Tokyo Verdy

Tokyo Verdy
東京ヴェルディ

Full name	Tokyo Verdy 1969 Football Club
Nickname(s)	Verdy
Founded	1969; 52 years ago (1969), as Yomiuri FC[1]
Ground	Ajinomoto Stadium Chōfu, Tokyo
Capacity	49,970
Owner	Tokyo Verdy Holdings
Chairman	Yasuo Shimada
Manager	Hideki Nagai
League	J2 League
2020	J2 League, 12th of 22
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Tokyo Verdy (東京ヴェルディ, Tōkyō Verudi) is a Japanese professional football club based in Chōfu, Tokyo. The club plays in the J2 League, the second tier of football in the country.

Founded as Yomiuri FC in 1969, Tokyo Verdy is one of the most decorated clubs in the J.League, with honours including 2 J.League titles, 5 Emperor's Cups, 6 JSL Cup / J.League Cups and an Asian Club Championship title, and the most successful team in Japanese football history with 25 titles. The club was an original member^[a]of the J.League in 1993.

Verdy's plays its home games at the 50,000 capacity Ajinomoto Stadium, which it shares with FC Tokyo, although occasional home matches are played in other stadiums in Tokyo, such as Ajinomoto Field, Nishigaoka.

History[]

Early years and rise to the top (1969–1983)[]

In October 1968, following Japan's bronze medal triumph at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City and the interest in football that ensued,^[1] Japan Football Association president Ken Nozu visited Yomiuri Giants chairman Matsutaro Shoriki to ask him if Yomiuri was willing to ride on the wave of the game by establishing their own football club. Shoriki died a year later, in 1969, but not before signing his name to the plans to establish Yomiuri Football Club.^[2] Backed by the Yomiuri Group and NTV, Yomiuri Football Club firstly launched at Tokyo Local League B (5th tier) in 1969. They began gaining promotions from the Tokyo Local League to the Kanto Football League (3rd tier) in 1971. In 1971, Yomiuri marked 3rd place and promoted Japan Soccer League Second Division.^[3]

They were promoted to First Division in 1978, starting a long career of success in the top flight. Their first major title was the Japan Soccer League Cup in 1979.

Golden Era (1983–1994)[]

From its days as Yomiuri FC, the ownership had visions of a football equivalent of the baseball Yomiuri Giants – a star-studded powerhouse with fans across Japan. As Japanese football began its transition from the JSL to the J.League in the early 1990s, it invested heavily in stars and featured Japan internationals Kazuyoshi Miura, Ruy Ramos and Tsuyoshi Kitazawa.^[1]

The last two JSL championships as Yomiuri FC in 1990–91 and 1991–92, and then winning the first two championships as Verdy Kawasaki in 1993 and 1994, effectively winning four straight Japanese league titles making a total of seven overall; the highest in the Japanese system. Verdy also won the 1996 Emperor's Cup and three consecutive J.League Cups from 1992 to 1994.^[4][5]

The JSL disbanded and reformed as the professional J.League in 1993. At this time the team professionalized and renamed itself Verdy Kawasaki, "Coined from the Portuguese "VERDE" meaning "Green" probably named after their green jersey colour "Tokyo Greens/Tokyo Verdi" .^[6] Although Yomiuri was dropped from the name as the club spun off from the company, the team remained under Yomiuri's ownership until 1997, when it was acquired by Nippon Television Network, the broadcast arm of the Yomiuri Group.^[7]

Lack of success and support (1995–2000)[]

This early success did not last, however, and as the stars aged, the team's performance suffered. Verdy's 1st-place finish in the 2nd stage of the 1995 season would be its last stage victory and the 1996 Emperor's Cup would be its last major title of the decade. A downturn in the national economy and the cooling of the J.League fad meant all teams had to cut expenses. This meant Verdy could no longer buy expensive replacements for its aging stars.

The 1996 J.League season saw Verdy Kawasaki finish 7th place overall, the lowest standing in the league's existence at that point, and would fall further in the 1997 season, finishing 16th and 12th, in the 1st stage and 2nd stage, respectively, and 15th overall out of 17 teams. Although Verdy looked to return to prominence in 1999, finishing 2nd in the 1st Stage, the resurgence was short-lived as it fell to 10th in the 2nd stage.

Meanwhile, the team's efforts to become "Japan's Team" alienated local fans in Kawasaki. The expensive salaries and struggling attendance caused the club's debts to mount. Struggling to compete with the newly professionalized crosstown rival Kawasaki Frontale and the nearby Yokohama Marinos and Yokohama Flügels, Verdy made the decision to leave Kawasaki.

Return to Tokyo (2001–2005)[]

In 2001, the club returned from Kawasaki to Chōfu, Tokyo and was renamed Tokyo Verdy 1969 to reflect the new hometown and the club's origins as Yomiuri FC Although Verdy made the move to increase its fan base and distance itself from its rivals, by this time Tokyo was already home to a J1 club in FC Tokyo. Despite a sharp increase in crowd numbers for Verdy, this was still well below those of FC Tokyo. Their new local rivals had been promoted to J1 in 2000 and had already captured a vast number of the supporters Verdy had been hoping to acquire.

