FC Machida Zelvia
町田ゼルビア
crest used since 2008
Full nameFootball Club Machida Zelvia
Nickname(s)Zelvia
Founded1989 (1989)
GroundMachida Municipal Athletic Stadium
Machida, Tokyo
Capacity15,489
OwnerCyberAgent
ManagerGo Kuroda
LeagueJ1 League
2023J2 League, 1st of 22 (promoted)
WebsiteClub website

Football Club Machida Zelvia (フットボールクラブ町田ゼルビア, Futtobōru Kurabu Machida Zerubia) commonly known as FC Machida Zelvia (FC町田ゼルビア, Efu Shi Machida Zerubia) is a Japanese football club based in Machida, Tokyo. The club set to make their debut in J1 League for the 2024 season following promotion in 2023 as the J2 League champions.

History

Machida is known as the "Brazil of Tokyo" due to the popularity of football in the city; in fact, it has produced the second-largest number of J. League players though its football school. Originally formed in 1977, this school is well known for its development of young talents into professional players. In 1989, in order to retain talents, Machida founded its own top team, which at that time played in the Tokyo Prefectural League.

In 2003, they became a multi-sport club under the name Athletic Club Machida, and in 2005 were promoted to the Kanto League, having won the Tokyo Prefectural League (First Division). They came first in the Kanto league (Second Division) the following year, and were promoted to First Division, where they stayed until promotion to the Japan Football League as champions of the Regional Promotion Playoff Series in 2008.

In 2009, they adopted the current nickname Zelvia, a portmanteau of the Portuguese words zelkova (Machida city's official tree) and salvia (a grassy plant commonly used in football pitches).

The same year, the club declared its intent to be promoted to J. League's 2nd division, and its status of semi-affiliate was officially approved by the J. League. However, its home stadium capacity and light specifications did not meet the J. League's requirements, average attendance did not reach 3,000, and the team's final position of 6th place did not allow for Zelvia's promotion to the J. League.

In 2010, Machida Zelvia appointed Naoki Soma, a former star player who played in the 1998 FIFA World Cup, as its new head coach. The stadium's lighting was renewed, and club added several J. League players to its roster. Zelvia also announced its partnership with Major League Soccer's D.C. United, which became the first historic partnership between a Japanese and American club.[1] The reborn team beat Tokyo Verdy, its arch-rival from the J. League, in the Emperor's Cup, but was knocked out by Albirex Niigata in the third round. Soma left at the end of the season and was replaced by Ranko Popović, former coach of Oita Trinita.

The stadium's capacity and conditions were still short of fulfilling J. League criteria, so the club completed another renovation between the end of the 2010 and start of the 2011 seasons. Machida Zelvia finished the 2011 season in third place after beating Kamatamare Sanuki in the final match of that season, thereby granting them promotion to J. League (Second Division),[2] but were relegated after a bottom-placed finish. They became one of the original J3 clubs after finishing in 4th place in the 2014 JFL season and returned to J2 as 2015 runners-up by beating Oita Trinita in the promotion/relegation play-off. In the first return to J2 in 2016 season, Machida were able to finish in 7th position, only four points short of the play-offs spot.

In 2017 they fell off more than a half places down to 15th with fifty points, twelve points up of relegation zone. And in the 2018 season, while they culminated a great campaign by finishing inside the promotion play-offs zone of 4th place , Machida were unable to participated in the phase because they not having the J1 League-level license. The 2019 also saw the club fell down far on the table as they finished in 18th position, three points up of relegation places which occupied by Kagoshima United FC and FC Gifu.

In 2020, Machida finished in 19th. And while they were able to concluded their 2021 campaign by finished in 5th position, Machida were once again unable to enter the promotion play-offs because the club still did not have J1 League club license yet at that time. In 2022 season, Machida once again fell down far below their position of the previous campaign by finishing in the 15th position.

