Kagoshima United FC (鹿児島ユナイテッドFC , Kagoshima Yunaiteddo FC) is a football club in Japan that was formed from the merger of the old Volca Kagoshima and FC Kagoshima clubs, both have been playing in Kyushu Soccer League before the merger. The top team currently play in Japan Football League, and their secondary team play in Kyushu Soccer League.
Volca Kagoshima had been playing in Kyushu Soccer League since 1973 and advanced to the Regional League promotion series five times, but never succeeded to promote to the upper tier, Japan Football League, known as the Japan Soccer League until the 1980s. Osumi NIFS United FC (the former club name of FC Kagoshima), originally affiliated with the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Kanoya in nearby Kanoya, have promoted to Kyushu Soccer League as early as 2004, but both Volca and NIFS have been seeking the way to promote to JFL separately.
The idea of a merged team of Volca and FC Kagoshima had been discussed by the Kagoshima Prefectural Football Association as early as 2012, but they failed to reach the agreement then. Although Volca and FC Kagoshima had applied for J. League Associate Membership separately, both side restarted their talk about the merger, then finally agreed with merging their teams to aim promotion to the J. League, in response of the advisory by the J. League organization. As both clubs had advanced to the final round of Regional League promotion series in 2013, the merged team earned the promotion to 2014 Japan Football League.
In November 2015, after concluding in promotion zone in 2015, they receive a J. League license to participate to J3.
Tochigi Soccer Club (栃木サッカークラブ ) , commonly referred to as Tochigi SC are a football (soccer) club based in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. They will play in the J3 League. Their team colour is yellow.
Tochigi, uniquely, is the only major Japanese professional club to retain the word "soccer" in its English name, despite efforts by football authorities to minimize the incidence of the word in the J.League (the very Japanized pronunciation of the word is widely used in American English whereas "football" is more the more common term in British English, and is thus seen as an effect of the American influence following their occupation after World War II).
Teachers in Tochigi Prefecture founded the club in 1953. They were initially called self-explanatory Tochigi Teachers' Soccer Club (栃木教員サッカー部 Tochigi Kyōin Sakkā Bu). They started to welcome players with other professions in 1994 and renamed themselves as Tochigi Soccer Club. In 1999, Tochigi won the Kanto Regional League and were promoted to the Japan Football League after finishing runners-up in the Regional League play-off. In March 2005, they announced that they would set up a task force to give a serious consideration to turn professional and try to gain J.League status.
On January 2007 they achieved J.League Associate Membership status and in the 2008 season they secured qualification for promotion to professional status on November 16; on December 1 promotion was made official by J.League and Tochigi had competed in J2 since 2009. In 2015 Tochigi finished bottom and were relegated for the first time to J3, the third and lowest professional level in the league system.
Mito HollyHock (水戸ホーリーホック , Mito Hōrīhokku) is a Japanese professional football (soccer) club, currently playing in the J2 League. The team's hometown is located in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture.
Its nickname "HollyHock" derives from the family crest of the Tokugawa clan who governed from Mito in the Edo period.
The club was founded in 1990 as Prima Aseno FC by the factory workers of Prima Ham (a food company) in Tsuchiura. It changed its name to Prima Ham FC Tsuchiura and gained promotion to the Japan Football League after finishing as runner-up in the 1996 Regional League play-off. It merged with FC Mito (founded in 1994) and re-branded itself as Mito HollyHock before the start of the 1997 season when Prima Ham decided to discontinue its financial support to the club.
Mito's application to play in the inaugural 1999 season of J. League Division 2 was initially turned down due to an unstable financial and fan base. However, after finishing 3rd in the Japan Football League in 1999 and gaining support, the club was invited into the J. League in 2000.
As of 2016, Mito HollyHock fields teams in women's football in Kanto league division 2, and ice hockey in the Ibaraki prefecture league.
Ehime Football Club (愛媛フットボールクラブ ) is a professional football club based in Matsuyama, the capital city of Ehime Prefecture of Japan. After winning the JFL championship in 2005, the club now plays in J2 League.
The club was founded in 1970 as Matsuyama Soccer Club and renamed itself as Ehime Football Club in 1995. For many years it competed in the regional and prefectural league, as Matsuyama was represented in the Japan Soccer League by the local club belonging to the Teijin company.
Ehime F.C. was promoted to the Japan Football League in 2003. After winning the JFL championship in 2005, Ehime now plies its trade in J. League Division 2.
On November 28, 2007, Ehime pulled off a major shock by consigning the Urawa Red Diamonds, the AFC Champions League 2007 winners, to a fourth-round exit from the Emperor's Cup courtesy of a 2–0 win on Urawa's home soil, Urawa Komaba Stadium.
Tokyo Verdy (東京ヴェルディ , Tōkyō Verudi) , is a Japanese professional football club, based in Tokyo, Japan, that plays in J2 League.
Founded as Yomiuri FC in 1969, Tokyo Verdy is one of the most decorated teams 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.
Verdy's plays its home games at the 50,000 capacity Ajinomoto Stadium, which it shares with F.C. Tokyo, although many home matches are played in other stadiums in Tokyo, including Tokyo National Stadium.
In October 1968, following Japan's bronze medal triumph at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City and the massive interest in football that ensued, 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. 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.
At last, 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.
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.
The team immediately met expectations, being the first Asian to win a continental treble in 1987, (winning the First Division, Emperor's Cup and the Asian Club Championship), 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.
Football Club Gifu, abbreviated as F.C. Gifu (FC岐阜 , Efu Shī Gifu) is a Japanese football club based in Gifu, Japan. They plays in the J2 League, the second tier of Japanese professional football.
