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, they ended 11th out of 12, they were in the top half of table throughout the 2006 season. On 26 November they finished on the top spot of the J2 league, and hence were finally promoted to division 1.

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

Some of the main players are veteran stars, such as Kazuyoshi Miura (53), Atsuhiro Miura (58). These players once played for the 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 38. At the beginning of the season few expected them to become champions.

First, Takagi concentrated on getting the basics right and focused on defense. The team then kept clean sheets in 15 consecutive games. This success gave the young players confidence to be more aggressive on the field. As a result, they didn't lose more than one game in succession and won the title.

As they could not adopt directly Flugels' 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.[6]

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Akihiko Takeshige 2 DF Yuta Fujii 3 DF Maguinho 4 DF Yuki Kobayashi 5 DF Masakazu Tashiro 6 MF Tatsuki Seko 7 MF Takuya Matsuura 8 MF Kensuke Sato 9 FW Kazunari Ichimi 10 FW Ibba Laajab 11 FW Kazuyoshi Miura 13 FW Yuji Senuma 14 DF Takaaki Shichi 15 FW Kosuke Saito 16 FW Yusuke Minagawa 17 MF Eijiro Takeda 18 GK Yuta Minami 19 DF Masahiko Inoha

No. Position Player 20 DF Calvin Jong-a-Pin 21 GK Akinori Ichikawa 22 MF Daisuke Matsui 23 FW Koki Saito 25 FW Yuki Kusano 26 DF Yutaro Hakamata 27 MF Katsuhiro Nakayama 28 MF Reo Yasunaga 29 DF Kyowaan Hoshi 30 MF Kohei Tezuka 32 MF Riku Furuyado 33 DF Yasumasa Kawasaki 34 DF Kakeru Kumagaya 37 MF Yusuke Matsuo 40 MF Leandro Domingues 44 GK Yuji Rokutan 46 MF Shunsuke Nakamura

Out on loan

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

No. Position Player MF Yota Maejima (at Kataller Toyama)

Key

• Tms. = Number of teams
• Pos. = Position in league
• Attendance/G = Average league attendance
• Source: J. League Data Site

As of 26 February 2016.

• Japan Football League
  • Champions: 1999, 2000
• J. League Division 2
  • Champions: 2006

• 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)