Yokohama FC
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| Full name | Yokohama F.C. |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Fulie |
| Founded | 1999 |
| Ground |
Mitsuzawa Stadium Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama |
| Capacity | 15,046 |
| Chairman | Yuji Onodera |
| Manager | Hitoshi Nakata |
| League | J2 League |
| 2016 | 8th |
| Website | Club home page |
Yokohama F.C. (横浜FC Yokohama Efushī?) are a Japanese football club based in the city of Yokohama. The club was formed by fans of Yokohama Flügels after that team folded in the 1998 season. They have played at the J2 League, except in 2007 when they played at the J1 League.
The club was formed in 1999, following the merger of the city's two J. League clubs, Yokohama Flügels and Yokohama Marinos the previous year. Flügels supporters, whose club was essentially dissolved, rejected the suggestion that they should start supporting Marinos, their crosstown rivals. Instead, with money raised through donations from the general public and an affiliation with IMG, the talent management company, the former Flügels supporters founded the Yokohama Fulie Sports Club. Following the socio model used by FC Barcelona, the Fulie Sports Club created Yokohama F.C., the first professional sports team in Japan owned and operated by its supporters.
For its first season in 1999, Yokohama F.C. hired former German World Cup star Pierre Littbarski to be the manager and Yasuhiko Okudera, the first Japanese footballer to play professionally in Europe, to be the chairman. Despite attempts to win straight entry into the J. League, the Japan Football Association only permitted the team to enter the Japan Football League and ruled that the club would not be eligible for promotion to J2 at the end of its first season. After two seasons as JFL champions, the team was promoted to the J2 Division of the J. League.
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