# Tochigi City FC

Tochigi City Football Club (栃木シティフットボールクラブ, Tochigi Shiti Futtobōrukurabu), commonly known as Tochigi City (栃木シティ, Tochigi Shiti Efushi) is a Japanese football club based in Tochigi City, Tochigi Prefecture. The club set to play in the third-tier J3 League from 2025, after promotion from the Japan Football League in 2024.

## Origin name

In 2006, Tochigi was adopted the moniker Uva (meaning "grape" in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish). Grapes are a specialty in the area of Ohira Town, which is the location of the Hitachi Tochigi Plant in Tochigi Prefecture.

## History

The club was formed in 1947 as Hitachi Tochigi Soccer Club, the works team of the local Hitachi, Ltd. affiliate.
After finishing as a runners-up in the local Kanto Soccer League in 2009 season, they were promoted to the 2010 Japan Football League through the All Japan Regional Football Promotion League Series. Prior to their first season in JFL, the club has dropped Hitachi prefix in its name and changed the reference to sport from "soccer" to "football" following general Japanese trend. From the 2019 season, the club has adopted the new name as Tochigi City .

### Promotion to Japan Football League

In 2023, Tochigi City secure promotion to Japan Football League after defeat Tsukuba 4–0 in final day of 2023 Japanese Regional Football Champions League, Champions of Japanese Regional Football Champions League for the first time in history due to finish 2nd place in Kanto Soccer League and return to fourth tier after six years absence since change name from Tochigi Uva.

### Promotion to J. League

On 24 September 2024, Tochigi City announced that it was officially granted a J3 Club License after approval from the J. League Board of Directors.
On 17 November 2024, Tochigi City secured the 2024 Japan Football League championship and promotion to the J3 League for the first time in history after defeating Atletico Suzuka 6-0 in Kanseki Stadium Tochigi in match week 29, their final home match of the season, returning to the third tier after 11 years.
On 13 December 2024, Tochigi City officially announced their first J3 League home game will be against SC Sagamihara on 16 February 2025 and their first away game will be against relegated team from J2, Thespa Gunma on 24 February 2025. Tochigi City will also compete in the Tochigi Derby against Tochigi SC.

## League and cup record

| Champions | Runners-up | Third place | Promoted | Relegated |
| League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | Emperor's Cup | J. League Cup | Shakaijin Cup |
| Season | Div. | Tier | Teams | Pos. | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | Emperor's Cup | J. League Cup | Shakaijin Cup |
| Hitachi Tochigi Uva SC ||||||||||||||||
| 2006 | Kanto Division 2 | 5 | 8 | 2nd | 14 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 35 | 18 | 17 | 30 | Did not qualify | Not eligible | |
| 2007 | Kanto Division 1 | 4 | 8 | 2nd | 14 | 9 | 0 | 5 | 33 | 17 | 16 | 27 | Did not qualify | Not eligible | |
| 2008 | Kanto Division 1 | 4 | 8 | 2nd | 14 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 24 | 19 | 5 | 26 | 3rd round | Not eligible |
| 2009 | Kanto Division 1 | 4 | 8 | 2nd | 14 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 30 | 16 | 14 | 31 | Did not qualify | Not eligible |
| Tochigi Uva ||||||||||||||||
| 2010 | Japan Football League | 3 | 18 | 15th | 34 | 7 | 10 | 17 | 41 | 75 | -34 | 31 | 1st round | – | Ineligible |
| 2011 | Japan Football League | 3 | 17 | 10th | 33 | 12 | 9 | 12 | 40 | 43 | -3 | 45 | 2nd round | – | Ineligible |
| 2012 | Japan Football League | 3 | 17 | 17th | 32 | 4 | 10 | 18 | 36 | 70 | -34 | 22 | Prefectural qualify round | – | Ineligible |
| 2013 | Japan Football League | 3 | 18 | 17th | 34 | 9 | 3 | 22 | 34 | 64 | -32 | 30 | 2nd round | – | Ineligible |
| 2014 | Japan Football League | 4 | 14 | 13th | 26 | 4 | 7 | 15 | 16 | 37 | -21 | 19 | 1st round | – | Ineligible |
| 2015 | Japan Football League | 4 | 16 | 16th | 30 | 5 | 4 | 21 | 29 | 61 | -32 | 19 | 1st round | – | Ineligible |
| 2016 | Japan Football League | 4 | 16 | 15th | 30 | 5 | 1 | 24 | 34 | 77 | -43 | 16 | 1st round | – | Ineligible |
| 2017 | Japan Football League | 4 | 16 | 16th | 30 | 5 | 9 | 16 | 22 | 56 | -34 | 24 | 2nd round | – | Ineligible |
| 2018 | Kantō Soccer League Division 1 | 5 | 10 | 1st | 18 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 55 | 14 | 36 | 52 | Prefectural qualify round | – | Did not play |
| Tochigi City FC ||||||||||||||||
| 2019 | Kantō Soccer League Division 1 | 5 | 10 | 3rd | 18 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 30 | 15 | 15 | 32 | 1st round | – | 2nd round |
| 2020 † | Kantō Soccer League Division 1 | 5 | 10 | 1st | 9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 25 | 6 | 19 | 23 | 1st round | – | Cancelled |
| 2021 | Kantō Soccer League Division 1 | 5 | 12 | 4th | 22 | 14 | 2 | 6 | 45 | 26 | 19 | 46 | 2nd round | – | Cancelled |
| 2022 | Kantō Soccer League Division 1 | 5 | 10 | 1st | 18 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 33 | 14 | 19 | 37 | Prefectural qualify round | – | Quarter final |
| 2023 | Kantō Soccer League Division 1 | 5 | 10 | 2nd | 18 | 11 | 3 | 4 | 54 | 24 | 30 | 36 | 2nd round | – | 1st round |
| 2024 | Japan Football League | 4 | 16 | 1st | 30 | 19 | 7 | 4 | 66 | 35 | 31 | 64 | 2nd round | – | Ineligible |
| 2025 | J3 League | 3 | 20 | TBD | 38 | | | | | | | | TBD | | Ineligible |

