Yokohama Flügels

Infobox Football club
clubname = Yokohama Flügels
横浜フリューゲルス


fullname = Yokohama Flügels
nickname =
shortname =
founded = 1964 (as "All Nippon Airways FC")
dissolved = 1999
ground = Mitsuzawa Stadium, Yokohama
capacity = 15,046
chairman =
mgrtitle =
manager =
league =
season =
position =
pattern_la1=_blueshoulders|pattern_b1=|pattern_ra1=_blueshoulders
leftarm1=ffffff|body1=ffffff|rightarm1=ffffff|shorts1=ffffff|socks1=ffffff
pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=0033bf|body2=0033bf|rightarm2=0033bf|shorts2=0033bf|socks2=0033bf|

Nihongo|Yokohama Flügels|横浜フリューゲルス|Yokohama Furyūgerusu was a Japanese football club that played in the J. League between 1993 and 1998. In 1999 the club was officially merged with local rivals Yokohama Marinos and the two teams became known together as Yokohama F. Marinos.

History

The club was originally the company team of All Nippon Airways and played in the Japan Soccer League, before it became a professional club and joined the J. League.

The club's name springs from the German word "Flügel", meaning "wing" or "wings" ("Flügels" is an anglicised plural, which in the original German 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 as AS Flügels, with the initials of both sponsors, ANA and Sato Labs, forming an initialism that resembled the Italian initials for "Sporting Association" ("Associazione Sportiva").

Despite never winning either the JSL or J. League title, they were top contenders from the late 1980's through its last game, and won several accolades at home and abroad, including the Emperor's Cup, the Asian Cup Winners Cup and the Asian 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 with Nissan Motors, the primary sponsor of crosstown rivals Yokohama 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 the "socio" model used by FC Barcelona and founded Yokohama F.C., the first professional Japanese football club owned and operated by its members. [cite news
url=http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_50/c3711219.htm
title=As Fans Build a Team of Their Own...Yokohama Readies for the World Cup
last=Maurer
first=Harry
publication=BusinessWeek
date=2000-12-11
accessdate=2007-01-16]

On January 1, 1999, Flügels won their final match, the Emperor's Cup final against Shimizu S-Pulse, 2-1.

J. League results

Honours

Domestic

*JSL Division 2 (1): 1987-88
*Emperor's Cup (2): 1993, 1998

International

*Asian Cup Winners Cup (1): 1994-95
*Asian Super Cup (1): 1994-95

Former players

*flagicon|Japan Yasuharu Sorimachi 1988-1993
*flagicon|Japan Motohiro Yamaguchi 1990-1998
*flagicon|El Salvador Jaime Rodríguez "Chelona" 1992-1993
*flagicon|Japan Masakiyo Maezono 1992-1996
*flagicon|Brazil Edu Marangon 1993-1994
*flagicon|Argentina Moner 1993-1994
*flagicon|Paraguay Raúl Vicente Amarilla 1993-1994
*flagicon|Brazil Evair Aparecido Paulino 1995-1996
*flagicon|Japan Naoto Otake 1991-1997
*flagicon|Brazil Zinho 1995-1997
*flagicon|Brazil Sampaio 1995-1998
*flagicon|Japan Yasuhiro Hato 1995-1998
*flagicon|Japan Seigo Narazaki 1995-1998
*flagicon|Japan Atsuhiro Miura 1995-1998
*flagicon|Japan Hideyuki Ujiie 1997-1998
*flagicon|Russia Igor Lediakhov 1998
*flagicon|Japan Yasuhito Endo 1998
*flagicon|Japan Kazuki Teshima 1998
*flagicon|Japan Shigeki Tsujimoto 1998
*flagicon|Portugal Paulo Futre 1998

ee also

* Yokohama F.C.
* Yokohama F. Marinos

Trivia

*In Japanese popular soccer manga Captain Tsubasa, one of the main characters Wakashimazu joined Flügels after he graduated from his high school.

References

Further reading

* "Ultra Nippon: How Japan Reinvented Football" by Jonathan Burchill, Headline Book Publishing Ltd., London: 2000 (ISBN 0747274770).
* [http://www.wldcup.com/Asia/jleague/1998.html Rising Sun News: J. League in 1998] - details the Flügels/Marinos controversy
* [http://www.nippon-ganbare.com/article.php3?id_article=1280 78th Emperor's Cup playback : the Flügels' last challenge] - Nippon Ganbare (French)

J. League
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Original J. League clubs