FC Tokyo facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
FC Tokyo
Full name	Football Club Tokyo
Nickname(s)	Gas
Founded	1935; 86 years ago, (as Tokyo Gas SC); 1999; 22 years ago, (as FC Tokyo)
Ground	Ajinomoto Stadium; Chōfu, Tokyo
Capacity	49,970
Chairman	Naoki Ogane
Manager	Kenta Hasegawa
League	J1 League
2020	J1 League, 6th of 18
Home colours	Away colours

Football Club Tokyo, commonly known as FC Tokyo (FC東京code: ja is deprecated , 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 Their first appearance in the national leagues was in 1991, the last season of the old Japan Soccer League. 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

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 Koto, Tokyo, and Kodaira Ground in Kodaira, Tokyo.

Players

Current squad

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Tsuyoshi Kodama
3	DF	Masato Morishige
4	DF	Tsuyoshi Watanabe
5	DF	Bruno Uvini
6	DF	Ryoya Ogawa
7	MF	Hirotaka Mita
8	MF	Yojiro Takahagi
9	FW	Diego Oliveira
10	MF	Keigo Higashi (captain)
11	FW	Kensuke Nagai
13	GK	Go Hatano
14	MF	Takuya Uchida
15	MF	Adaílton
16	GK	Nobuyuki Abe
18	MF	Manato Shinada
20	MF	Leandro
21	MF	Takuya Aoki
22	DF	Takumi Nakamura
23	MF	Ryoma Watanabe

No.	Position	Player
25	DF	Sodai Hasukawa
27	FW	Kyosuke Tagawa
28	DF	Junya Suzuki
29	DF	Makoto Okazaki
31	MF	Shuto Abe
32	DF	Joan Oumari
33	GK	Akihiro Hayashi
34	DF	Rio Omori
37	DF	Hotaka Nakamura
38	MF	Kazuya Konno
39	DF	Shuto Okaniwa
41	GK	Taishi Brandon Nozawa
42	FW	Reon Nozawa
43	DF	Yuki Kajiura
45	MF	Kojiro Yasuda
46	DF	Sho Morita
48	GK	Yu Kanoshima
49	DF	Kashifu Bangunagande

Out on loan

No.		Position	Player
		DF	Arthur Silva (on loan at Yokohama FC)
		DF	Seiji Kimura (on loan at Kyoto Sanga)
		DF	Masayuki Yamada (on loan at Omiya Ardija)

No.		Position	Player
		MF	Rei Hirakawa (on loan at Matsumoto Yamaga)
		MF	Yoshitake Suzuki (on loan at Mito HollyHock)
		MF	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:

Olympic players

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

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
- Winners: 2011
J.League Cup
- Winners: 2004, 2009, 2020
J2 League
- Winners: 2011

Tokyo Gas Football Club (Amateur era)

Regional League Promotion Series
- Winners: 1990
Japan Football League
- Winners: 1998

International