FC Ryukyu

FC Ryukyu (FC琉球, Efu Shī Ryūkyū) is a Japanese professional football club based in Okinawa. The club plays in the J3 League, which is the third tier of football in the country. The team's home stadium is Tapic Kenso Hiyagon Stadium, in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan.

FC Ryukyu
FC琉球

Full name	FC Ryukyu
Founded	2003; 20 years ago (2003)
Ground	Tapic Kenso Hiyagon Stadium Okinawa, Okinawa
Capacity	25,000
Chairman	Keishiro Kurabayashi
Manager	Kim Jong-song
League	J3 League
2022	J2 League, 21st of 22 (relegated)
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours
Current season

The team derive their name from Ryukyu, the historic name for Okinawa Prefecture. The club once had futsal and handball teams.

History

The club was founded in 2003. Most of the players who initially joined the club were those who had left Okinawa Kariyushi FC after a rift with their management, which were beholden to the Kariyushi hotel chain. Their first 2003 season saw them win the championship in Okinawa Prefectural Division 3 North. They were allowed to skip to Division 1 the next season, where they again succeeded in finishing top of the table.

In the 2005 season, they belonged to the Kyūshū Regional League (Kyu League). After finishing 2nd and winning the Regional League play-off, they were promoted to the JFL and became the first ever Okinawan football side who played in a national league.

In December 2007, the club appointed former Japan national coach Philippe Troussier as their general manager. Jean-Paul Rabier was appointed as their manager in January 2008.

They applied for J. League Associate Membership in January 2008, but their application was declined at the J. League board meeting held on February 19, 2008.

In December 2008, the resignation of Rabier was announced. Former coach Hiroyuki Shinzato was promoted to be the new manager in January 2009.

In 2014, FC Ryukyu could finally join the J3 League.

In January 2015, FC Ryukyu announced a partnership with Seoul United from the Korean Challengers League. According to the agreement the teams will play a friendly match every year. The first match was scheduled for 1 March 2015.

FC Ryukyu have made steady progress in recent years, finishing in 8th place in J3 in 2016, and improving on that the following year, finishing 6th.

In the 2018 season they secured promotion to J2 with 3 games left after a 1–1 draw at Nagano Parceiro, and in the following game beat Thespakusatsu Gunma to claim the J3 title with two games to spare.

They started their first season in J2 in 2019, in style with 4 straight wins to top the league, but faded as the season progressed eventually finishing in 14th place.

In 2022, after spending four years in the J2 League, the club was relegated back to the J3 League after scoring their lowest points total in the second-tier. The club finished in 21st place with 37 points, only 3 points off the last placed team.

Home stadium

The home stadium is Tapic Prefecture Sohiyagon Stadium (Okinawa Prefectural Sports Park Athletic Stadium) based in Okinawa City.

Until 2014, the Okinawa City Athletic Stadium in Okinawa City was used as the main home stadium, and multiple stadiums were used.

League & cup record

Champions

Runners-up

Promoted

Relegated

Season	Div.	Tier	Teams	Pos.	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts	Attendance/G	Emperor's Cup
2005	Kyushu Soccer League	4	10	2nd	18	13.5	1	3.5	51	12	-39	42	–	3rd round
2006	JFL	3	18	14th	34	6	11	17	29	57	-28	29	3,189	2nd round
2007			18	17th	34	7	6	21	38	82	-44	27	2,443	Did not qualify
2008			18	16th	34	7	6	21	31	58	-27	27	2,882
2009			18	16th	34	11	5	18	42	57	-15	38	1,348
2010			18	10th	34	14	6	14	51	51	0	48	1,777	2nd round
2011			18	9th	33	14	4	15	47	51	-4	46	1,860	2nd round
2012			17	9th	32	12	7	13	58	62	-4	43	2,164	1st round
2013			18	11th	34	12	10	12	47	51	-4	46	2,069	2nd round
2014	J3	3	12	9th	33	8	10	15	31	50	-19	34	1,398	2nd round
2015			13	9th	36	12	9	15	45	51	-6	45	1,498	2nd round
2016			16	8th	30	12	8	10	46	46	0	44	1,561	2nd round
2017			17	6th	32	13	11	8	44	36	8	50	2,508	1st round
2018			17	1st	32	20	6	6	70	40	30	66	3,146	1st round
2019	J2	2	22	14th	42	13	10	19	57	80	-23	49	4,953	2nd round
2020 †			22	16th	42	14	8	20	58	61	-3	50	1,170	Did not qualify
2021 †			22	9th	42	18	11	13	57	47	10	65	1,618	2nd round
2022			22	21st	42	8	13	21	41	65	-24	37	1,996	2nd round
2023	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 home league attendance
• † 2020 & 2021 seasons attendances reduced by COVID-19 worldwide pandemic
• Source: J.League Data Site

Honours

• Japanese Regional Promotion Series:
  • Champions: 2005
• J3 League:
  • Champions: 2018

Current squad

As of 6 September 2023.^[1][2]Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK   CRC Danny Carvajal 2 MF   JPN Takayuki Fukumura 3 DF   JPN Yuri Mori 4 DF   JPN Yusuke Muta 5 MF   JPN Kazuto Takezawa 6 MF   JPN Kosei Okazawa (on loan from Cerezo Osaka) 7 FW   JPN Haruto Shirai 8 MF   JPN Koki Kiyotake 9 FW   JPN Ryunosuke Noda 10 MF   JPN Yu Tomidokoro 11 MF   JPN Katsuya Nakano 13 MF   JPN Sho Iwamoto 14 FW   JPN Takuya Hitomi 15 DF   JPN Ryota Araki 16 FW   JPN Takuma Abe 17 GK   JPN Keisuke Tsumita 18 MF   JPN Sho Hiramatsu (on loan from Shonan Bellmare)

