# Tochigi SC

Tochigi Soccer Club (栃木サッカークラブ, Tochigi Sakkākurabu), commonly referred to as Tochigi SC (栃木SC, Tochigi Esushi) is a Japanese football club based in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. They set to play in the J3 League after relegation from J2 in 2024, Japan's third tier of professional football.

## History

Teachers in Tochigi Prefecture founded the club in 1953. They were initially called Tochigi Teachers' Soccer Club (栃木教員サッカー部 Tochigi Kyōin Sakkā Bu). They started to welcome players with other professions in 1994 and renamed themselves as Tochigi Soccer Club. In 1999, Tochigi won the Kanto Regional League and were promoted to the Japan Football League after finishing runners-up in the Regional League play-off. In March 2005, they announced that they would set up a task force to give a serious consideration to turn professional and try to gain J.League status.
In January 2007, they achieved J.League Associate Membership status and in the 2008 season they secured qualification for promotion to professional status on 16 November 2008. On 1 December 2008, promotion was made official by J.League and Tochigi had competed in J.League Division 2 from 2009.
In 2015, Tochigi finished bottom and were relegated to J3 League for the first time in their history, the third and lowest professional level in the league system. After two seasons, they returned to J2 League from 2018 season who finished as runner-up in 2017.
On 27 October 2024, Tochigi officially relegated to J3 League for second time after defeat from Shimizu S-Pulse 0-1 at home and ending seven years stint in second tier with two games left.

## League and cup record

| Champions | Runners-up | Third place | Promoted | Relegated |
| League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | J.League Cup | Emperor's Cup |
| Season | Div. | Tier | Teams | Pos. | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | Attendance/G | J.League Cup | Emperor's Cup |
| 2007 | JFL | 3 | 18 | 8th | 34 | 14 | 10 | 10 | 43 | 29 | 14 | 52 | 4,457 | — | 3rd round |
| 2008 | JFL | 3 | 18 | 2nd | 34 | 18 | 9 | 7 | 65 | 37 | 28 | 63 | 5,048 | — | 4th round |
| 2009 | J2 | 2 | 18 | 17th | 51 | 8 | 13 | 30 | 38 | 77 | -39 | 37 | 4,706 | — | 2nd round |
| 2010 | J2 | 2 | 19 | 10th | 36 | 14 | 8 | 14 | 46 | 42 | 4 | 50 | 4,157 | — | 3rd round |
| 2011 | J2 | 2 | 20 | 10th | 38 | 15 | 11 | 12 | 44 | 39 | 5 | 56 | 4,939 | — | 3rd round |
| 2012 | J2 | 2 | 22 | 11th | 42 | 17 | 9 | 16 | 50 | 49 | 4 | 60 | 3,850 | — | 2nd round |
| 2013 | J2 | 2 | 22 | 9th | 42 | 17 | 12 | 13 | 61 | 55 | 6 | 63 | 4,922 | — | 3rd round |
| 2014 | J2 | 2 | 22 | 12th | 42 | 15 | 10 | 17 | 52 | 58 | -6 | 55 | 5,294 | — | 2nd round |
| 2015 | J2 | 2 | 22 | 22nd | 42 | 7 | 14 | 21 | 39 | 64 | -25 | 35 | 5,167 | — | 1st round |
| 2016 | J3 | 3 | 16 | 2nd | 30 | 17 | 8 | 5 | 38 | 20 | 18 | 59 | 4,917 | — | Did not qualify |
| 2017 | J3 | 3 | 17 | 2nd | 32 | 16 | 12 | 4 | 44 | 24 | 20 | 60 | 5,147 | — | Did not qualify |
| 2018 | J2 | 2 | 22 | 17th | 42 | 13 | 11 | 18 | 38 | 48 | -10 | 50 | 5,657 | — | 2nd round |
| 2019 | J2 | 2 | 22 | 20th | 42 | 8 | 16 | 18 | 33 | 53 | -20 | 40 | 5,148 | — | 3rd round |
| 2020 † | J2 | 2 | 22 | 10th | 42 | 15 | 13 | 14 | 41 | 39 | 2 | 58 | 2,522 | — | Did not qualify |
| 2021 † | J2 | 2 | 22 | 14th | 42 | 10 | 15 | 17 | 37 | 51 | -14 | 45 | 3,861 | — | 3rd round |
| 2022 | J2 | 2 | 22 | 17th | 42 | 11 | 16 | 15 | 32 | 40 | -8 | 49 | 4,429 | — | Round of 16 |
| 2023 | J2 | 2 | 22 | 19th | 42 | 10 | 14 | 18 | 39 | 47 | -8 | 44 | 5,834 | — | Round of 16 |
| 2024 | J2 | 2 | 20 | 18th | 38 | 7 | 13 | 18 | 33 | 57 | -24 | 34 | 6,238 | 1st round | 2nd round |
| 2025 | J3 | 3 | 20 | TBA | 38 | | | | | | | | | | |

