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Yokohama FC
横浜FC
Logo
Full name Yokohama Football Club
Nickname(s) Fulie
Founded 25 December 1998; 26 years ago (25 December 1998)
Ground Mitsuzawa Stadium
Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama
Ground Capacity 15,046
Owner Onodera Group
Chairman Yuji Onodera
Manager Shuhei Yomoda
League J1 League
2024 J2 League, 2nd of 22 (promoted)

Yokohama Football Club (横浜FC, Yokohama Efushī) is a professional football team from Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. This club is special because it was started by fans. They formed the team in 1998 after their old club, Yokohama Flügels, merged with another team, Yokohama Marinos.

Yokohama FC was the first professional sports team in Japan owned by its supporters. They play in the J1 League, which is the top football league in Japan. They were promoted to J1 in 2024 and are playing there in 2025. The team has moved between the J1 and J2 League (the second tier) several times.

The Story of Yokohama FC

Timeline of Yokohama Football Clubs
Graphical timeline of Yokohama football clubs

Yokohama FC was created on December 25, 1998. This happened after two J.League clubs in Yokohama, the Yokohama Flügels and the Marinos, joined together. Many Flügels fans felt their club was simply disappearing. They did not want to support the Marinos, who used to be their rivals.

So, these loyal fans decided to start their own team. They raised money from the public and worked with a company called IMG. This led to the creation of the Yokohama Fulie Sports Club. They followed a model similar to FC Barcelona, where supporters own and run the team. This made Yokohama FC the first professional sports team in Japan owned by its fans.

Starting in the Leagues

For their first season in 1999, Yokohama FC hired Pierre Littbarski, a famous former player from the German national team. They also brought in Yasuhiko Okudera as chairman, who was the first Japanese footballer to play professionally in Europe.

The club wanted to join the professional J.League right away. However, the Japan Football Association only allowed them to join the amateur Japan Football League (JFL). This was the third level of Japanese football at the time. They also ruled that Yokohama FC could not be promoted to J.League Division 2 after their first season.

Even though they won the JFL championship in both 1999 and 2000, they had to wait. Finally, after their second JFL title, they were promoted to J.League Division 2.

Moving Up and Down

Yokohama FC joined the J.League in 2001. They spent a lot of time in the second division. In 2005, they had a tough season, finishing 11th out of 12 teams. But things changed in 2006. They hired Takuya Takagi as a player-manager and started to do much better.

On November 26, 2006, they won the J2 League title! This meant they were promoted to the top league, J. League 1, for the 2007 season. It was a huge achievement for the young club.

However, their time in the top league was short. In 2007, they were relegated back to J2 with five games still left to play. Despite this, on the last day of the season, Yokohama FC beat Urawa Red Diamonds, who were fighting for the title. This helped Kashima Antlers win the J.League Division 1 championship instead.

Recent Seasons

After many years in J2, Yokohama FC almost got promoted again in 2018. They finished third, just missing automatic promotion. They played in the J2 promotion final but lost in the last moments of the game.

In 2019, they finished second in J2 and earned automatic promotion back to J1. They played in J1 for the 2020 season, finishing 15th. But in 2021, they finished last and were relegated to J2 again.

The team quickly bounced back! In 2022, they finished second in J2 and were promoted to J1 for the 2023 season. However, on November 25, 2023, Yokohama FC was relegated from J1 to J2 after losing to Shonan Bellmare.

But the team showed their fighting spirit once more. On November 11, 2024, Yokohama FC secured promotion back to J1 for the 2025 season after a 0-0 draw against Renofa Yamaguchi. This ended their one-year stay in the second tier. As of July 2025, they are playing in the J1 League.

Team Crest

The Yokohama FC crest features a phoenix. This bird is a symbol of rising from ashes. For the club, it means Yokohama FC rose from the end of the Yokohama Flügels team. The blue ribbon on the top of the crest represents the Blue Ribbon Movement. This movement started in 1998 to try and save the Flugels club.

Team Kit and Colours

Yokohama FC could not use the white and blue colours of the Flügels because they were too similar to the Marinos' colours. So, they chose an all-cyan kit. This colour was inspired by NKK SC, an old company football club that closed in 1994. NKK SC used to play some of its matches at Mitsuzawa Stadium, which is also Yokohama FC's home ground.

