FC Tokyo

FC Tokyo
東京

Full name	Football Club Tokyo
Nicknames	Aoaka (青赤) Blue and Reds Gasmen
Founded	1935; 91 years ago (1935) as Tokyo Gas 1999; 27 years ago (1999) as FC Tokyo
Stadium	Ajinomoto Stadium Chōfu, Tokyo
Capacity	49,970
Chairman	Naoki Ogane
Head coach	Rikizo Matsuhashi[1]
League	J1 League
2025	J1 League, 11th of 20
Website	www.fctokyo.co.jp
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Football Club Tokyo (フットボールクラブ東京, Futtobōru Kurabu Tōkyō), commonly known as FC Tokyo (FC東京, Efushī Tōkyō), is a Japanese professional football club based in Chōfu, Tokyo. The club plays in the J1 League, the top tier of football in the country.

FC Tokyo is one of the few J.League clubs to be simply called Football Club without an extended name or moniker, the others being Yokohama FC, Ehime FC, Iwaki FC, FC Imabari, FC Gifu, FC Ryukyu and FC Osaka which is currently playing their trades in the J.League.^[2]

The club have won 1 J2 League titles, 1 Emperor's Cup and 3 J.League Cup. The club also won the 2010 J.League Cup / Copa Sudamericana Championship.

The team started as a company team, Tokyo Gas Football Club (東京ガスサッカー部) in 1935^[3][4] The club played in the Tokyo League got promoted to the Kanto League in 1986 and suddenly achieved a good 4th-place finish. Their first appearance in the national leagues was in 1991, the last season of the old Japan Soccer League.^[5]

Following the professionalisation of Japanese football with the creation of the J.League in 1993, Tokyo Gas began preparing for entry into the professional pyramid. The team competed in the former Japan Football League during the 1990s and gradually developed a stronger organisational structure and supporter base in Tokyo.

With addition of the Brazilian player Amaral and manager Kiyoshi Okuma at the helms, 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 the J2 League.

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 team changed its name to ''FC Tokyo'' and entered the second division of the J2 League, defeating three J1 League teams in a row in the J.League Cup, which they first participated in, and advancing to the top four. In the same year, FC Tokyo 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 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 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 League 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 on 2010. Their 2011 win was remarkably special, as the club won the competition whilst being a J2 team. They became the first J2 team, and third among the second-tier champions overall (after NKK SC in 1981 and Júbilo Iwata in 1982), to accomplish the feat of winning the competition.

FC Tokyo remained a stable presence in the J1 League. The club regularly finished in the upper half of the table and qualified for continental competitions making their debut in the 2012 AFC Champions League being drawn in Group F alongside Korean club Ulsan Hyundai, Australian club Brisbane Roar and Chinese club Beijing Guoan. FC Tokyo went on to finished with 11 points as group runners-up subsequently only losing to Ulsan Hyundai 1–0 on the final group stage fixture on 16 May 2012. FC Tokyo then advanced to the round of 16 facing another Chinese club Guangzhou Evergrande but lost 1–0 to the opposition thus knocking out from the competition.

The 2019 season marked one of the club’s strongest league campaigns, as FC Tokyo challenged for the title before eventually finishing as runners-up behind Yokohama F. Marinos.

In 2020, FC Tokyo secured their third J.League Cup title after defeating Kashiwa Reysol 2–1 in the final, further strengthening their reputation as a competitive side in domestic tournaments.

In 2021, FC Tokyo introduced a redesigned club crest as part of a broader rebranding initiative. The updated logo retained the club’s traditional blue and red colours but featured a simplified and modernised design.

The new crest emphasized the initials “FC TOKYO” in a cleaner and more contemporary style while maintaining elements of the club’s identity, including the shield shape and vertical colour division. The redesign was intended to modernise the club’s visual identity while preserving its historical connection to supporters and the city of Tokyo. The updated emblem began appearing on club kits and official materials from the 2021 season onward.

