Tokyo Musashino City FC

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Home Stadium

Nishigaoka Soccer Stadium
Seats 10,466

 

Musashino City FC was originally established in 1939 as the club team of Yokogawa Electric, making it one of the oldest clubs in Japan. Based in Musashino City, in the western suburbs of Tokyo, Yokogawa entered the Kanto League during the 1970s with the formation of the Japan Soccer League. The team was quite competitive in the early years of the JSL, but following the formation of the J.League, Yokogawa Electric maintained a "company team" structure, and stayed in the amateur ranks, setting itself the goal of becoming one of the top amateur teams in the country. Since then, the team has gone through several incarnations, changing its name to Yokogawa FC and then to Yokogawa Musashino FC.

By the mid-90s, Yokogawa had become one of the strongest teams in the Kanto region, playing at the Regional level and winning the Kanto League title in both 1997 and 1998. With the formation of a J.League second division in 1999, Yokogawa FC became one of the most competitive clubs still in the amateur ranks, and was promoted to the newly reorganized JFL for the 1999 season. During the first decade of the millennium,  Yokogawa was a steady if unimpressive midtable club, marking its best results in 2001 and 2002, when the team finished seventh out of sixteen teams.

Yokogawa FC changed its name to Yokogawa Musashino FC in 2002, in an effort to develop more of a grassroots image, and build a local fan base in the Musashino area, west of Tokyo. But for the time being, it did not take the next step towards becoming a fully professional organization. Instead, Musashino remained under the Yokogawa corporate umbrella throughout the difficult phase of JFL turmoil, perhaps as a statement of support for the amateur concept, or perhaps due to lingering efforts by Yokogawa to keep the team under close supervision. It was only after the J.League announced its decision to create a J3, and separate the professional and amateur ranks completely, that Yokogawa finally established a separate company to run the football team. The new name adopted was "Tokyo Musashino City FC" -- usually rendered as "Musashino FC" by commentators and fans, or simply "City" by opposing fans (especially those with knowledge of the English Premiership).

Interestingly, while Musashino FC  has all the organizational trappings of a J.League wannabe, it is one of the few such clubs that has not yet made formal application to the J.League for associate membership. That step is sure to be taken eventually, but the gradual pace of change shows that Musashino is not in a rush to break its ties to the company that nurtured it over seven decades.


 

Team Results: 1999-present

Year Rank Pts GP W D L GF GA G.Dif
1999 8 20 24 7* 0 17 26 43 -17
2000 12 9 21 2 3 16 21 40 -19
2001 7 41 30 12 5 13 37 54 -17
2002 7 28 17 8 4 5 21 26 - 5
2003 13 29 30 9 2 19 32 65 -33
2004 13 32 30 8 8 14 41 51 -10
2005 9 48 30 14 6 10 37 29 +8
2006 8 54 32 15 9 8 55 38 +17
2007 7 54 34 16 6 12 50 44 6
2008 7 54 34 15 9 10 43 34 +9
  = Yokogawa Electric FC   = Yokogawa Musashino FC

*Prior to 1998 all matches were played to a final result, with extra time and penalty kicks. In 1999 and 2000 draws were introduced, but teams still played two periods of golden goal extra time. "Wins" and ""Losses" for these years include wins and losses in extra time, or on PKs.