Kit Evolution

Home kit - 1st
2001
2002
2003 - 2004
2005 - 2006
2007 - 2008
2009 - 2010
2011 - 2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025 -
Away kit - 2nd
2001
2002
2003 - 2004
2005 - 2006
2007 - 2008
2009 - 2010
2011 - 2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025 -

Current Squad

No. Position Player
1 Brazil GK Phelipe Megiolaro
2 Japan DF Boniface Nduka
3 Japan DF Junya Suzuki
4 Brazil MF Yuri Lara (vice-captain)
5 Japan DF Akito Fukumori
6 Japan MF Yoshiaki Komai (captain)
7 Japan FW Musashi Suzuki
8 Japan MF Towa Yamane
9 Japan FW Solomon Sakuragawa
10 Brazil FW João Paulo
13 Japan FW Keijiro Ogawa (vice-captain)
14 Japan MF Yoshihiro Nakano
15 Japan FW Sho Ito
16 Japan MF Makito Ito
17 Japan MF Mizuki Arai
19 Japan DF Shawn van Eerden
20 Japan FW Toma Murata
21 Japan GK Akinori Ichikawa (vice-captain)
22 Japan DF Katsuya Iwatake (vice-captain)
23 Japan MF Ryo Kubota
27 Brazil DF Léo Bahia
28 Japan DF Koki Kumakura
No. Position Player
29 Japan FW Izumi Miyata
30 Japan DF Kosuke Yamazaki
32 Japan GK Ryo Ishii
33 Japan FW Keisuke Muroi
34 Japan MF Hinata Ogura
37 Japan FW Kantaro Maeda Type 2
39 Japan MF Takanari Endo
40 Japan GK Masaki Endo
41 Japan GK Toma Sakurai Type 2
42 Japan GK Tsukasa Okame Type 2
43 Japan GK Katsuto Yamagishi Type 2
44 Japan MF Ryosuke Iwasaki Type 2
45 Japan DF Sota Tsukuda Type 2
46 Japan DF Soma Sato
48 Japan DF Kaili Shimbo
50 Japan DF Jui Hata Type 2
70 Japan DF Kyo Hosoi DSP
76 Japan MF Kota Yamada
77 Japan MF Leo Takae
88 Japan GK Tsubasa Shibuya
91 Brazil FW Lukian

Players Out on Loan

No. Position Player
18 Japan FW Kaito Mori (at JEF United Chiba)
49 Japan FW Naoya Komazawa (at Giravanz Kitakyushu)
56 Japan DF Jo Hashimoto (at Vonds Ichihara)
Japan DF Kengo Hayashi (at Tiamo Hirakata)
Japan DF Ibuki Matsushita (at FC Tokushima)
Japan DF Hayato Sugita (at Matsumoto Yamaga)
No. Position Player
Japan MF Yuto Shimizu (at Yokogawa Musashino)
Japan MF Tomoya Takahashi (at Portugal Oliveirense)
Japan MF Hayase Takashio (at Okinawa SV)
Japan MF Koshiro Uda (at Reilac Shiga)
Japan FW Koki Ogawa (at Netherlands NEC Nijmegen)
Japan FW Kazuyoshi Miura (at Japan Atletico Suzuka)

Club Officials

Here are the main staff members for Yokohama FC for the 2024 season.

Role Name
Manager Japan Shuhei Yomoda
Assistant manager Japan Takafumi Hori
First-team coach Japan Seiya Takeuchi
Japan Shunsuke Nakamura
Japan Shingi Ono
Goalkeeper coach Japan Yoichi Doi
Assistant goalkeeper coach Japan Taiki Murai
Physical coach Japan Takeshi Ikoma
Conditioning coach Japan Akihiro Tanaka
Analyst Japan Shohei Waki

Managerial History

This table shows the managers who have led Yokohama FC over the years.

