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| Full name | Yokohama Flügels | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | Fulie | ||
| Founded | 1964; 61 years ago (1964) as All Nippon Airways S.C. | ||
| Dissolved | 1999; 26 years ago (1999) | ||
| Stadium | Mitsuzawa Stadium,Yokohama | ||
| Capacity | 15,046 | ||
TheYokohama Flügels (横浜フリューゲルス,Yokohama Furyūgerusu), also known as theAS Flügels, was a Japanesefootball club that played in theJ.League between1993 and1998. The club was an original member ("Original Ten"[a]) of theJ.League in 1993. In1999, the club merged with local rivals Yokohama Marinos to becomeYokohama F. Marinos. However, many Flügels fans refused to support the new combined effort and created their own club,Yokohama FC.
The club was originally the company team ofAll Nippon Airways. For a time they were billed asYokohamaTriStar SC, but the aftermath of theLockheed-ANA bribery scandal ensured that ANA stuck to their own name as they were pushing for promotion to theJapan Soccer League from the regionalKanto Football League in the early 1980s.They were promoted to the JSL's Second Division in 1984 and immediately made an impact, being promoted to First Division as runner-up. Despite being relegated at the first attempt in 1985, they bounced back up again in 1987 and would never leave the top flight until their demise.
The club's name, adopted upon professionalization for the J.League, sprang from the German wordFlügel, meaningwing orwings ("Flügels" is ananglicised plural, where the original German word has only one form which can both represent singular and plural). The name points to the club's former sponsor. For a time it was billed asAS Flügels, with the initials of both sponsors, ANA and Sato Labs, forming an initialism that resembled the Italian and French initials for "Sporting Association" (Associazione Sportiva andAssociation Sportive).
Despite never winning either theJSL or J.League title, they were top contenders from the late 1980s through its last game, and won several accolades at home and abroad, including theEmperor's Cup, theAsian Cup Winners' Cup and theAsian Super Cup.
In 1998, Sato Labs announced that it was pulling its financial support of the club. However, instead of simply dissolving the club or finding another investor, ANA, the team's other chief sponsor, met withNissan Motors, the primary sponsor of crosstown rivalsYokohama Marinos, and announced that the two Yokohama clubs would merge, with Flügels players joining the Marinos.
Although the "F" added to the new club name, "Yokohama F. Marinos" is meant to represent the merger of the two clubs, Flügels supporters rejected the merger. Instead, the supporter club followed thesocio model used byBarcelona and foundedYokohama FC, the first professional Japanese football club owned and operated by its members.[1]
On 1 January 1999, Flügels won their final match, the1998 Emperor's Cup Final againstShimizu S-Pulse, 2–1. Due to their merger, however, Shimizu took their place in the1999 Japanese Super Cup and the subsequentAsian Cup Winners' Cup, with S-Pulse winning the latter against Iraqi clubAl-Zawraa 1–0.
Flügels were the second club to withdraw from the Japanese top flight and fold and the first since1976, whenEidai Industries fromYamaguchi Prefecture was closed down by its parent company due to rising costs of maintaining a top-flight team.
| Season | Div. | Teams | Pos. | Attendance/G | J.League Cup | Emperor's Cup | Asia | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | – | Group stage | Second round | – | ||||
| 1993 | J1 | 10 | 6 | 15,464 | Semi-finals | Winners | – | |
| 1994 | 12 | 7 | 19,438 | Second round | Second round | – | ||
| 1995 | 14 | 13 | 15,802 | – | Second round | CWC | Semi-finals | |
| 1996 | 16 | 3 | 13,877 | Group stage | Fourth round | – | ||
| 1997 | 17 | 6 | 10,084 | Semi-finals | Runners-up | – | ||
| 1998 | 18 | 7 | 15,895 | Group stage | Winners | – | ||
| FP 1st | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
          1992 |      1993 - 1994 |      1995 - 1996 |      1997 - 1998 | |
| FP 2nd | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
     1992 |    1993 - 1994 |      1995 - 1996 |      1997 - 1998 | |
| Honour | No. | Years |
|---|---|---|
| JSL Division 2 | 1 | 1987/88 |
| Regional Promotion Series | 1 | 1983 |
| Emperor's Cup | 2 | 1993,1998 |
| Asian Cup Winners' Cup | 1 | 1994/95 |
| Asian Super Cup | 1 | 1995 |
Yokohama Flugels' mascot was aflying squirrel named Tobimaru. He currently is displayed in the Japan Football Museum after the Flugels were dissolved. He wore the team's kit, and had wings that were cyan and white. He also wore an aviator helmet.
The Flugels' anthem was a remix and relyricing of the song Victory by Japanese rock bandThe Alfee.
Asian Cup Winners' Cup winners | |
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