The Tokyo Derby refers to matches between FC Tokyo and Tokyo Verdy, two clubs representing the Tokyo metropolitan area in the J.League. The rivalry is considered one of the traditional derbies in Japanese football, reflecting the competition for prominence within Tokyo.

The rivalry originated from the late 1990s when FC Tokyo entered the professional league system, while Tokyo Verdy had already been established as one of the most successful clubs during the early years of the J.League. Matches between the two teams quickly gained attention due to their shared representation of Tokyo and the contrasting histories of the clubs.

Tokyo Verdy, was one of the dominant clubs in Japanese football during the 1990s, winning multiple league titles in the early J.League era. In contrast, FC Tokyo developed later but gradually established itself as a competitive club in the top division. The rivalry therefore represents both geographic and generational differences within Tokyo football. The derby continues to symbolize the rivalry for football prominence in Tokyo and remains a significant fixture for supporters of both clubs.

The most notable rivalry involving FC Tokyo is with nearby club Kawasaki Frontale. Matches between the two teams are known as the 'Tamagawa Classico', named after the Tama River that geographically separates Tokyo and Kawasaki.

The rivalry developed after both clubs established themselves in the J1 League during the 2000s. Due to the close proximity of the two cities, fixtures between the clubs attract strong interest from supporters and are often among the most anticipated matches of the season.

Encounters in the Tamagawa Classico have frequently been high-scoring and competitive, with both teams known for attacking styles of play. The rivalry gained further prominence during the late 2010s when Kawasaki Frontale emerged as one of the dominant teams in Japanese football while FC Tokyo regularly competed near the top of the league table.

FC Tokyo uses Ajinomoto Stadium as its home ground (the official name of this stadium is Tokyo Stadium). It can hold up to 49,970 capacity of fans in the 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 Kōtō, Tokyo, and Kodaira Ground in Kodaira, Tokyo.

In order to comply with height limitation close to the airport, the pitch is sunk below the level of the land around the stadium

Year	Kit manufacturer	Main sponsor
1993	Admiral	Tokyo Gas
1994–1998	Adidas
1999–2001		ampm
2002–2013		Eneos
2010–2014		Lifeval
2015–2018	Umbro
2019–2020		XFLAG
2021	New Balance
2022–2023		Mixi
2024–present		Tokyo Gas

Home Kit - 1st
1999 - 2000	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
2026 -

Away Kit - 2nd
1999 - 2000	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
2026 -

3rd kit - Other
1999 3rd	2004 Juan Acuña Cup	2012 ACL 1st	2012 ACL 2nd	2015 Frankfurt Finance Cup
2016 ACL 1st	2016 ACL 2nd	2017 Germany Expedition	2018 20th anniversary	2020 ACL 1st
2020 ACL 2nd	2021 3rd	2022 3rd	2023 25th Anniversary	2024 3rd
2025 Grey Days

As of 30 April 2026.^[6]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  JPN Hayate Tanaka 2 DF  JPN Sei Muroya (captain) 3 DF  JPN Masato Morishige 4 DF  JPN Yasuki Kimoto 5 DF  JPN Yūto Nagatomo 6 DF  JPN Kashif Bangnagande 8 MF  JPN Takahiro Ko (vice-captain) 9 FW  BRA Marcelo Ryan 10 MF  JPN Keigo Higashi 11 FW  JPN Tsuyoshi Ogashiwa 15 DF  JPN Rio Omori 16 FW  JPN Kein Satō (vice-captain) 17 DF  JPN Hayato Inamura (on loan from Celtic) 18 MF  JPN Kento Hashimoto 21 MF  JPN Yuta Sugawara Type 2 22 MF  JPN Keita Endō 23 MF  JPN Ryūnosuke Satō 24 DF  DEN Alexander Scholz 25 FW  JPN Tsuna Kominato