In its first year in Tokyo, Tokyo Verdy 1969 found itself trailing FC Tokyo in the standings as well, and finished last in the division at 16th in the first stage of the 2001 season. Only the play of midseason acquisition Edmundo and a win in the final match of the second stage saved the club from relegation to J2. Tokyo Verdy 1969 was back at the bottom of the table in the first stage of the 2002 season, but again finished the season strong, placing 4th in the second stage.

Two mid-table finishes followed in 2003 and 2004, before Tokyo Verdy 1969, under Osvaldo Ardiles, won the Emperor's Cup on 1 January 2005, its first major title in 9 years and the first in Tokyo. Winning the cup earned Verdy a spot in the 2006 AFC Champions League.^[8]

However, the 2005 season saw Tokyo Verdy 1969 fall to its worst finish of its history, finishing 17th out of 18. This was the first season after the scrapping of the two-stage season format, and Tokyo Verdy 1969 were relegated to J2, after 28 years of top flight football. The season was marked by three huge losses in July: 1–7 to Gamba Osaka on 2 July, 0–7 to Urawa Red Diamonds on 6 July and a 6–0 loss to Júbilo Iwata on 17 July. Tokyo Verdy then sacked Ardiles two days later.^[9] At the time of his sacking, Ardiles' team had conceded 23 goals in their last 5 matches and had a 9 match winless streak.^[9] However, the struggling Verdy upset European giant Real Madrid (who were in Asia on a preseason tour), 3–0 on 25 July.^[10]

Back in the second tier (2006)[]

For the 2006 season, the club appointed former Verdy Kawasaki legend, Ruy Ramos, as manager on 22 December 2005.^[11] Tokyo Verdy 1969 found itself in the odd position of competing in the AFC Champions League while playing in the second tier of the national league system. After Tokyo Verdy 1969 was relegated, the club released many of the veteran players, leaving a core of young players, most notably Takayuki Morimoto, who became the youngest player to score in the J.League at age 15 in 2004.^[12]

In the 2007 season, Tokyo Verdy 1969 managed to beat Thespa Kusatsu 5–0 on the first day. After a brief scuffle with Consadole Sapporo over the J2 title, Tokyo Verdy 1969 had to settle for runner-up – which was enough to earn promotion back into the top flight for 2008. At this time the club renamed itself for the second time, dropping 1969 from its team name, but the management corporation name remained as Tokyo Verdy 1969.

Verdy would once again be relegated after finishing in 17th place (second to last) in 2008.

On 17 September 2009, NTV announced it would divest itself of shares in the club and transfer it to a new holding company, Tokyo Verdy Holdings, closing 40 years of Yomiuri/NTV direct financial support.^[13] The J.League approved the transfer, but made it a condition that Verdy find a new sponsor by 16 November or risk not being able to play J2 football for the 2010 season.^[14]

In October 2010, Tokyo Verdy signed a five-year sponsorship deal with sports retail store and apparel company Xebio.^[15] The sponsorship deal saw the Xebio logo placed on Tokyo Verdy's kit and included naming rights for two regular season home games.^[15] Xebio also produced the clubs football kit, although under their sports brand "Ennerre". After talks with Xebio, several companies decided to invest in the company and the new Xebio led administration was announced in November.

Other sports[]

Verdy is a polideportivo and also fields teams in women's football, volleyball, and triathlon. Tokyo Verdy's women's football team is the 12 time Nadeshiko League champions, 14 time Empress's Cup winners and 1 time AFC Women's Club Championship champions Nippon TV Tokyo Verdy Beleza.

Kits and crests[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tokyo Verdy kits.

Tokyo Verdy's main colors are green.

The club's name was coined from the portuguese, or spanish, or italian, or Esperanto "verde" meaning "green", probably named after their green jersey colour, so the meaning is "Tokyo Greens/Tokyo Verdi".^[6] In italian, the form "verdi" indicates the plural form "the greens".

Kit suppliers and shirt sponsors[]

Period	Kit supplier	Shirt sponsor
1992	Puma	Coca-Cola
1993	Mizuno
1994
1995
1996		MALT'S
1997	Nike, Inc.
1998
1999		KONAMI
2000
2001
2002		楽天 ICHIBA
2003
2004		LEOC
2005		CyberAgent
2006		CyberAgent（J2） 日テレ（ACL）
2007	Kappa	Ameba
2008
2009		-
2010		- / XEBIO
2011	ennerre	飯田産業
2012	Athleta
2013		- / GAGA MILANO
2014		- / 緑の心臓
2015		緑の心臓
2016		Create
2017		ISPS HANDA
2018
2019		Akatsuki
2020
2021		NICIGAS

Players[]

Current squad[]

Updated 15 July 2021.^[16]

