# 2023 Urawa Red Diamonds season

The 2023 Urawa Red Diamonds season was their 73rd season in existence and the 23rd consecutive season in the J1 League. In addition to the league, the club competed in the Emperor's Cup, the J. League Cup, the 2023–24 AFC Champions League and the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup.

## Players

    As of 25 January 2025.
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 | Shusaku Nishikawa (vice-captain) |
| 3 | DF | BRA | Danilo Boza |
| 4 | DF | JPN | Hirokazu Ishihara |
| 5 | DF | NOR | Marius Høibråten (vice-captain) |
| 6 | MF | JPN | Taishi Matsumoto |
| 7 | FW | JPN | Hiroki Abe |
| 8 | MF | BRA | Matheus Sávio (vice-captain) |
| 9 | MF | JPN | Genki Haraguchi (vice-captain) |
| 10 | MF | JPN | Shoya Nakajima |
| 11 | MF | SWE | Samuel Gustafson |
| 12 | FW | BRA | Thiago Santana |
| 13 | MF | JPN | Ryoma Watanabe (vice-captain) |
| 14 | MF | JPN | Takahiro Sekine (captain) |
| 16 | GK | JPN | Ayumi Niekawa |
| 18 | FW | JPN | Toshiki Takahashi |
| 19 | MF | JPN | Shion Homma |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 20 | FW | JPN | Motoki Nagakura |
| 21 | MF | JPN | Tomoaki Okubo |
| 22 | MF | JPN | Kai Shibato |
| 24 | MF | JPN | Yusuke Matsuo |
| 25 | MF | JPN | Kaito Yasui |
| 26 | DF | JPN | Takuya Ogiwara |
| 27 | FW | JPN | Toshikazu Teruuchi |
| 28 | DF | JPN | Kenta Nemoto |
| 30 | FW | JPN | Naoki Maeda |
| 31 | GK | JPN | Shun Yoshida |
| 35 | DF | JPN | Rikito Inoue |
| 39 | MF | JPN | Jumpei Hayakawa |
| 41 | FW | JPN | Rio Nitta |
| 77 | MF | JPN | Takuro Kaneko |
| 88 | MF | JPN | Yoichi Naganuma |

### 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 |
| — | DF | JPN | Yudai Fujiwara (On loan at Machida Zelvia) |
| — | DF | JPN | Kota Kudo (On loan at Fujieda MYFC) |
| — | DF | JPN | Ryuya Fukushima (On loan at Kochi United) |
| — | MF | JPN | Kai Matsuzaki (On loan at Vegalta Sendai) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | MF | JPN | Hidetoshi Takeda (On loan at Mito HollyHock) |
| — | FW | DEN | Kasper Junker (On loan at Nagoya Grampus) |
| — | FW | JPN | Rei Kihara (On loan at Nagano Parceiro) |

## Transfers

Transfers in :
| Join on | Pos. | Player | Moving from | Transfer type |
| 3 Jul | MF | Hiroki Abe | FC Barcelona B | Free transfer |
| 1 Jun | DF | Yuta Miyamoto | KMSK Deinze | Loan return |
| 13 Mar | FW | José Kanté | Cangzhou Mighty Lions | Free transfer |
| Pre-season | GK | Shun Yoshida | Oita Trinita | Full transfer |
| Pre-season | DF | Marius Høibråten | FK Bodø/Glimt | Full transfer |
| Pre-season | DF | Takuya Ogiwara | Kyoto Sanga | Loan return |
| Pre-season | MF | Ken Iwao | Tokushima Vortis | Full transfer; Loan made permanent |
| Pre-season | MF | Yota Horiuchi | Urawa Reds U18s | Promotion |
| Pre-season | FW | Toshiki Takahashi | Roasso Kumamoto | Full transfer |
| Pre-season | FW | Shinzo Koroki | Consadole Sapporo | Loan return |
Transfers out :
| Leave on | Pos. | Player | Moving to | Transfer type |
| 3 Jul | MF | Kai Matsuzaki | Vegalta Sendai | Loan transfer |
| Pre-season | GK | Ryo Ishii | Thespakusatsu Gunma | Full transfer |
| Pre-season | DF | Yuta Miyamoto | KMSK Deinze | Loan transfer |
| Pre-season | DF | Yudai Fujiwara | Machida Zelvia | Loan transfer |
| Pre-season | DF | Kota Kudo | Fujieda MYFC | Loan transfer |
| Pre-season | DF | Ryuya Fukushima | Kochi United | Loan transfer |
| Pre-season | MF | Ataru Esaka | Ulsan Hyundai | Full transfer |
| Pre-season | MF | Daiki Kaneko | Kyoto Sanga | Full transfer; Loan made permanent |
| Pre-season | MF | Hidetoshi Takeda | Mito HollyHock | Loan transfer |
| Pre-season | FW | Kenyu Sugimoto | Júbilo Iwata | Full transfer; Loan made permanent |
| Pre-season | FW | Kasper Junker | Nagoya Grampus | Loan transfer |
| Pre-season | FW | Rei Kihara | Nagano Parceiro | Loan transfer |