During the Japan Soccer League and former Japan Football League years, the city and prefecture of Gifu were represented by the Seino Transportation Co. (西濃運輸 Seinō Un'yu) works team, which was relegated from the old JFL for the last time in 1997 and folded shortly thereafter.
The modern-day Gifu club was founded in 2001 (Seino's last manager Masayuki Katsuno was among the founders, and a former Seino player, Takashi Umeda, recently returned to town and joined the club following a decade-long stint with Oita Trinita). The club was promoted to the new Japan Football League in 2007 after beating Honda Lock S.C. in the promotion/relegation play-offs.
The team earned third place at the end of the 2007 season, meaning it qualified for promotion to J. League Division 2. On December 3, 2007, J. League approved a promotion for the team for the 2008 season.
The club finished the 2012 season in 21st place, narrowly missing out on relegation to the Japan Football League.
Tokushima Vortis is a Japanese professional football club, currently playing in the J2 League. The team is located in Tokushima, Tokushima Prefecture. Their home stadium is Naruto Athletic Stadium, in Naruto, Tokushima.
The name, "Vortis" was named in 1997 (see below), and it was explained as a combination of Italian "Vortice" (meaning whirlpool, after the famous Naruto whirlpool in Naruto Strait).
Founded in 1955 as Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Soccer Club, VORTIS joined the J-League in 2005. They are still sponsored by Otsuka's best-known brand, Pocari Sweat sports drink.
They were first promoted to the old Japan Soccer League Division 2 in 1989, but the company's reluctance to professionalize the team forced it to compete in the former JFL and current JFL. In the 1997 old JFL season, they first sported a Vortis Tokushima name, but the lack of fan interest at the time forced them to go back to the corporate identity. They finally adopted the Tokushima Vortis name for good after winning the new JFL championship in 2004 and being promoted.
The first season in J2 was naturally a difficult one for Vortis, but they surprised many sceptics with their determination and quality of play. The team rose as high as fourth place, at one point, before slipping down the table later in the season to finish ninth. In 2006, the team was forced to rebuild, as the players who took the team into the J.League began to hit the ceiling of their abilities, and made way for younger replacements. As a result, despite the encouragement of a local rivalry with Ehime FC, Tokushima drifted down-table, and they followed it up with a last-place finish in 2007 and 2008.
In 2013 they earned fourth place in J2, matching the same placement they had two years before in the division and twenty years before in the old JFL Division 1; this time they won the playoff, defeating Kyoto Sanga F.C. in the final round at the National Stadium in Tokyo, thus becoming the first professional Shikoku football club to compete in the top division of their national league.
Kyoto Sanga F.C. (京都サンガF.C. , Kyōto Sanga Efushī) is a Japanese professional football (soccer) club based in Kyoto. The word "Sanga" is a Sanskrit term meaning "group" or "club", often used to denote Buddhist congregations. This reflects Kyoto's tradition of Buddhist temples (see sangha). The club was formerly known as Kyoto Purple Sanga with "purple", the colour of the team uniforms, an imperial colour reflecting Kyoto's status as Japan's ancient imperial capital city. It was decided however that, from 2007, the team will simply been known as "Kyoto Sanga". They are the oldest club competing in the J.League.
The club was started as Kyoto Shiko Club, one of the few proper Japanese football clubs in the sense of being strictly dedicated to football and not being part of a company. Like Ventforet Kofu, however, it could not rise to a Japan Soccer League First Division dominated by company teams; in 1993, after the J.League was created, Kyoto Shiko Club, aided by funds from local new sponsors Kyocera and Nintendo, professionalized (though some players broke away and formed their own clubs, see below) and joined the former Japan Football League under the new name Kyoto Purple Sanga.
First joining the J.League in 1996, Kyoto Sanga hold the dubious distinction of being the League's most relegated side, having been demoted on three separate occasions. Relegation to J2 occurred at the end of the 2000, 2003 and 2006 seasons; more than any other team. The 2003 relegation happened despite having many national team players on its roster. Stars like Park Ji-sung and Daisuke Matsui have since left for greener pastures. In December 2007 the club gained J1 status for the fourth time in their history via the promotion/relegation playoff. A 0-2 home defeat to Urawa Reds on 14 November 2010 confirmed Sanga's relegation back to J2, bringing an end to their three-season spell in the top flight.
Zweigen Kanazawa (ツエーゲン金沢 Tsuēgen Kanazawa) is a Japanese football club based in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture. They play in J. League Division 2.
The club was formed in 1956 under the simple name Kanazawa Soccer Club and adopted its current identity in 2006. The Hokushinetsu region, long sleepy in football terms and whose potential only arose with Albirex Niigata leading the way, provided few opportunities for Kanazawa to rise in Japan's football ranks until the late 2000s. On 19 December 2009 they were promoted to the JFL after beating FC Kariya at the promotion/relegation playoff with 2–1 aggregate score, following a third-place finish in the 2009 All Japan Regional Football Promotion League Series.
On December 15, 2010, a new management company called Zweigen, Inc. was established in order to apply to the J-League associate membership.
On January 7, 2011 the team applied for J-League associate membership.
On 16 November 2014, Zweigen became the inaugural J3 League champions, and having gained a licence to compete in J. League Division 2 will participate in Japanese club football's second tier for the 2015 season.
The name "Zweigen" is a portmanteau of the German zwei, for the number 2, and gen, to advance. In Kanazawa dialect, the phrase tsuyoi noda! (We're strong!) became tsuee gen! by double entendre. In German, the word Zweigen actually means branches (dative—nominative: Zweige), and owing to this, a fleur-de-lis is a key part of the club's crest.
There is no schedule or ticket right now.
日本、〒920-0361 石川県金沢市袋畠町南１３６ Map