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| Full name | Yokohama Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | Fulie | ||
| Founded | 25 December 1998; 27 years ago (25 December 1998) | ||
| Ground | Mitsuzawa Stadium Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama | ||
| Capacity | 15,046 | ||
| Owner | Onodera Group | ||
| Chairman | Yuji Onodera | ||
| Manager | Daisuke Sudo | ||
| League | J2 League | ||
| 2025 | J1 League, 18th of 20 (relegated) | ||
| Website | yokohamafc | ||
 Current season | |||
Yokohama Football Club (横浜FC,Yokohama Efushī) is a Japanese professionalfootball club based inYokohama,Kanagawa Prefecture, part of theGreater Tokyo Area. The club was formed by fans ofYokohama Flügels as a protest against Flügels' merger withYokohama Marinos in 1999, becoming the first supporter-owned professional sports team in Japan.[1] They are set to play in theJ2 League from 2026–27, the second tier of Japanese football, after relegation fromJ1 League in2025.
Since gaining J.League membership in 2001, Yokohama spent considerable time in the second tier of theJapanese football league system. The club gained promotion toJ.League Division 1 for the 2007 season after winning the Division 2 title. However, YFC were immediately relegated in the following season. After 12 years in theJ2 League, they returned to Japan's top tier, now calledJ1 League, for the 2020 season. The team finished 15th in its first season back in the top flight. But history would repeat itself in 2021, as they were relegated to J2 after finishing the season as J1's last-place team. The team was promoted again to J1 from 2025 after one year stint second tier in 2024.
Yokohama was formed on 25 December 1998 following the merger of Yokohama's twoJ.League clubs, theFlügels and theMarinos.[2] Flügels supporters felt that their club had essentially been dissolved rather than merged with, so rejected the suggestion that they should start supporting Marinos – who had been their crosstown rivals. Instead, with money raised through donations from the general public and an affiliation with talent management companyIMG, the former Flügels supporters founded the Yokohama Fulie Sports Club.[3] Following thesocio model used byFC Barcelona, the Fulie Sports Club createdYokohama Football Club, the first professional sports team in Japan owned and operated by its supporters.[1]
For its first season in 1999, Yokohama hired formerGermany national team andFIFA World Cup starPierre Littbarski to be the manager andYasuhiko Okudera, the first Japanese footballer to play professionally in Europe, to be the chairman.[4] The club attempted to gain entry directly into the professional J.League, but theJapan Football Association only permitted entry to the amateurJapan Football League (JFL), at the time the third level of theJapanese football league system, and ruled that the club would not be eligible for promotion intoJ.League Division 2 at the end of its first season. So, despite finishing as JFL champion in1999, Yokohama finished as JFL champion again in2000 before being promoted to J.League Division 2.[5]
Although they had a dire season in 2005, ending 11th out of 12, they were in the top half of table throughout the 2006 season. Yokohama had lost all of their pre-season matches, including against college teams; they later hired player-managerTakuya Takagi, under whom they saw success. On 26 November 2006, they finished in the top spot of theJ2 League and were promoted to theJ. League 1. Yokohama's financial situation remained poor, with no ownership of their stadium or training ground, and few staff members. One of their players,Kazuyoshi Miura, last played for the team at the age of 53, and a former player,Atsuhiro Miura (one of their main players before his 2010 retirement) was 36 when he last played for the club. These players once played for theJapan national team.
In 2007, just the ninth year of its existence, Yokohama played its first season in the top flight of Japanese football. After a poor season, the team were relegated with five games of the season still remaining. Despite their early relegation, Yokohama defeated title contendersUrawa Red Diamonds on the last day of the season, allowingKashima Antlers to secure the J.League Division 1 title.[6]
In 2018, Yokohama narrowly missed out on automatic promotion by goal difference. The team made it to the J2 promotion final, losing toTokyo Verdy on an stoppage time winner. In 2019, Yokohama finished second in J2 and gained automatic promotion to J1.
