FC Tokyo

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For volleyball club, see FC Tokyo (volleyball).

FC Tokyo
logo
Full nameFootball Club Tokyo
Nickname(s)Gas
Founded1935; 86 years ago (1935) as Tokyo Gas SC
1999; 22 years ago (1999) as FC Tokyo
GroundAjinomoto Stadium
Chōfu, Tokyo
Capacity49,970
ChairmanNaoki Ogane
ManagerKenta Hasegawa
LeagueJ1 League
2020J1 League, 6th of 18
WebsiteClub website
Away colours

Football Club Tokyo, commonly known as FC Tokyo (FC東京, Efushī Tōkyō), is a Japanese professional football club based in Chōfu, Tokyo. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. The team is one of only four in the J.League to be simply called Football Club without an extended name.

History[]

Tokyo Gas F.C. crest

The team started as a company team, Tokyo Gas Soccer Club (東京ガスサッカー部) in 1933[1][2] Their first appearance in the national leagues was in 1991, the last season of the old Japan Soccer League.[3] With addition of the Brazilian football player Amaral and the manager Kiyoshi Okuma at the helm, the team gradually became competitive and in 1997, the team finished second, winning the JFL championship the next year. However, at the time the team lacked the necessary qualifications for a promotion to the J1 league and so stayed in J2.

Following this, on 1 October 1998, companies like Tokyo Gas, TEPCO, ampm, TV Tokyo, and Culture Convenience Club, set up a joint company Tokyo Football Club Company with the aim of making the team eligible for joining the J.League. In 1999, the same year the team became eligible, they finished second in the J2 league and were automatically promoted to J1 beginning in the 2000 season. Despite a widespread belief that the team would barely win enough to stay in the J1, the team won four games in a row since its opening game and managed to finish at the 7th spot.

Helped by its winning record, the attendance shot up and it is still above that of well-known Tokyo Verdy 1969 that moved its home town from Kawasaki, Kanagawa in 2001. Since 2002, the team welcomed Hiromi Hara as its manager and aimed for a championship with a strong offense. The 2003 season had the team finish in 4th, its highest ever. In August of the same year, it held a friendly match against one of the greatest football clubs, Real Madrid losing 3–0 but gaining valuable experiences both on and off the field for what it takes to be a great football club.

Long-time leader Amaral, nicknamed The King of Tokyo by his fans, departed the team to join Shonan Bellmare in 2004. He was replaced by Athens Olympics national football team player Yasuyuki Konno from Consadole Sapporo. In November of the same year, it won the J.League Yamazaki Nabisco Cup for its first major title since joining the J.League.

After 10 years of participation in the J.League without a mascot character, the team adopted Tokyo Dorompa, a tanuki-like figure, as its mascot in January, 2009.

On 4 December 2010 FC Tokyo had to win their final game of the season away to already relegated Kyoto Sanga FC. FC Tokyo lost 2–0 and went back down to the second tier for the first time in 11 years. Nevertheless, they bounced back at the first attempt, winning the J2 title in November 2011.

Before their 2011 Emperor's Cup win, FC Tokyo reached the semifinals of the competition three times: in 1997 (as Tokyo Gas), 2008, and 2010. Their 2011 win was remarkable in that the club was a second division team during the season. They became the first J2 champions, and third second-tier champions overall (after NKK SC in 1981 and Júbilo Iwata in 1982), to accomplish the feat.

Stadium[]

Main article: Ajinomoto Stadium
Ajinomoto Stadium

FC Tokyo uses Ajinomoto Stadium as its home ground (the official name of this stadium is Tokyo Stadium). For a long time it did not have a home stadium of its own and played at various football fields such as the National Olympic Stadium, the National Nishigaoka Football Field, Edogawa Special Ward Stadium, and the Komazawa Olympic Park Stadium, but in 2001 it finally found a permanent home. The club's training grounds are Sarue Ground in and Kodaira Ground in Kodaira, Tokyo.