### Pre-season friendlies
## Competitions
### Overall record

| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record |
| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
| J1 League | 18 February | 2 December | Matchday 1 | 4th | 34 | 15 | 12 | 7 | 42 | 27 | +15 | 044.12 |
| Emperor's Cup | 7 June | 2 August | Second round | 4th Round | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 066.67 |
| J.League Cup | 8 March | 4 November | Group stage | Runners-up | 10 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 7 | +0 | 030.00 |
| 2022 AFC Champions League | 29 April | 6 May | Final | Winner | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 050.00 |
| 2023 AFC Champions League | 22 August | 6 December | Play-off Round | Group Stage | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 9 | +3 | 033.33 |
| FIFA Club World Cup | 15 December | December | Second round | | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 033.33 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 58 | 24 | 19 | 15 | 66 | 50 | +16 | 041.38 |
Last updated: 15 December 2023 Source: Competitions

### J1 League
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 2 | Yokohama F. Marinos | 34 | 19 | 7 | 8 | 63 | 40 | +23 | 64 | Qualification for the AFC Champions League Elite league stage |
| 3 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 34 | 17 | 7 | 10 | 42 | 28 | +14 | 58 | Qualification for the AFC Champions League Two group stage |
| 4 | Urawa Red Diamonds | 34 | 15 | 12 | 7 | 42 | 27 | +15 | 57 | |
| 5 | Kashima Antlers | 34 | 14 | 10 | 10 | 43 | 34 | +9 | 52 | |
| 6 | Nagoya Grampus | 34 | 14 | 10 | 10 | 41 | 36 | +5 | 52 | |

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Last updated: 2 July 2023. Source: Soccerway

#### Matches

The full league fixtures were released on 20 January 2023.

### Emperor's Cup

As Urawa is a J1 club, it starts the competition at the second round.

### J.League Cup

The club started the competition at the group stage.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Urawa Red Diamonds | 6 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 4 | +1 | 8 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Shimizu S-Pulse | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 15 | −7 | 8 | |
| 3 | Kawasaki Frontale | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 7 | +5 | 8 | |
| 4 | Shonan Bellmare | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 7 | +1 | 6 | |
* 1 2 3 Head-to-head points: Urawa Red Diamonds 6, Shimizu S-Pulse 5, Kawasaki Frontale 4.

### 2023–24 AFC Champions League

Urawa qualified to the play-off round of the competition because they are the defending champions and would not qualify to the Champions League by their national competitions. This is due to the club not being able to finish in a sufficiently high position in the J1 League and in the Emperor's Cup during the 2022 season.
| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | POH | RED | HAN | WTT |
| 1 | Pohang Steelers | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 5 | +9 | 16 | Advance to round of 16 | — | 2–1 | 2–0 | 3–1 |
| 2 | Urawa Red Diamonds | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 9 | +3 | 7 | | 0–2 | — | 6–0 | 2–1 |
| 3 | Hanoi FC | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 16 | −9 | 6 | | 2–4 | 2–1 | — | 2–1 |
| 4 | Wuhan Three Towns | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 11 | −3 | 5 | | 1–1 | 2–2 | 2–1 | — |

### 2022 AFC Champions League

The two-legged final was originally scheduled to be played on 19 and 26 February. However, Urawa's main stadium, the Saitama Stadium 2002 was not available due to pitch maintenance around this date, and then, would see Urawa having to host the second leg at the Urawa Komaba Stadium. As a result of this conflict, the AFC decided to rearrange the dates even further on the calendar, rescheduling the matches to late April and early May.

### FIFA World Club Cup

Urawa Red Diamonds qualified for the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup as winners of the 2022 AFC Champions League final. They will play the 2023 CONCACAF Champions League winners, Club León, in the quarterfinals.

## Goalscorers

Updated as of 2 July 2023.
| Rank | Pos. | No. | Player | J1 League | Emperor's Cup | J.League Cup | 2022 ACL Final | 2023–24 ACL | Total |
| 1 | FW | 30 | Shinzo Koroki | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| 2 | FW | 11 | José Kanté | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 3 | MF | 14 | Takahiro Sekine | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 3 | DF | 28 | Alexander Scholz | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 3 | MF | 3 | Atsuki Ito | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 3 | DF | 15 | Takahiro Akimoto | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 7 | DF | 2 | Hiroki Sakai | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 | MF | 25 | Kaito Yasui | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 | FW | 9 | Bryan Linssen | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 | DF | 5 | Marius Høibråten | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | FW | 17 | Alex Schalk | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | FW | 19 | Ken Iwao | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | MF | 21 | Tomoaki Okubo | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | MF | 35 | Jumpei Hayakawa | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | 26 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 32 |