FC Tokyo

Formation and early years (1935–1997)

The team started as a company team, Tokyo Gas Football Club (東京ガスサッカー部) in 1935^[2][3] 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.^[4] 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.

Establishment of a new identity (1998–present)

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.

Kit evolution

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 -

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 -

3rd kit - Other
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

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

Current squad

As of 11 April 2024.^[5]

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

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
31	GK	JPN	Masataka Kobayashi
32	DF	JPN	Kanta Doi
33	MF	JPN	Kota Tawaratsumida
37	MF	JPN	Kei Koizumi (vice-captain)
38	DF	JPN	Soma Anzai
39	FW	JPN	Teruhito Nakagawa
40	MF	JPN	Riki Harakawa
41	GK	JPN	Taishi Brandon Nozawa
43	DF	JPN	Shuhei Tokumoto
44	DF	BRA	Henrique Trevisan
48	MF	JPN	Yuta Arai
49	DF	JPN	Kashif Bangnagande
50	DF	JPN	Renta Higashi
51	GK	JPN	Wataru Goto Type 2
70	MF	BRA	Jája Silva
71	MF	JPN	Ryotaro Araki (on loan from Kashima Antlers)
99	MF	JPN	Kosuke Shirai

Out on loan

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

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	DF	JPN	Rio Omori (on loan at Iwaki FC)
—	DF	JPN	Shuto Okaniwa (on loan at JEF United Chiba)
—	MF	JPN	Yuki Kajiura (on loan at Zweigen Kanazawa)
—	MF	JPN	Koki Tsukagawa (on loan at Kyoto Sanga)
—	FW	JPN	Naoki Kumata (on loan at Genk)

FC Tokyo U-18

As of 15 April 2024.

The main U-18 team of FC Tokyo currently plays in the Prince Takamado U-18 Premier League, the top-flight league for U-18 clubs in the country.^[6]

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

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
23	DF	JPN	Haruto Nitta
24	FW	JPN	Kaito Eguchi
25	MF	JPN	Taichi Matsuno
26	DF	JPN	Haruto Tanaka
27	FW	JPN	Yuito Ibe
28	MF	JPN	Shugo Omachi
29	MF	JPN	Haruta Tanabe
30	GK	JPN	Matthew Watanabe
31	MF	JPN	Kaede Suzuki
32	DF	JPN	Keita Suwa
33	MF	JPN	Yuta Sugawara
34	MF	JPN	Rintaro Nikaido
35	FW	JPN	Juda Akamatsu
36	MF	JPN	Hiroki Nakano
37	MF	JPN	Satsuki Kojima
38	MF	JPN	Kio Tanaka
39	MF	JPN	Taiga Nakajima
40	FW	JPN	Haruto Yoshida
41	DF	JPN	Riku Tanaka
42	DF	JPN	Toma Nagata
43	DF	JPN	Yuki Tomomatsu

FC Tokyo (1999–Present) /Tokyo Gas SC (1935–1999)

• J.League Best Eleven
  • Tuto (2000)
  • Yoichi Doi (2004)
  • Naohiro Ishikawa (2009)
  • Yuto Nagatomo (2009)
  • Masato Morishige (2013, 2014, 2015, 2019)
  • Kosuke Ota (2014, 2015)
  • Yoshinori Muto (2014)
  • Akihiro Hayashi (2019)
  • Sei Muroya (2019)
  • Kento Hashimoto (2019)
  • Kensuke Nagai (2019)
  • Diego Oliveira (2019)
• J.League Cup MVP
  • Yoichi Doi (2004)
  • Takuji Yonemoto (2009)
  • Leandro (2020)
• J.League Cup New Hero Award
  • Yukihiko Sato (1999)
  • Takuji Yonemoto (2009)

FIFA World Cup players

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

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

Olympic players

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)
• Yuhei Tokunaga (2004, 2012)
• Yōhei Kajiyama (2008)
• Yuto Nagatomo (2008)
• Shuichi Gonda (2012)
• Sei Muroya (2016)
• Shoya Nakajima (2016)

Key

• FC Tokyo (volleyball)
• FC Tokyo U-23

Wikimedia Commons has media related to FC Tokyo.

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