Players[]

Current squad[]

As of 31 August 2021[4]

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 Japan JPN Tsuyoshi Kodama
3 DF Japan JPN Masato Morishige
4 DF Japan JPN Tsuyoshi Watanabe
5 DF Brazil BRA Bruno Uvini
6 DF Japan JPN Ryoya Ogawa
7 MF Japan JPN Hirotaka Mita
8 MF Japan JPN Yojiro Takahagi
9 FW Brazil BRA Diego Oliveira
10 MF Japan JPN Keigo Higashi (captain)
11 FW Japan JPN Kensuke Nagai
13 GK Japan JPN Go Hatano
14 MF Japan JPN Takuya Uchida
15 MF Brazil BRA Adaílton
16 GK Japan JPN Nobuyuki Abe
18 MF Japan JPN Manato Shinada
20 MF Brazil BRA Leandro
21 MF Japan JPN Takuya Aoki
22 DF Japan JPN Takumi Nakamura
No. Pos. Nation Player
23 MF Japan JPN Ryoma Watanabe
25 DF Japan JPN Sodai Hasukawa
27 FW Japan JPN Kyosuke Tagawa
28 DF Japan JPN Junya Suzuki
29 DF Japan JPN Makoto Okazaki
31 MF Japan JPN Shuto Abe
32 DF Lebanon LBN Joan Oumari
33 GK Japan JPN Akihiro Hayashi
34 DF Japan JPN Rio Omori
37 DF Japan JPN Hotaka Nakamura
38 MF Japan JPN Kazuya Konno
39 DF Japan JPN Shuto Okaniwa
42 FW Japan JPN Reon Nozawa
43 DF Japan JPN Yuki Kajiura
45 MF Japan JPN Kojiro Yasuda
46 DF Japan JPN Sho Morita
48 GK Japan JPN
49 DF Japan JPN Kashifu Bangunagande

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
— GK Japan JPN Taishi Brandon Nozawa (on loan at Iwate Grulla Morioka)
— DF Brazil BRA Arthur Silva (on loan at Yokohama FC)
— DF Japan JPN Seiji Kimura (on loan at Kyoto Sanga)
— DF Japan JPN Masayuki Yamada (on loan at Omiya Ardija)
No. Pos. Nation Player
— MF Japan JPN Rei Hirakawa (on loan at Matsumoto Yamaga)
— MF Japan JPN Yoshitake Suzuki (on loan at Mito HollyHock)
— MF Japan JPN Kiwara Miyazaki (on loan at Fagiano Okayama)

World Cup players[]

The following players have represented their country at the World Cup whilst playing for FC Tokyo:

  • Japan Teruyuki Moniwa (2006)
  • Japan Yoichi Doi (2006)
  • Japan Yasuyuki Konno (2010)
  • Japan Yuto Nagatomo (2010)
  • Japan Shuichi Gonda (2014)
  • Japan Masato Morishige (2014)

Olympic players[]

The following players have represented their country at the Summer Olympic Games whilst playing for FC Tokyo:

  • Japan Naohiro Ishikawa (2004)
  • Japan Teruyuki Moniwa (2004)
  • Japan Yasuyuki Konno (2004)
  • Japan Yuhei Tokunaga (2004, 2012)
  • Japan Yōhei Kajiyama (2008)
  • Japan Yuto Nagatomo (2008)
  • Japan Shuichi Gonda (2012)
  • Japan Sei Muroya (2016)
  • Japan Shoya Nakajima (2016)

Managers[]

Manager Nat. Tenure
Kiyoshi Okuma  Japan 1 Jan 1995 – 31 Dec 2001
Tahseen Jabbary  Netherlands 20 Feb 1998 – 31 Aug 1998
Hiromi Hara  Japan 1 Jan 2002 – 19 Dec 2005
Alexandre Gallo  Brazil 20 Dec 2005 – 14 Aug 2006
Hisao Kuramata  Japan 15 Aug 2006 – 6 Dec 2006
Hiromi Hara  Japan 7 Dec 2006 – 31 Dec 2007
Hiroshi Jofuku  Japan 1 Jan 2008 – 19 Sept 2010
Kiyoshi Okuma  Japan 20 Sept 2010 – 2 Jan 2011
Ranko Popović  Serbia 2 Jan 2012 – 31 Dec 2013
Massimo Ficcadenti  Italy 2 Jan 2014 – 31 Dec 2015
Hiroshi Jofuku  Japan 1 Jan 2016 – 24 Jul 2016
Yoshiyuki Shinoda  Japan 26 Jul 2016 – 10 Sep 2017
Takayoshi Amma  Japan 11 Sep 2017 – 3 Dec 2017
Kenta Hasegawa  Japan 3 Dec 2017 –

Record as J.League member[]