Manager Nationality Tenure
Start Finish
Pierre Littbarski  Germany 1 February 1999 31 December 2000
Yoshikazu Nagai  Japan 1 January 2001 10 September 2001
Yūji Sakakura  Japan 11 September 2001 15 September 2001
Pierre Littbarski  Germany 1 February 2003 31 January 2005
Yūsuke Adachi  Japan 1 January 2005 6 March 2006
Takuya Takagi  Japan 7 March 2006 27 August 2007
Júlio César Leal  Brazil 28 August 2007 31 December 2007
Satoshi Tsunami  Japan 1 February 2008 31 January 2009
Yasuhiro Higuchi  Japan 1 February 2009 31 January 2010
Yasuyuki Kishino  Japan 1 February 2010 18 March 2012
Takahiro Taguchi  Japan 18 March 2012 21 March 2012
Motohiro Yamaguchi  Japan 21 March 2012 31 January 2015
Miloš Rus  Slovenia 1 January 2015 14 September 2015
Hitoshi Nakata  Japan 14 September 2015 1 December 2015
Miloš Rus  Slovenia 1 December 2015 15 June 2016
Hitoshi Nakata  Japan 16 June 2016 15 October 2017
Tomonobu Hayakawa  Japan 15 October 2017 17 October 2017
Yasuhiko Okudera  Japan 19 October 2017 23 October 2017
Edson Tavares  Brazil 24 October 2017 13 May 2019
Takahiro Shimotaira  Japan 14 May 2019 8 April 2021
Tomonobu Hayakawa  Japan 8 April 2021 31 January 2022
Shūhei Yomoda  Japan 1 February 2022 present

Record as J.League Member

This table shows Yokohama FC's performance in the J.League since 2001.

Champions Runners-up Third place Promoted Relegated
League J.League
Cup
Emperor's
Cup
Season Div. Teams Pos. P W (OTW) D L (OTL) F A GD Pts Attendance/G
2001 J2 12 9th 44 12 (3) 1 25 (3) 58 81 -23 43 3,007 2nd round Round of 16
2002 12 12th 44 8 11 25 43 81 -38 35 3,477 3rd round
2003 12 11th 44 10 12 22 49 88 -39 42 3,743 3rd round
2004 12 8th 44 10 22 12 42 50 -8 52 4,219 Round of 16
2005 12 11th 44 10 15 19 48 64 -16 45 5,938 4th round
2006 13 1st 48 26 15 7 61 32 -29 93 5,119 3rd round
2007 J1 18 18th 34 4 4 26 19 66 -47 16 14,039 Group stage Round of 16
2008 J2 15 10th 42 11 17 14 51 56 -5 50 6,793 Round of 16
2009 18 16th 51 11 11 29 43 70 -27 44 3,535 3rd round
2010 19 6th 36 16 6 14 54 47 7 54 5,791 3rd round
2011 20 18th 38 11 8 19 40 54 -14 41 5,770 2nd round
2012 22 4th 42 22 7 13 62 45 17 73 6,039 3rd round
2013 22 11th 42 15 13 14 49 46 3 58 6,064 2nd round
2014 22 11th 42 14 13 15 49 47 2 55 5,146 2nd round
2015 22 15th 42 13 13 16 33 58 -25 52 5,113 2nd round
2016 22 8th 42 16 11 15 50 51 -1 59 4,892 Round of 16
2017 22 10th 42 17 12 13 60 49 11 63 5,967 2nd round
2018 22 3rd 42 21 13 8 63 44 19 76 6,141 3rd round
2019 22 2nd 42 23 10 9 66 40 26 79 7,061 3rd round
2020 J1 18 15th 34 9 6 19 38 60 -22 33 3,559 Group stage Did not qualify
2021 20 20th 38 6 9 23 32 77 -45 27 4,511 Group stage 2nd round
2022 J2 22 2nd 42 23 11 8 66 49 17 80 5,088 3rd round
2023 J1 18 18th 34 7 8 19 31 58 -27 29 9.128 Group stage 3rd round
2024 J2 20 2nd 38 22 10 6 60 27 33 76 6,963 3rd round 3rd round
2025 J1 20
Key
*Pos. = Position in league; P = Games played; W = Games won; D = Games drawn; L = Games lost; F = Goals scored; A = Goals conceded; GD = Goals difference; Pts = Points gained
  • Attendance/G = Average home league attendance
  • 2020 & 2021 season's attendances reduced by COVID-19 worldwide pandemic.
  • Source: J. League Data Site

Honours and Achievements

Yokohama FC has won several titles since it was founded.

Yokohama FC honours
Honour No. Years
Japan Football League 2 1999, 2000
J2 League 1 2006

Team Mascot

Yokohama FC's mascot is named Fulie-maru. He is an alien-bird like character. Fulie-maru is a special tribute to Tobimaru, the flying squirrel mascot of the old Yokohama Flügels team.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Yokohama FC para niños

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