No. Pos. Nation Player 19 DF   JPN Takayuki Takayasu 21 GK   KOR Jeon Ji-wan (on loan from Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors) 22 DF   JPN Makito Uehara 23 DF   JPN Shusei Yamauchi 26 GK   JPN Junto Taguchi 28 MF   JPN Jitsuki Tsuha 29 DF   KOR Cho Eun-su 33 FW   JPN Shiryu Fujiwara (on loan from Tokushima Vortis) 34 FW   BRA Kelvin 35 FW   GHA Sadam Sulley 37 DF   JPN Shogo Terasaka (on loan from Vissel Kobe) 41 DF   JPN Keiji Kagiyama 44 FW   JPN Mu Kanazaki 45 MF   JPN Yushin Koki ^Type 2 46 MF   JPN Yura Nakamura ^Type 2 47 FW   JPN Koya Ishimine ^Type 2 99 DF   JPN Takahiro Yanagi

Club officials

For the 2023 season.^[3]

Position	Name
Head coach	Kim Jong-song
Assistant coach	Norichika Kanemura   Hiroyuki Shirai
First-team coach	Duda Dos Santos
Goalkeeping coach	Hiroaki Hidaka
Physical coach	Tatsuaki Shimoji
Analytical coach	Yamato Saino
Chief trainer	Keita Miyazawa
Trainer	Ryuki Take   Hayato Yamakawa
Manager	Takumi Kato   Keita Higa
Sports director	Minoru Takehara
Assistant sport director	Tetsuhiro Kina
Medical director	Kenji Murakami
Chief doctor	Kotaro Ishizuka
Medical supervisor	Tomoyuki Oshiro
Doctor	Fuminari Uehara   Hiroki Yabiku   Naori Akamine

Managerial history

Manager	Nationality	Tenure
		Start	Finish
George Yonashiro	Japan	1 February 2004	31 January 2007
Hideo Yoshizawa	Japan	1 February 2007	31 January 2008
Jean-Paul Rabier	France	1 January 2008	31 December 2008
Hiroyuki Shinzato	Japan	1 February 2009	31 January 2012
Takeo Matsuda	Japan	1 February 2012	31 January 2013
Norihiro Satsukawa	Japan	1 February 2013	31 January 2016
Kim Jong-song	North Korea	1 February 2016	31 January 2019
Yasuhiro Higuchi	Japan	1 February 2019 ^[4]	20 October 2021
Tetsuhiro Kina	Japan	20 October 2021 ^[5]	8 June 2022 ^[6]
Kazuki Kuranuki (caretaker)	Japan	9 June 2022	13 June 2022
Nacho Fernández	Spain	14 June 2022	31 January 2023
Kazuki Kuranuki	Japan	1 February 2023 ^[7]	16 May 2023 ^[8]
Tetsuhiro Kina	Japan	16 May 2023	15 September 2023 ^[9]
Kim Jong-song	North Korea	16 September 2023	Current ^[10]

Team colour and crest

Their team colour is bengara, a shade of red pigment. It is called red ochre in English and can be generally described as claret. Bengara derives from a Dutch word bengala which in turn derives from Bengal, a region in India and Bangladesh. This name was given because the pigment was traditionally imported from Bengal to Japan. Okinawa has a close association with the bengara colour which is prominently applied to Shuri Castle, one of the most symbolic historical buildings in the area.

In 2008 they adopted a sky-blue trim for their home uniform, as their bengara pigment pattern was considered too and similar to Aston Villa from England (the claret and sky-blue pattern was around long before Troussier and the French staff arrived, so a coincidence in colours is feasible).^{[citation needed]}

Their crest features a pair of Shisas, imaginary talismanic creatures in the area, and the crown of the kings of the former Ryukyu Kingdom.

Kit evolution

Home kits - 1st
2003	2004	2005	2006 - 2007	2008
2009 - 2010	2011	2012	2013	2014
2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
2020	2021	2022	2023 -

Away kits - 2nd
2006 - 2007	2008	2009 - 2010	2011	2012
2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
2018	2019	2020	2021 -	2022
2023 -

3rd kits - Other
2011 3rd	2020 charity	2021 3rd	2022 3rd	2022 Shuri Castle Reconstruction Support Charity Match Okinawa Legend

References

1. "2023シーズン ＦＣ琉球 トップチーム体制". FC Ryukyu. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
2. "PROFILE | 選手・スタッフ". FC Ryukyu. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
3. "Ryukyu Club Profiles". fcryukyu.com. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
4. "Yasuhiro Higuchi sacked". fcryukyu.com. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
5. "Tetsuhiro Kina appointed as manager". fcryukyu.com. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
6. "喜名哲裕監督 解任のお知らせ" [Notice of dismissal of Tetsuhiro Kina]. fcryukyu.com. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
7. "倉貫一毅ヘッドコーチ　監督就任のお知らせ". fcryukyu.com (in Japanese). FC Ryukyu. 28 October 2022. Retrieved 28 October 2022.
8. "倉貫一毅監督　解任のお知らせ". fcryukyu.com (in Japanese). FC Ryukyu. 16 May 2023. Retrieved 16 May 2023.
9. "News Interim manager appointed". FC琉球公式サイト | FC Ryukyu Official Website. Retrieved 2023-05-16.
10. "金鍾成（キン・ジョンソン） 氏　監督就任のお知らせ". fcryukyu.com (in Japanese). FC Ryukyu. 15 September 2023. Retrieved 15 September 2023.

External links

• Official website   (in Japanese)