Champions Runners-up Third place Promoted Relegated
Season Div. Tms. Pos. Attendance/G J.League Cup Emperor's Cup AFC CL
1999 J2 10 2nd 3,498 Semi-final 4th round -
2000 J1 16 7th 11,807 2nd round 3rd round
2001 16 8th 22,313 2nd round 3rd round
2002 16 9th 22,173 Quarter-final 3rd round
2003 16 4th 24,932 Quarter-final 4th round
2004 16 8th 25,438 Winner Quarter-final
2005 18 10th 27,101 Group Stage 5th round
2006 18 13th 24,096 Group Stage 5th round
2007 18 12th 25,290 Group Stage Quarter-final
2008 18 6th 25,716 Quarter-final Semi-final
2009 18 5th 25,884 Winner 4th round
2010 18 16th 25,112 Quarter-final Semi-final
2011 J2 20 1st 17,562 - Winner
2012 J1 18 10th 23,955 Semi-final 2nd round Round of 16
2013 18 8th 25,073 Group Stage Semi-final -
2014 18 9th 25,187 Group Stage Round of 16
2015 18 4th 28,784 Quarter-final Quarter-final
2016 18 9th 24,037 Semi-final Quarter-final Round of 16
2017 18 13th 26,490 Quarter-final 2nd round -
2018 18 6th 25,745 Group Stage 4th round
2019 18 2nd 31,540 Quarter-final 3rd round
2020 † 18 6th 5,912 Winner Did not qualify Round of 16
2021 20 -
Key

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

Honours[]

Domestic[]

FC Tokyo

  • Emperor's Cup
  • J.League Cup
    • Winners: 2004, 2009, 2020
  • J2 League
    • Winners: 2011

Tokyo Gas Football Club (Amateur era)

International[]

FC Tokyo

  • Suruga Bank Championship
    • Winners (1) : 2010

Continental record[]

Season Competition Round Club Home Away Aggregate
2012 AFC Champions League Group F Australia Brisbane Roar 4–2 0–2 2nd
South Korea Ulsan Hyundai 2–2 1–0
China Beijing Guoan 3–0 1–1
Round of 16 China Guangzhou Evergrande
1–0
2016 AFC Champions League Play-off round Thailand Chonburi
9–0
Group E South Korea Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 0–3 2–1 2nd
Vietnam Becamex Bình Dương 3–1 1–2
China Jiangsu Suning 0–0 1–2
Round of 16 China Shanghai SIPG 2–1 1–0 2–2 (a)
2020 AFC Champions League Play-off round Philippines Ceres-Negros
2–0
Group F South Korea Ulsan Hyundai 1–2 1–1 2nd
Australia Perth Glory 1–0 0–1
China Shanghai Shenhua 0–1 1–2
Round of 16 China Beijing F.C.
1–0

Personnel awards[]

  • J.League Best Eleven
    • Brazil Tuto (2000)
    • Japan Yoichi Doi (2004)
    • Japan Naohiro Ishikawa (2009)
    • Japan Yuto Nagatomo (2009)
    • Japan Masato Morishige (2013, 2014, 2015, 2019)
    • Japan Kosuke Ota (2014, 2015)
    • Japan Yoshinori Muto (2014)
    • Japan Akihiro Hayashi (2019)
    • Japan Sei Muroya (2019)
    • Japan Kento Hashimoto (2019)
    • Japan Kensuke Nagai (2019)
    • Brazil Diego Oliveira (2019)
  • J.League Cup MVP
    • Japan Yoichi Doi (2004)
    • Japan Takuji Yonemoto (2009)
    • Brazil Leandro (2020)
  • J.League Cup New Hero Award
    • Japan Yukihiko Sato (1999)
    • Japan Takuji Yonemoto (2009)

Former players[]

See also: Category:FC Tokyo players and Category:J.League players

In popular culture[]

In the Captain Tsubasa manga series, one character played for FC Tokyo. The midfielder Jun Misugi, which also was player of Bellmare Hiratsuka (today Shonan Bellmare) in the manga.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ FC Tokyo Profile at J.League Official Website
  2. ^ "沿革・歴史｜Jfa｜日本サッカー協会".
  3. ^ Basic infos and history of FC Tokyo
  4. ^ "ニュース｜FC東京オフィシャルホームページ". www.fctokyo.co.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 10 January 2020.

External links[]

Retrieved from ""