On 22 October 2023, after seven-year run in J2 League, Machida eventually achieved promotion to J1 League for 2024 season, following their 3–0 away win against Roasso Kumamoto in the matchweek 39.[3] The club also confirmed their status as champions of second division on 28 October 2023 after Kumamoto defeated Shimizu S-Pulse 3–1.[4]

Stadium

Machida Zelvia currently plays at Machida Municipal Athletic Stadium (Nozuta Stadium). Capacity until 2011 was 6,200, including grassy areas, and has had lighting for night games since 2009. Between the 2010 and 2011 seasons the stadium was upgraded and is now all-seated. Although the minimum seating requirement for J2 is 10,000, Nozuta fell short of that number. However, under an agreement made with J-League officials, home games where a large attendance is expected will be played at other stadia leased specifically for the purpose, and upgrades to Nozuta were made to meet the 10,000-capacity requirement. The current capacity of the stadium is 15,489.

League and cup record

Champions Runners-up Third place Promoted Relegated
SeasonDiv.TeamsPos.PWDLFAGDPtsAttendance/GJ. League CupEmperor's
Cup
2009 JFL186th341412838308541,886Not eligible–
2010 183rd3419411714427613,5033rd round
2011 183rd331878612833613,5152nd round
2012 J22222nd42711243467-33323,6274th round
2013 JFL184th34187951447613,174–
2014 J3123rd332085592337683,134–
2015 132nd362394521834783,7664th round
2016 J2227th4218111353449655,1231st round
2017 2216th4211171453530504,0562nd round
2018 224th4221138624418764,9153rd round
2019 2218th42916173659-23434,7182nd round
2020 † 2219th421213174152-11491,302Did not qualify
2021 † 225th42201210643826722,5772nd round
2022 2215th421491951501513,2432nd round
2023 221st422697793544877,426Round of 16
2024 J120TBD3800000000TBDTBD
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

Kit evolution

Home kit - 1st
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023 -
Away kit - 2nd
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023 -

Colour, sponsors and manufacturers

Season(s)Main Shirt SponsorCollarbone SponsorAdditional Sponsor(s)Kit Manufacturer
2019AbemaTV–EAGLE KENSO (Right)odakyuTERADA
株式会社寺田電機製作所		Tamagawa Universitysvolme
2020AQUA RESORT (Left)25th Anniversary[lower-alpha 1] (Right)
2021ABEMA
TV Video & Entertainment		EAGLE KENSO (Right)
2022AQUA RESORT (1st)
BEST LAND (2nd)		—TERADA
株式会社寺田電機製作所		Tamagawa University—
2023CyberAgent—TERADA
株式会社寺田電機製作所		Tamagawa UniversityAdidas

Current squad

As of 8 January 2024.[5][6][7] 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 Serbia SRB Nedeljko Stojisic
2 DF Japan JPN Masayuki Okuyama
3 DF Japan JPN Kai Miki
4 DF Japan JPN Jurato Ikeda
6 DF Japan JPN Kosuke Ota
7 FW Japan JPN Shunta Araki (on loan from Sagan Tosu)
9 FW Japan JPN Takaya Numata
10 MF Japan JPN Daigo Takahashi
11 FW Brazil BRA Erik
14 DF South Korea KOR Jang Min-gyu
15 FW Australia AUS Mitchell Duke
16 MF Japan JPN Zento Uno
18 MF Japan JPN Hokuto Shimoda
19 MF Japan JPN Shuto Inaba
22 MF Japan JPN Hijiri Onaga
24 DF Japan JPN Mizuki Uchida
25 FW Japan JPN Shota Fujio (on loan from Cerezo Osaka)
27 FW Japan JPN Yu Hirakawa
28 MF Japan JPN Yohei Okuyama
29 FW Brazil BRA Ademilson
No. Pos. Nation Player
30 FW Japan JPN Yuki Nakashima
31 FW Japan JPN Yuya Takazawa
33 MF Japan JPN Renji Matsui (on loan from Kawasaki Frontale)
34 DF Japan JPN Yudai Fujiwara (on loan from Urawa Red Diamonds)
37 FW Japan JPN Kohei Ashibe DSP
38 MF Japan JPN Tenshiro Takasaki DSP
39 FW Chile CHI Byron Vásquez
40 MF Japan JPN Sho Fuseya
41 MF Japan JPN Takuya Yasui
42 GK Japan JPN Koki Fukui
43 DF Japan JPN Junya Suzuki
47 DF Japan JPN Daisuke Matsumoto
50 GK Japan JPN Anton Burns
— GK Japan JPN Louis Yamaguchi
— DF Japan JPN Gen Shoji
— DF Japan JPN Kotaro Hayashi
— FW Japan JPN Kazuki Fujimoto
— FW South Korea KOR Na Sang-ho
— FW South Korea KOR Oh Se-hun

