Tochigi City FC
| Full name | Tochigi City Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1947 as Hitachi Tochigi Soccer Club | ||
| Ground | City Football Station Tochigi, Tochigi | ||
| Capacity | 5,129 | ||
| Chairman |  Takashi Ōkuri | ||
| Manager | Naoki Imaya | ||
| League | J3 League | ||
| 2024 | JFL, 1st of 16 (champions) | ||
| Website | https://tochigi-city.com/ | ||
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Tochigi City Football Club (栃木シティフットボールクラブ, Tochigi Shiti Futtobōrukurabu), commonly known as Tochigi City FC (栃木シティFC, Tochigi Shiti Efushi) is a Japanese football club based in Tochigi Prefecture. The club set to play in the third-tier J3 League from 2025, after promotion from the Japan Football League in 2024.
History
[edit]The club was formed in 1947 as Hitachi Tochigi Soccer Club, the works team of the local Hitachi, Ltd. affiliate.
After finishing as a runners-up in the local Kanto Soccer League in 2009 season, they were promoted to the 2010 Japan Football League through the All Japan Regional Football Promotion League Series. Prior to their first season in JFL, the club has dropped Hitachi prefix in its name and changed the reference to sport from "soccer" to "football" following general Japanese trend. From the 2019 season, the club has adopted the new name as Tochigi City FC.[1][2]
In 2023, Tochigi City secure promotion to JFL after defeat Tsukuba FC 4–0 in final day of 2023 Japanese Regional Football Champions League, Champions of Japanese Regional Football Champions League for the first time in history due to finish 2nd place in Kanto Soccer League and return to fourth tier after six years absence since change name from Tochigi Uva.
On 24 September 2024, Tochigi City announced that it was officially granted a J3 Club License after approval from the J. League Board of Directors.[3]
On 17 November 2024, Tochigi City secured the 2024 Japan Football League championship and promotion to the J3 League for the first time in history after defeating Atletico Suzuka 6-0 in Kanseki Stadium Tochigi in match week 29, their final home match of the season.
Origin name
[edit]In 2002 it adopted the moniker Uva (meaning "grape" in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish), after the vineyards of its home area, southern Tochigi Prefecture.[citation needed]
League and cup record
[edit]| Champions | Runners-up | Third place | Promoted | Relegated |
| League | Emperor's Cup |
J. League Cup | Shakaijin Cup | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Div. | Teams | Pos. | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | ||||
| Tochigi Uva | |||||||||||||||
| 2010 | JFL | 18 | 15th | 34 | 7 | 10 | 17 | 41 | 75 | -34 | 31 | 1st round | – | Ineligible | |
| 2011 | 17 | 10th | 33 | 12 | 9 | 12 | 40 | 43 | -3 | 45 | 2nd round | ||||
| 2012 | 17 | 17th | 32 | 4 | 10 | 18 | 36 | 70 | -34 | 22 | Prefectural qualify round | ||||
| 2013 | 18 | 17th | 34 | 9 | 3 | 22 | 34 | 64 | -32 | 30 | 2nd round | ||||
| 2014 | 14 | 13th | 26 | 4 | 7 | 15 | 16 | 37 | -21 | 19 | 1st round | ||||
| 2015 | 16 | 16th | 30 | 5 | 4 | 21 | 29 | 61 | -32 | 19 | 1st round | ||||
| 2016 | 16 | 15th | 30 | 5 | 1 | 24 | 34 | 77 | -43 | 16 | 1st round | ||||
| 2017 | 16 | 16th | 30 | 5 | 9 | 16 | 22 | 56 | -34 | 24 | 2nd round | ||||
| 2018 | KSL | 10 | 1st | 18 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 55 | 14 | 36 | 52 | Prefectural qualify round | Did not play | ||
| Tochigi City FC | |||||||||||||||
| 2019 | KSL | 10 | 3rd | 18 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 30 | 15 | 15 | 32 | 1st round | – | 2nd round | |
| 2020 | 10 | 1st | 9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 25 | 6 | 19 | 23 | 1st round | Cancelled | |||
| 2021 | 12 | 4th | 22 | 14 | 2 | 6 | 45 | 26 | 19 | 46 | 2nd round | ||||
| 2022 | 10 | 1st | 18 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 33 | 14 | 19 | 37 | Prefectural qualify round | Quarter final | |||
| 2023 | 10 | 2nd | 18 | 11 | 3 | 4 | 54 | 24 | 30 | 36 | 2nd round | 1st round | |||
| 2024 | JFL | 16 | 1st | 30 | 2nd round | Ineligible | |||||||||
| 2025 | J3 | 20 | TBD | 38 | TBD round | ||||||||||
- 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
Honours
[edit]| Honour | No. | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Tochigi Prefecture Division 1 | 10 | 1967, 1968, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1980, 1983, 1999, 2002 |
| Tochigi Prefecture 2nd Division A | 2 | 1989, 1990 |
| Tochigi Prefecture Division 2 | 1 | 1991 |
| Kantō Soccer League | 3 | 2018, 2020, 2022 |
| Japanese Regional Football Champions League | 1 | 2023 |
| Japan Football League | 1 | 2024 |
Current squad
[edit]As of 3 April 2024.[4]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Out on loan
[edit]Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Club staff
[edit]| Position | Staff[5] |
|---|---|
| Manager | Naoki Imaya
|
| Defense coach | Takuma Tsuda
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| Offense coach | Atsushi Izawa
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| Goalkeeper coach | Yuki Takita
|
| Strengthening coach | Nobuaki Sekimura
|
| Analyst | Daito Kai Kazuki Yokoyama
|
| Chief trainer | Arihiro Koizumi
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| Trainer | Kosuke Inoue
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| Competent/Kitman | Masateru Hata
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| Side affair and interpreter | Naoki Iwahashi
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| Reinforcement affairs | Takumi Abe
|
References
[edit]- ^ mainichi.jp
- ^ sankei.com
- ^ "2025シーズン Ｊ３クラブライセンス交付のお知らせ" (Press release). 栃木シティFC. 2024-09-25. Retrieved 2024-09-28.
- ^ "Tochigi City FC". Tochigi City FC. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
- ^ "Club staff 2024". jfl.or.jp. Retrieved 7 April 2024.
External links
[edit]- Official website (in Japanese)
- Tochigi City FC on Twitter
- Tochigi City FC on Facebook
- Tochigi Uva FC U-15 U-12 Football School (archived)
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