once they took the players’ hands and ran out onto the field of their dreams, they suddenly looked composed and confident.

In the tense moments before kick-off, Yoshinori Muto spoke kindly to the children, easing their nervousness.

“It felt just like I had become a professional footballer walking out onto the pitch,” said one boy, while another vowed strongly to chase a future dream: “I play soccer too, so I thought I’d eat plenty and grow big. Some day I want to stand on that pitch myself.”

A commemorative photo with the players. The children put on serious faces.

Having felt the sheer scale of the professional game first-hand, the children resolved to keep working steadily at their daily training. The crowd gave them warm applause.

The motto of “Toward a better future, together with sports. A BETTER FUTURE TOGETHER” shone bright throughout the stadium. This Rakuten Super Match went beyond simply watching a game: it was filled with moments that prompted those who came to ask themselves, “What can I do to make the future a little better?”

Linking arms with someone, moving your body, chasing the same dream. Here in Kobe, we were able to feel once again the magical power that sport possesses.

TEXT：syncSPORTS by Rakuten
PHOTO：Yukiko Noguchi
EDIT：Yohsuke Watanabe (IN FOCUS), Rakuten AI