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
46 MF Japan JPN Ken Higuchi (on loan at Okinawa SV)
— DF Japan JPN Shohei Takahashi (on loan at Vissel Kobe)
— DF Japan JPN Soichiro Fukaminato (on loan at Kamatamare Sanuki)
— DF Japan JPN Takumi Narasaka (on loan at Kamatamare Sanuki)
No. Pos. Nation Player
— DF Japan JPN Yoshitaka Aoki (on loan at ReinMeer Aomori)
— MF Japan JPN Atsushi Kurokawa (on loan at Omiya Ardija)
— FW Japan JPN Daiki Sato (on loan at YSCC Yokohama)

Technical staff

Staff for the 2023 season.[8]

PositionName
Manager Japan Go Kuroda
Assistant manager South Korea Kim Myung-hwi
First-Team coach Japan Shin Yamanaka
Goalkeeping coach Japan Nobuyuki Furo
Physical coach Japan Toru Yamazaki
Assistant coach Japan Hikaru Mita
Japan Daiki Ueda
Technical staff Japan Yasuhiko Nishimura
Analyst Japan Sota Kinoshita
Chief doctor Japan Takahiro Fujisawa
Japan Keisuke Irako
Chief trainer Japan Yasuyuki Sasaki
Trainer Japan Yuta Hamada
Japan Shin Osawa
Physiotherapist Japan Takuro Yoshitake
Interpreter Japan Go Murakami
Japan Ken Takahashi
South Korea Lee Seong-ang
Chief manager Japan Naoya Watanabe
Kit manager Japan Hiroyuki Kawakita
Sub manager Japan Yuto Suzuki
Nutrition management advisor Japan Jun Hamano

Managerial history

ManagerNationalityTenure
StartFinish
Sadao Shigeta Japan Japan19911995
Shoji Komoda 19962002
Minoru Moriya[9] 20032007
Tetsuya Totsuka 1 February 200831 January 2010
Naoki Soma 1 February 201031 January 2011
Ranko Popović Serbia Serbia1 February 201131 January 2012
Osvaldo Ardiles Argentina Argentina1 February 201217 November 2012
Yutaka Akita Japan Japan26 November 201225 June 2013
Naoki Kusunose 25 June 201331 January 2014
Naoki Soma 1 February 201431 January 2020
Ranko Popović Serbia Serbia1 February 202031 January 2023
Go Kuroda[10] Japan Japan1 February 2023present

Notes

  1. ↑ EAGLE KENSO

References

  1. ↑ "D.C. United to partner with FC Machida Zelvia". Archived from the original on 28 March 2010. Retrieved 15 October 2010.
  2. ↑ McKirdy, Andrew, "Ardiles ready to face new challenge Archived 10 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine", Japan Times, 6 March 2012, p. 18.
  3. ↑ "Machida Zelvia clinches first-ever promotion to J1". JLeague.co. Japan Professional Football League. 22 October 2023. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
  4. ↑ "FC Machida Zelvia cap amazing season with J2 title". JLeague.co. Japan Professional Football League. 30 October 2023. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  5. ↑ "2023 FC MACHIDA ZELVIA UNIFORM". FC Machida Zelvia. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
  6. ↑ "Players&Staff Season 2023". FC Machida Zelvia. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
  7. ↑ "FC Machida Zelvia Club/Player Directory". Archived from the original on 11 March 2022. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  8. ↑ "ＦＣ町田ゼルビアトップチーム 2023シーズン選手・スタッフのお知らせ". zelvia.co.jp (in Japanese). FC Machida Zelvia. 9 January 2023. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  9. ↑ Interview Minoru Moriya Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Tokyo Football Magazine. Retrieved on 2010-12-17.
  10. ↑ "黒田剛 監督就任のお知らせ". zelvia.co.jp (in Japanese). FC Machida Zelvia. 24 January 2022. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
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