### 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
* † Number of games played reduced by COVID-19 worldwide pandemic

## Honours

Tochigi City FC Honours :
| Honour | No. | Years |
| Tochigi Prefecture Division 1 | 10 | 1967, 1968, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1980, 1983, 1999, 2002 |
| Tochigi Prefecture 2nd Division A | 2 | 1989, 1990 |
| Tochigi Prefecture Division 2 | 1 | 1991 |
| Tochigi Prefectural Football Championship Emperor's Cup Tochigi Prefectural Qualifiers | 11 | 2005, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021 |
| Kantō Soccer League | 3 | 2018, 2020, 2022 |
| Japanese Regional Football Champions League | 1 | 2023 |
| Japan Football League | 1 | 2024 |

## Current squad

As of 3 April 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 | Yoshinobu Harada |
| 2 | DF | BRA | Carlos Eduardo |
| 3 | DF | JPN | Shuto Masuda |
| 4 | DF | JPN | Rempei Uchida |
| 5 | DF | JPN | Ryo Okui |
| 6 | DF | JPN | Taiga Nishiyama |
| 7 | DF | JPN | Ryuga Suzuki |
| 8 | MF | JPN | Takahiro Noda |
| 9 | FW | JPN | Yuki Yamamura |
| 10 | MF | JPN | Yuki Okaniwa |
| 11 | MF | JPN | Genta Omotehara |
| 13 | MF | JPN | Takashi Oshima |
| 14 | MF | JPN | Genya Sekino |
| 15 | DF | JPN | Yoshiki Sato |
| 16 | MF | JPN | Sho Toriumi |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 17 | FW | JPN | Takumi Fujiwara |
| 18 | FW | JPN | Toshiaki Shishido |
| 21 | GK | JPN | Kanta Tanaka |
| 22 | MF | JPN | Hiroto Suzuki |
| 23 | FW | JPN | Atsushi Yoshida |
| 26 | MF | JPN | Shun Utsugi |
| 27 | FW | JPN | Kazuya Niwa |
| 28 | MF | BRA | Pedro Henrique (on loan from Fujieda MYFC) |
| 29 | GK | JPN | Azusa Takayama |
| 31 | GK | JPN | Peter Kwame Aizawa (captain) |
| 32 | MF | JPN | Riku Tosa |
| 40 | FW | JPN | Kunitomo Suzuki |
| 41 | FW | JPN | Ryohei Yamazaki |
| 77 | FW | JPN | Paulo Junichi Tanaka |
| 99 | FW | JPN | Masahide Hiraoka |

### 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 |
| 19 | FW | JPN | Akira Yoshida (at Tochigi City U-25) |

## Club staff

    As of the 2024 season.
| Position | Staff |
| Manager | Naoki Imaya |
| Defense coach | Takuma Tsuda |
| Offense coach | Atsushi Izawa |
| Goalkeeper coach | Yuki Takita |
| Strengthening coach | Nobuaki Sekimura |
| Analyst | Daito Kai Kazuki Yokoyama |
| Chief trainer | Arihiro Koizumi |
| Trainer | Kosuke Inoue |
| Competent/Kitman | Masateru Hata |
| Side affair and interpreter | Naoki Iwahashi |
| Reinforcement affairs | Takumi Abe |