Yokohama FC facts for kids
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| Full name | Yokohama Football Club | ||
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| Nickname(s) | Fulie | ||
| Founded | 25 December 1998 | ||
| Ground | Mitsuzawa Stadium Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama |
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| Capacity | 15,046 | ||
| Owner | Onodera Group | ||
| Chairman | Yuji Onodera | ||
| Manager | Shuhei Yomoda | ||
| League | J1 League | ||
| 2024 | J2 League, 2nd of 22 (promoted) | ||
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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.
Contents
The Story of Yokohama FC
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
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Current Squad
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Players Out on Loan
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Club Officials
Here are the main staff members for Yokohama FC for the 2024 season.
| Role | Name |
|---|---|
| Manager |  Shuhei Yomoda |
| Assistant manager | Takafumi Hori |
| First-team coach | Seiya Takeuchi Shunsuke Nakamura Shingi Ono |
| Goalkeeper coach | Yoichi Doi |
| Assistant goalkeeper coach | Taiki Murai |
| Physical coach | Takeshi Ikoma |
| Conditioning coach | Akihiro Tanaka |
| Analyst | 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 |
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| 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
- 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.
| 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
In Spanish: Yokohama FC para niños