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 Takahiro Shibasaki 2 DF  JPN Masashi Wakasa 3 DF  JPN Seitaro Tomisawa 4 MF  JPN Ryota Kajikawa (On loan from Tokushima Vortis) 5 DF  JPN Tomohiro Taira (captain) 6 MF  JPN Rihito Yamamoto 7 MF  JPN Koki Morita 8 MF  JPN Haruya Ide 9 MF  JPN Yuhei Sato 10 FW  BRA Jaílton Paraíba 11 FW  JPN Ryoya Yamashita 13 MF  JPN Mizuki Arai 14 MF  JPN Taiga Ishiura 15 DF  JPN Boniface Nduka 16 DF  JPN Takayuki Fukumura 17 MF  JPN Koken Kato

No. Pos. Nation Player 18 MF  JPN Yuan Matsuhashi 19 MF  JPN Junki Koike 20 MF  JPN Mahiro Ano 21 GK  JPN Yuya Nagasawa 22 DF  JPN Seiya Baba 23 DF  JPN 24 MF  JPN Yuta Narawa 25 FW  JPN Jin Hanato 26 MF  JPN Kyota Mochii 27 FW  JPN Ryoga Sato 28 DF  JPN Tatsuya Yamaguchi 29 DF  JPN 31 GK  BRA Matheus Vidotto 33 MF  JPN Rikuto Hashimoto 41 GK  JPN 42 DF  JPN Kazuki Anzai (On loan from Sagan Tosu)

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 - MF  JPN Kanya Fujimoto (at Gil Vicente until 30 June 2021) - DF  JPN Maaya Sako (at Fujieda MYFC until 31 January 2022) - DF  JPN Tatsuya Anzai (at Azul Claro Numazu until 31 January 2022)

Managers[]

League and cup record[]

Champions

Runners-up

Third place

Promoted

Relegated

Season	Div.	Teams	Pos.	Attendance/G	J.League Cup	Emperor's Cup	Asia
1992	–	–	–	–	Winner	Runners-up	CC	2nd round
1993	J1	10	1st	25,235	Winner	Quarter-final	CC	4th place
1994		12	1st	24,926	Winner	2nd round	CC	3rd place
1995		14	2nd	20,834	–	Quarter-final	CC	Quarter-final
1996		16	7th	17,653	Runners-Up	Winner	CC	Quarter-final
1997		17	15th	10,933	Group Stage	3rd round	–	–
1998		18	12th	13,338	Group Stage	Quarter-final	CWC	Quarter-final
1999		16	7th	9,379	2nd round	Semi-final	–	–
2000		16	10th	7,609	Quarter-final	4th round
2001		16	14th	19,396	1st round	Quarter-final
2002		16	10th	15,128	Group Stage	3rd round
2003		16	8th	17,563	Group Stage	Quarter-final
2004		16	9th	15,059	Semi-final	Winner
2005		18	17th	14,716	Group Stage	4th round
2006	J2	13	7th	5,705	–	3rd round	CL	Group Stage
2007		13	2nd	7,327	–	3rd round	–	–
2008	J1	18	17th	14,837	Group Stage	4th round
2009	J2	18	7th	5,521	–	2nd round
2010		19	5th	5,572		2nd round
2011		20	5th	5,710		3rd round
2012		22	7th	5,341		3rd round
2013		22	13th	6,343		3rd round
2014		22	20th	5,430		2nd round
2015		22	8th	5,655		2nd round
2016		22	18th	5,402		3rd round
2017		22	5th	6,206		2nd round
2018		22	6th	5,936		4th round
2019		22	13th	5,371		2nd round
2020 †		22	12th	2,429		Did not qualify
2021		22

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

Honours[]

With 7 league titles, 5 Emperor's Cups and 6 League Cups, Tokyo Verdy is one of the most decorated football clubs in Japan, although most of its titles came during their stay at Tokyo in the semi-professional era before the inception of the professional league - J.League.

Domestic[]

• JSL Division 1 (until 1993) and J.League Division 1:

Winners (7): 1983, 1984, 1986–87, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1993, 1994

Runners-up (4): 1979, 1981, 1989–90, 1995

• JSL Division 2:

Winners (2): 1974, 1977

• JSL Cup / J.League Cup:

Winners (6): 1979, 1985, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994

Runners-up (1): 1996

• Emperor's Cup:

Winners (5): 1984, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1996, 2004

Runners-up (3): 1981, 1991, 1992

• Xerox Super Cup:

Winners (4): 1984, 1994, 1995, 2005

Runners-up (1): 1997

• Konica Cup:

Winners (1): 1990

Asia[]

• Asian Club Championship / AFC Champions League:

Winners (1): 1987

Worldwide[]

• Sanwa Bank Cup:

Winners (1): 1994

Runners-up (1): 1995

See also[]

• Nippon TV Tokyo Verdy Beleza (Women's club team)
• Japan Soccer League (Defunct)
• J.League
• J1 League
• J2 League
• J3 League

Notes[]

References[]

External links[]

• Official website (in Japanese)
• Tokyo Verdy 1969 – Classic Club Guide at FIFA.com
• The club players

Achievements
Preceded by Furukawa Electric	Champions of Asia 1987–88	Succeeded by Al-Sadd