### 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
* Attendance/G = Average league home attendance
* † 2020 & 2021 seasons attendance reduced by COVID-19 worldwide pandemic
* Source: J.League Data Site

## Honours

Tochigi SC honours :
| Honour | No. | Years |
| Tochigi Prefecture Division 1 | 10 | 1978, 1979, 1981, 1984, 1987, 1988, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1998 |
| Kanto | 1 | 1999 |

## Players
### Current squad

    As of 9 August 2024
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | JPN | Shuhei Kawata |
| 2 | DF | JPN | Wataru Hiramatsu |
| 3 | DF | JPN | Hayato Kurosaki |
| 4 | MF | JPN | Sho Sato |
| 5 | DF | JPN | Naoki Otani |
| 6 | MF | JPN | Sho Omori |
| 7 | MF | JPN | Ryotaro Ishida |
| 9 | FW | NGA | Origbaajo Ismaila |
| 10 | MF | JPN | Toshiki Mori |
| 13 | DF | JPN | Keisuke Saka |
| 14 | MF | JPN | Kodai Dohi (on loan from Sanfrecce Hiroshima) |
| 15 | MF | JPN | Koya Okuda |
| 16 | MF | JPN | Rio Hyon (on loan from Tokushima Vortis) |
| 17 | MF | JPN | Takumi Fujitani |
| 18 | MF | JPN | Rensuke Kawana |
| 19 | FW | JPN | Koki Oshima |
| 20 | DF | JPN | Shintaro Ide |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 21 | GK | KOR | Kim Min-jun |
| 22 | MF | JPN | Taichi Aoshima |
| 23 | MF | JPN | Hayato Fukushima (on loan from Shonan Bellmare) |
| 24 | MF | JPN | Kosuke Kambe |
| 27 | GK | JPN | Kenta Tanno |
| 29 | FW | JPN | Kisho Yano |
| 30 | DF | JPN | Kenta Fukumori |
| 32 | FW | JPN | Ko Miyazaki |
| 33 | DF | BRA | Rafael Costa |
| 38 | FW | JPN | Sora Kobori |
| 40 | DF | JPN | Shuya Takashima |
| 41 | MF | JPN | Park Yong-ji |
| 42 | FW | JPN | Harumi Minamino |
| 44 | MF | JPN | Rui Ageishi |
| 45 | FW | JPN | Ota Yamamoto (on loan from Kashiwa Reysol) |
| 47 | MF | JPN | Haruto Yoshino |

### Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | GK | JPN | Yuya Aoshima (at JEF United Chiba) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | FW | JPN | Yuji Senuma (at SC Sagamihara) |

## Coaching staff

| Position | Name |
| Manager | Shinji Kobayashi |
| Assistant Manager | Hiroaki Nagashima |
| First-team coach | Takumi Motohashi |
| Goalkeeper coach | Tomoaki Ogami |
| Analyst | Shogo Manabe |
| Physical coach | Hirofumi Sakamoto |
| Chief trainer | Yuta Matsumoto |
| Trainer | Takahiro Watanabe Atsuya Kaneko |
| Interpreter | Bruno Hideo Owada |
| Chief manager | Tatsuya Sakakibara Yusuke Kenjo |
| Chief doctor | Mitsugi Shimoda |
| Doctor | Hitoshi Akutsu Kei Ajisaka Taro Kuramochi Makoto Kuroda Atsuto Hoshikawa Yuichiro Yano Yusuke Eda Makoto Oe |

## Managerial history

| Manager | Nationality | Tenure | Tenure |
| Manager | Nationality | Start | Finish |
| Kōichi Hashiratani | Japan | January 1, 2007 | December 31, 2008 |
| Hiroshi Matsuda | Japan | February 1, 2009 | September 13, 2013 |
| Ikuo Matsumoto | Japan | September 13, 2013 | November 25, 2013 |
| Yūji Sakakura | Japan | February 1, 2014 | July 20, 2015 |
| Yasuharu Kurata | Japan | July 22, 2015 | December 31, 2015 |
| Yūji Yokoyama | Japan | January 1, 2016 | December 31, 2018 |
| Kazuaki Tasaka | Japan | February 1, 2019 | January 31, 2022 |
| Yū Tokisaki | Japan | February 1, 2022 | January 31, 2024 |
| Makoto Tanaka | Japan | February 1, 2024 | May 14, 2024 |
| Shinji Kobayashi | Japan | May 15, 2024 | current |

## Kit evolution

The team's colour is yellow.
Home kits – 1st :
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 |
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
| 2023 | 2024 - |
Away kits – 2nd :
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 |
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
| 2023 | 2024 - |