TAKAMATSU (Kyodo) The Fukuoka Red Warblers will not take part next season in the Shikoku-Kyushu Island League due to financial difficulties, the independent league said on Friday.
The cash-strapped Fukuoka club will aim to return to the league in 2011, leaving only five teams remaining to compete next year.
Attendance this season in the league, which also includes teams from Ehime, Kagawa, Kochi, Tokushima and Nagasaki, averaged just 782 per game — the lowest since the Shikoku-Kyushu Island League was formed five years ago.
The league is also facing debts of ¥220 million.