No. Pos. Nation Player 26 FW  JPN Motoki Nagakura 27 MF  JPN Kyota Tokiwa 28 FW  JPN Leon Nozawa 31 GK  JPN Masataka Kobayashi 32 DF  JPN Kanta Doi 33 MF  JPN Kōta Tawaratsumida 37 MF  JPN Kei Koizumi 38 MF  JPN Kio Tanaka Type 2 39 FW  JPN Teruhito Nakagawa 42 DF  JPN Kento Hashimoto 44 DF  JPN Kaede Suzuki Type 2 48 MF  JPN Yuta Arai 50 DF  JPN Renta Higashi 55 FW  JPN Divine Chinedu Otani Type 2 58 GK  JPN Wataru Goto 71 MF  JPN Fūki Yamada 77 MF  JPN Maki Kitahara 81 GK  KOR Kim Seung-gyu

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  JPN Tsubasa Terayama (at Montedio Yamagata) — DF  KOR Baek In-hwan (at Azul Claro Numazu) — DF  JPN Kosuke Shirai (at Fagiano Okayama) — MF  JPN Tsubasa Terayama (at Montedio Yamagata) — DF  JPN Teppei Oka (at Avispa Fukuoka) — MF  BRA Everton Galdino (at Mirassol) — FW  JPN Taiyo Yamaguchi (at Ehime FC)

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW  JPN Naoki Kumata (at Iwaki FC) — DF  JPN Shuto Nagano (at Fujieda MYFC) — MF  JPN Yuki Kajiura (at FC Imabari) — DF  JPN Kojiro Yasuda (at Ventforet Kofu) — MF  JPN Soma Anzai (at F.C. Penafiel)

Club officials for 2025 season.

Position	Name
Head coach	Rikizo Matsuhashi
Assistant coach	Takahsi Okuhara Minoru Kobayashi Yu Tokisaki
Goalkeeping coach	Hisanori Fujiwara
Assistant goalkeeping coach	Shota Yamashita
Head of analysis	Hiroaki Fujii
Coach and analyst	Daisuke Kondo Seiya Imazaki
Analyst	Yuki Shirozu Keito Asahara
Conditioning director	Guillerme
Physical coach	Naoki Hayakawa
Physiotherapist	Yukihisa Miyama
Athletic trainer	Masato Saegusa Yusuke Ozawa Yohei Kojo
Trainer	Naofumi Aoki
Chief manager	Kenta Hontani
Manager and interpreter	Kazunori Iino
Interpreter and equipment manager	Ricardo Oyafuso
Interpreter	Hiroshi Endo
Kit manager	Yukinori Yamakawa
Side manager and equipment	Fumiya Soma
Team performance advisor	Shinya Fukutomi

As both Tokyo Gas SC (1935–1999) and FC Tokyo (1999–present)

Type	Honours	Titles	Season
League	J2 League	1	2011
	Japan Football League	1	1998
	Regional League Promotion Series	1	1990
Cup	Emperor's Cup	1	2011
	J.League Cup	3	2004, 2009, 2020
Regional	J.League Cup / Copa Sudamericana Championship	1	2010

Bold is for those competition that are currently active.

As of 24 March 2026.

Top 10 all-time appearances

Rank	Player	Years	Club appearance
1	Masato Morishige	2010–present	580
2	Yūhei Tokunaga	2003–2004, 2006–2017	513
3	Keigo Higashi	2013–present	430
4	Naohiro Ishikawa	2002–2017	391
5	Yōhei Kajiyama	2003–2018	380
6	Yasuyuki Konno	2004–2011	311
7	Ryuji Fujiyama	1992–2009	293
8	Takuji Yonemoto	2009–2018	284
10	Yoichi Doi	2000–2007	263
	Lucas Severino	2004–2007, 2011–2013

Top 10 all-time appearances

Rank	Player	Club appearance	Total goals
1	Lucas Severino	263	95
2	Diego Oliveira	256	86
3	Amaral	154	70
	Naohiro Ishikawa	391
5	Sōta Hirayama	232	56
6	Masato Morishige	580	48
7	Adaílton	165	45
8	Yasuyuki Konno	311	37
9	Kelly Guimarães	124	36
10	Shingo Akamine	136	35