After finishing in last place in 2021, Yokohama would be relegated back to J2 for the2022 season, but they bounced back immediately to J1 League the next year. On 25 November 2023, Yokohama FC were relegated from J1 to J2 from 2024 after the club lost toShonan Bellmare. On 11 November 2024, Yokohama FC secure promotion again to J1 from 2025 after draw againstRenofa Yamaguchi 0-0 in final matchweek and ended one year stint in second tier.
Yokohama's crest features aphoenix, symbolizing the rise of Yokohama from the ashes of theYokohama Flügels. The blue ribbon on the top represents the Blue Ribbon Movement, a movement that began at the end of the1998 J.League season to keep the Flugels alive.
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As they could not adopt directly Flügels' white and blue strip given its similarity to that of Marinos, Yokohama decided to adopt an all-cyan kit, afterNKK SC, a formercompany club which had closed in 1994. NKK SC was based inKawasaki and played most matches atTodoroki Athletics Stadium, but used Mitsuzawa Stadium on days when the other Kawasaki clubs at the time (Verdy Kawasaki,Toshiba andFujitsu) used it.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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For the 2024 season.[8]
| Role | Name |
|---|---|
| Manager |  Fumitake Miura |
| Assistant manager | Takafumi Hori |
| First-team coach | Seiya TakeuchiShunsuke NakamuraShingi Ono |
| Goalkeeper coach | Yoichi Doi |
| Assistant goalkeeper coach | Taiki Murai |
| Physical coach | Takeshi Ikoma |
| Conditioning coach | Akihiro Tanaka |
| Analyst | Shohei Waki |
| Manager | Nationality | Tenure | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start | Finish | ||
| Pierre Littbarski |  Germany | 1 February 1999 | 31 December 2000 |
| Yoshikazu Nagai | Japan | 1 January 2001 | 10 September 2001 |
| Yūji Sakakura | 11 September 2001 | 15 September 2001 | |
| Yūsuke Adachi | 1 January 2005 | 6 March 2006 | |
| Takuya Takagi | 7 March 2006 | 27 August 2007 | |
| Júlio César Leal |  Brazil | 28 August 2007 | 31 December 2007 |
| Satoshi Tsunami | Japan | 1 February 2008 | 31 January 2009 |
| Yasuhiro Higuchi | 1 February 2009 | 31 January 2010 | |
| Yasuyuki Kishino | 1 February 2010 | 18 March 2012 | |
| Takahiro Taguchi | 18 March 2012 | 21 March 2012 | |
| Motohiro Yamaguchi | 21 March 2012 | 31 January 2015 | |
| Miloš Rus |  Slovenia | 1 January 2015 | 14 September 2015 |
| Hitoshi Nakata | Japan | 14 September 2015 | 1 December 2015 |
| Miloš Rus | Slovenia | 1 December 2015 | 15 June 2016 |
| Hitoshi Nakata | Japan | 16 June 2016 | 15 October 2017 |
| Tomonobu Hayakawa | 15 October 2017 | 17 October 2017 | |
| Yasuhiko Okudera | 19 October 2017 | 23 October 2017 | |
| Edson Tavares | Brazil | 24 October 2017 | 13 May 2019 |
| Takahiro Shimotaira | Japan | 14 May 2019 | 8 April 2021 |
| Tomonobu Hayakawa | 8 April 2021 | 31 January 2022 | |
| Shūhei Yomoda | 1 February 2022 | 23 July 2025[9] | |
