Yokohama FC

Graphical timeline of Yokohama football clubs

Yokohama FC was formed in 1999 following the merger of Yokohama's two J.League clubs, the Flügels and the Marinos. Flügels supporters felt that their club had essentially been dissolved rather than merged with, so rejected the suggestion that they should start supporting Marinos – who had been their crosstown rivals. Instead, with money raised through donations from the general public and an affiliation with talent management company IMG, the former Flügels supporters founded the Yokohama Fulie Sports Club.[2] Following the socio model used by FC Barcelona, the Fulie Sports Club created Yokohama FC, the first professional sports team in Japan owned and operated by its supporters.[1]

For its first season in 1999, Yokohama FC hired former German national team and World Cup star Pierre Littbarski to be the manager and Yasuhiko Okudera, the first Japanese footballer to play professionally in Europe, to be the chairman.[3] The club attempted to gain entry directly into the professional J.League, but the Japan Football Association only permitted entry to the amateur Japan Football League (JFL), at the time the third level of the Japanese football league system, and ruled that the club would not be eligible for promotion into J.League Division 2 at the end of its first season. So, despite finishing as JFL champion in 1999, Yokohama FC finished as JFL champion again in 2000 before being promoted to J.League Division 2.[4]

The club spent the next 6 seasons in J.League Division 2 before finishing as champions in 2006 and gaining promotion to J.League Division 1. In 2007, just the ninth year of its existence, Yokohama FC played its first season in the top flight of Japanese football. After a poor season, the team were consigned to relegation with five games of the season still remaining. Despite their early relegation, Yokohama FC nevertheless decided the final outcome at the opposite end of the table; by defeating title contenders Urawa Red Diamonds on the last day of the season, Kashima Antlers secured the J.League Division 1 title.[5]

In 2018, Yokohama FC narrowly missed out on automatic promotion by goal difference. The team made it to the J2 promotion final, losing to Tokyo Verdy on an stoppage time winner. In 2019, Yokohama finished second in J2 and gained automatic promotion to J1.

Although they had a dire season in 2005, ending 11th out of 12, they were in the top half of table throughout the 2006 season. On 26 November they finished in the top spot of the J2 League, and hence were finally promoted to the J. League 1.

This success story was so dramatic as to make people somewhat excited in Japan. Yokohama FC's financial situation was so poor that they didn't even possess their own football ground or a club house. Players did everything themselves including carrying the goal posts and washing the jerseys.

One of their players, Kazuyoshi Miura, is 54 and a former player, Atsuhiro Miura (one of their main players before his 2010 retirement) was 36 when he last played for the club. These players once played for the Japan national team.

They lost all pre-season matches, even against college students, then also the first official match of the year. After this, they suddenly changed the player-manager to a freshman with little experience named Takuya Takagi, who was 38. At the beginning of the season few expected them to become champions.

Key

• Pos. = Position in league.
• Attendance/G = Average home league attendance.
• † 2020 season attendance reduced by COVID-19 worldwide pandemic.
• Source: J. League Data Site

• Japan Football League
  • Champions: 1999, 2000
• J.League Division 2
  • Champions: 2006
  • Runner-ups: 2019

As of 31 August 2021[6]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  JPN Issei Ouchi 2 DF  BRA Maguinho (on loan from Kawasaki Frontale) 3 DF  JPN Yutaro Hakamata 4 MF  JPN Hideto Takahashi 5 DF  BRA Gabriel 6 MF  JPN Tatsuki Seko 7 MF  JPN Takuya Matsuura 8 FW  JPN Kosuke Saito 9 FW  BRA Kléber 10 MF  JPN Shunsuke Nakamura 11 FW  JPN Kazuyoshi Miura (captain) 13 FW  JPN Keijiro Ogawa 14 FW  JPN Ryo Germain 15 MF  JPN Reo Yasunaga 17 MF  JPN Eijiro Takeda 19 DF  JPN Masahiko Inoha 21 GK  JPN Akinori Ichikawa 22 DF  JPN Katsuya Iwatake

No. Pos. Nation Player 23 DF  JPN Yota Maejima 24 DF  JPN Yuya Takagi 25 MF  JPN Ryo Tabei 26 DF  KOR Han Ho-gang 27 DF  JPN Daiki Nakashio 28 GK  JPN Haruki Saruta (on loan from Kashiwa Reysol) 30 MF  JPN Kohei Tezuka 31 FW  BRA Saulo Mineiro 33 MF  JPN Tomoki Kondo 37 MF  JPN Yusuke Matsuo 38 MF  BRA Arthur Silva 39 FW  JPN Kazuma Watanabe 44 GK  JPN Yuji Rokutan 45 DF  JPN Hayato Sugita 46 MF  JPN Taishin Yamazaki 47 DF  JPN Kensho Masuda 49 GK  GER Svend Brodersen 50 FW  BRA Felipe Vizeu (on loan from Udinese)

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  JPN Kyowaan Hoshi (at Matsumoto Yamaga) — DF  JPN Kakeru Kumagawa (at YSCC Yokohama) — FW  JPN Yuki Kusano (at Renofa Yamaguchi)

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW  JPN Sho Ito (at Matsumoto Yamaga) — MF  JPN Riku Furuyado (at Mito Hollyhock) — GK  JPN Yuta Minami (at Omiya Ardija)

As they could not adopt directly Flügels' white and blue strip given its similarity to that of Marinos, Yokohama FC decided to adopt an all-cyan kit, after NKK SC, a former company club which had closed in 1994. NKK SC was based in Kawasaki and played most matches at Todoroki Athletics Stadium, but used Mitsuzawa Stadium on days when the other Kawasaki clubs at the time (Verdy Kawasaki, Toshiba and Fujitsu) used it.

As of 23 February 2020.

• YFCMD – a professional football club based in Hong Kong who were once owned by Yokohama FC. Their new club name stands for Yokohama FC Modic.

• Official website (in Japanese)