Chōfu, Tokyo
In 2001, the club returned from Kawasaki to Chōfu, Tokyo and was renamed "Tokyo Verdy 1969" to reflect the new hometown and the club's origins as Yomiuri FC Although Verdy made the move to increase its fan base and distance itself from its rivals, by this time Tokyo was already home to a J1 club in FC Tokyo. Despite a sharp increase in crowd numbers for Verdy, this was still well below those of FC Tokyo. Their new local rivals had been promoted to J1 in 2000 and had already captured a vast number of the supporters Verdy had been hoping to acquire.