• Biggest wins:
  • 9–0 vs Kansai University (30 November 1997)
  • 9–0 vs Chonburi (9 February 2016)
• Heaviest defeats: 8–0 vs Yokohama F. Marinos (6 November 2021)
• Youngest ever debutant: Maki Kitahara ~ 15 years 7 months 22 days old (On 1 March 2025 vs Kashima Antlers)
• Oldest ever player: Yūto Nagatomo ~ 39 years 6 months 2 days old (On 14 March 2026 vs Mito HollyHock)
• Youngest goal scorers: Takefusa Kubo ~ 16 years 9 months 10 days old (On 14 March 2018 vs Albirex Niigata)
• Oldest goal scorers: Masato Morishige ~ 38 years 3 months 7 days old (On 26 June 2025 vs Yokohama FC)

As of the end of the 2025 season.

• J.League Best XI:
  • Tuto (2000)
  • Yoichi Doi (2004)
  • Naohiro Ishikawa (2009)
  • Yūto Nagatomo (2009)
  • Masato Morishige (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019)
  • Kosuke Ota (2014, 2015)
  • Yoshinori Muto (2014)
  • Akihiro Hayashi (2019)
  • Sei Muroya (2019)
  • Kento Hashimoto (2019)
  • Kensuke Nagai (2019)
  • Diego Oliveira (2019)
• Individual Fair Play Award:
  • Naohiro Ishikawa (2003)
  • Teruyuki Moniwa (2005)
  • Yota Akimoto (2016)
• J.League Goal of the Year:
  • Ryōma Watanabe against Cerezo Osaka (15 April 2023)
• J.League Cup MVP
  • Yoichi Doi (2004)
  • Takuji Yonemoto (2009)
  • Leandro (2020)
• J.League Cup New Hero Award
  • Yukihiko Sato (1999)
  • Takuji Yonemoto (2009)

The following players have represented their country at the FIFA World Cup whilst playing for FC Tokyo:

• Teruyuki Moniwa (2006)
• Yoichi Doi (2006)
• Yasuyuki Konno (2010)
• Yūto Nagatomo (2010)
• Shūichi Gonda (2014)
• Masato Morishige (2014)

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

• Naohiro Ishikawa (2004)
• Teruyuki Moniwa (2004)
• Yasuyuki Konno (2004)
• Yūhei Tokunaga (2004, 2012)
• Yōhei Kajiyama (2008)
• Yūto Nagatomo (2008)
• Shūichi Gonda (2012)
• Sei Muroya (2016)
• Shōya Nakajima (2016)

Manager	Period	Honours
Kiyoshi Okuma	1 January 1995–31 December 2001
Tahseen Jabbary	20 February 1998–31 August 1998	– 1998 Japan Football League
Hiromi Hara	1 January 2002–19 December 2005	– 2004 J.League Cup
Alexandre Gallo	20 December 2005–14 August 2006
Hisao Kuramata	15 August 2006–6 December 2006
Hiromi Hara (2)	7 December 2006–31 December 2007
Hiroshi Jofuku	1 January 2008–19 September 2010	– 2009 J.League Cup – 2010 J.League Cup / Copa Sudamericana Championship
Kiyoshi Okuma (2)	20 September 2010–2 January 2012	– 2011 J2 League – 2011 Emperor's Cup
Ranko Popović	2 January 2012–31 December 2013
Massimo Ficcadenti	2 January 2014–31 December 2015
Hiroshi Jofuku (2)	1 January 2016–24 July 2016
Yoshiyuki Shinoda	26 July 2016–10 September 2017
Takayoshi Amma	11 September 2017–3 December 2017
Kenta Hasegawa	3 December 2017–7 November 2021	– 2020 J.League Cup
Shinichi Morishita	7 November 2021–31 January 2022
Albert Puig	1 February 2022–14 June 2023
Peter Cklamovski	20 June 2023–31 December 2024
Rikizo Matsuhashi	1 February 2025–present

