F.C. Tokyo

Football club infobox
clubname = F.C. Tokyo
FC東京


fullname = Tokyo Football Club
nickname = Gas, "The Gas Men"
founded = 1935 "as Tokyo Gas F.C."
1999 "as F.C. Tokyo"
ground = Ajinomoto Stadium
Chōfu, Tokyo
capacity = 50,100
chairman = Masahiro Tsubahara
manager = Hiroshi Jofuku(2008-)
league = J. League Div.1
season = 2007
position = 12th Place
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nihongo|F.C. Tokyo|FC東京|Efushī Tōkyō is a Japanese football (soccer) club playing in J. League Division 1. Its hometown is Tokyo prefecture. The team is one of only four in the J. League to be simply called "Football Club" without an extended name. The club also has no mascot character.

History

at the helm, the team gradually became competitive and in 1997, the team placed 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.

Following this, on October 1, 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 same year the team became eligible, it won the J2 championship and joined the J1 league 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 three–nil 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 Yamazaki Nabisco Cup for its first major title since joining the J. League.

Today the main sponsorship is done by ENEOS, another fuel company.

tadium

It uses Ajinomoto Stadium as its home ground (the official name of this stadium is Tokyo 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 Yoyogi Stadium, the National Nishigaoka Football Field, the Edogawa Special Ward Stadium, and the Komazawa Olympic Park Stadium, but in 2001 it finally found a permanent home. Its practice grounds are Sarue Ground in Koto, Tokyo and Kodaira Ground in Kodaira, Tokyo.

Players

Current squad

"As of July 6, 2008"

Notable players

* Kelly
* Marcelo
* Lucas
* Sasa Salcedo
* Paulo Wanchope
* Oh Jang-Eun
* Wagner Lopes
* Kenji Fukuda
* Takuya Jinno
* Tadanari Lee
* Akira Kaji
* Yoichi Doi
* Takashi Fukunishi
* Amaral aka "King of Tokyo"
* Tuto

World Cup players

"'World Cup 2006
*flagicon|Japan Yoichi Doi
*flagicon|Japan Teruyuki Moniwa

Current International Players

* Yasuyuki Konno
* Naotake Hanyu
* Yohei Kajiyama (Under 23s)
* Sota Hirayama (Under 23s)
* Yohei Otake (Under 23s)

Managers

Other domestic competitions

Titles

* 1998 - JFL championship (as Tokyo Gas Football Club)
* 2004 - J. League Cup

ee also

References

External links

*en icon [http://www.fctokyo.co.jp/english/index.phtml F.C. Tokyo Official Site]
*jp icon [http://www.fctokyo.co.jp/index.html F.C. Tokyo Official Site]

F.C. Tokyo Squad
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J. League