| Fumitake Miura | 23 July 2025[10] | present | |
| Champions | Runners-up | Third place | Promoted | Relegated |
| League | J.League Cup | Emperor's Cup | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Div. | Teams | Pos. | P | W(OTW) | D | L(OTL) | F | A | GD | Pts | Attendance/G | ||
| 2001 | J2 | 12 | 9th | 44 | 12(3) | 1 | 25(3) | 58 | 81 | -23 | 43 | 3,007 | 2nd round | Round of 16 |
| 2002 | 12th | 44 | 8 | 11 | 25 | 43 | 81 | -38 | 35 | 3,477 | – | 3rd round | ||
| 2003 | 11th | 44 | 10 | 12 | 22 | 49 | 88 | -39 | 42 | 3,743 | ||||
| 2004 | 8th | 44 | 10 | 22 | 12 | 42 | 50 | -8 | 52 | 4,219 | Round of 16 | |||
| 2005 | 11th | 44 | 10 | 15 | 19 | 48 | 64 | -16 | 45 | 5,938 | 4th round | |||
| 2006 | 13 | 1st | 48 | 26 | 15 | 7 | 61 | 32 | -29 | 93 | 5,119 | 3rd round | ||
| 2007 | J1 | 18 | 18th | 34 | 4 | 4 | 26 | 19 | 66 | -47 | 16 | 14,039 | Group stage | Round of 16 |
| 2008 | J2 | 15 | 10th | 42 | 11 | 17 | 14 | 51 | 56 | -5 | 50 | 6,793 | – | |
| 2009 | 18 | 16th | 51 | 11 | 11 | 29 | 43 | 70 | -27 | 44 | 3,535 | 3rd round | ||
| 2010 | 19 | 6th | 36 | 16 | 6 | 14 | 54 | 47 | 7 | 54 | 5,791 | |||
| 2011 | 20 | 18th | 38 | 11 | 8 | 19 | 40 | 54 | -14 | 41 | 5,770 | 2nd round | ||
| 2012 | 22 | 4th | 42 | 22 | 7 | 13 | 62 | 45 | 17 | 73 | 6,039 | 3rd round | ||
| 2013 | 11th | 42 | 15 | 13 | 14 | 49 | 46 | 3 | 58 | 6,064 | 2nd round | |||
| 2014 | 42 | 14 | 13 | 15 | 49 | 47 | 2 | 55 | 5,146 | |||||
| 2015 | 15th | 42 | 13 | 13 | 16 | 33 | 58 | -25 | 52 | 5,113 | ||||
| 2016 | 8th | 42 | 16 | 11 | 15 | 50 | 51 | -1 | 59 | 4,892 | Round of 16 | |||
| 2017 | 10th | 42 | 17 | 12 | 13 | 60 | 49 | 11 | 63 | 5,967 | 2nd round | |||
| 2018 | 3rd | 42 | 21 | 13 | 8 | 63 | 44 | 19 | 76 | 6,141 | 3rd round | |||
| 2019 | 2nd | 42 | 23 | 10 | 9 | 66 | 40 | 26 | 79 | 7,061 | ||||
| 2020† | J1 | 18 | 15th | 34 | 9 | 6 | 19 | 38 | 60 | -22 | 33 | 3,559 | Group stage | Did not qualify |
| 2021† | 20 | 20th | 38 | 6 | 9 | 23 | 32 | 77 | -45 | 27 | 4,511 | Group stage | 2nd round | |
| 2022 | J2 | 22 | 2nd | 42 | 23 | 11 | 8 | 66 | 49 | 17 | 80 | 5,088 | – | 3rd round |
| 2023 | J1 | 18 | 18th | 34 | 7 | 8 | 19 | 31 | 58 | -27 | 29 | 9,128 | Group stage | 3rd round |
| 2024 | J2 | 20 | 2nd | 38 | 22 | 10 | 6 | 60 | 27 | 33 | 76 | 6,963 | 3rd round | 3rd round |
| 2025 | J1 | 18th | 38 | 9 | 8 | 21 | 27 | 45 | -18 | 35 | 10,199 | Semi-final | 3rd round | |
| 2026 | J2 | 10 | TBA | 18 | – | |||||||||
| 2026–27 | 20 | TBA | 38 | |||||||||||
| Honour | No. | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Japan Football League | 2 | 1999,2000 |
| J2 League | 1 | 2006 |
| Home kits - 1st | ||||
          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 - |
| Away kits - 2nd | ||||
     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 - |
The Yokohama mascot is named Fulie-maru, an alien-bird like figure. He is, supposedly, a tribute toYokohama Flugels' mascot, Tobimaru, a flying squirrel.[11]