Champions

Runners-up

Third place

Promoted

Relegated

League													J.League Cup	Emperor's Cup	AFC CL
Season	Division	Teams	Pos.	Plays	W(OTW)	D	L(OTL)	F	A	GD	Points	Attendance/G
1999	J2	10	2nd	36	19 (2)	3	10 (2)	51	35	16	64	3,498	Semi-final	4th round	Did not qualify
2000	J1	16	7th	30	12 (3)	1	12 (2)	47	41	6	43	11,807	2nd round	3rd round
2001			8th	30	10 (3)	5	11 (1)	47	47	0	41	22,313
2002			9th	30	11 (2)	2	15	43	46	-3	39	22,173	Quarter final
2003			4th	30	13	10	7	46	31	15	49	24,932		4th round
2004			8th	30	10	11	9	40	41	-1	41	25,438	Winner	Quarter final
2005		18	10th	34	11	14	9	43	40	3	47	27,101	Group stage	5th round
2006			13th	34	13	4	17	56	65	-9	43	24,096	Group stage
2007			12th	34	14	3	17	49	58	-9	45	25,290	Group stage	Quarter final
2008			6th	34	16	7	11	50	46	4	55	25,716	Quarter final	Semi-final
2009			5th	34	16	5	13	47	39	8	53	25,884	Winner	4th round
2010			16th	34	8	12	14	36	41	-5	36	25,112	Quarter final	Semi-final
2011	J2	20	1st	38	23	8	7	67	22	45	77	17,562	-	Winner
2012	J1	18	10th	34	14	6	14	47	44	3	48	23,955	Semi final	2nd round	Round of 16
2013		18	8th	34	16	6	12	61	47	14	54	25,073	Group stage	Semi-final	Did not qualify
2014			9th	34	12	12	10	47	33	14	48	25,187	Group stage	Round of 16
2015			4th	34	19	6	9	45	33	12	63	28,784	Quarter final	Quarter final
2016			9th	34	15	7	12	39	39	0	52	24,037	Semi final		Round of 16
2017			13th	34	10	10	14	37	42	-5	40	26,490	Quarter final	2nd round	Did not qualify
2018			6th	34	14	8	12	39	34	5	50	25,745	Group stage	4th round
2019			2nd	34	19	7	8	46	29	17	64	31,540	Quarter final	3rd round
2020 †			6th	34	17	6	11	47	42	5	57	5,912	Winner	Did not qualify	Round of 16
2021 †		20	9th	38	15	8	15	49	53	-4	53	7,138	Semi-final	2nd round	Did not qualify
2022		18	6th	34	14	7	13	46	43	3	49	22,309	Group stage	3rd round
2023			11th	34	12	7	15	42	46	-4	43	29,410	Quarter-final	Round of 16
2024		20	7th	38	15	9	14	53	51	2	54	33,225	Playoff round	Third round
2025			11th	38	13	11	14	41	48	-7	50	30,010	3rd round	Quarter-finals
2026		10	TBD	18									N/A	N/A
2026-27		20	TBD	38									TBD	TBD

Key

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2012	AFC Champions League	Group F	Brisbane Roar	4–2	0–2	2nd
			Ulsan Hyundai	2–2	1–0
			Beijing Guoan	3–0	1–1
		Round of 16	Guangzhou Evergrande	1–0
2016		Play-off round	Chonburi	9–0
		Group E	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	0–3	2–1	2nd
			Becamex Bình Dương	3–1	1–2
			Jiangsu Suning	0–0	1–2
		Round of 16	Shanghai SIPG	2–1	1–0	2–2 (a)
2020		Play-off round	Ceres-Negros	2–0
		Group F	Ulsan Hyundai	1–2	1–1	2nd
			Perth Glory	1–0	0–1
			Shanghai Shenhua	0–1	1–2
		Round of 16	Beijing Guoan	1–0

• FC Tokyo (volleyball)
• FC Tokyo U23

• Official website. Archived 5 July 2012 at the Wayback Machine (in Japanese and English).