Fukuyama City FC (福山シティFC, Fukuyama Shiti Efu Shi) are a Japanese football club based in the eastern part of Hiroshima, centered on the city of Fukuyama.[1] They play in the Chūgoku Soccer League, which part of Japanese Regional Leagues.

Fukuyama City FC
福山シティFC
Full nameFukuyama City FC
Founded2017; 7 years ago (2017) as Fukuyama City SCC
ChairmanYoshihiro Okamoto
ManagerNobuhiro Ueno
LeagueChūgoku Soccer League
20241st of 10 (champions)
Websitefukuyama-city.com
Current season

History

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Founded on 2017 as Fukuyama SCC (Fukuyama Sports Community Club), the club started their journey on the lower levels of Hiroshima Prefectural Leagues system.[2] Despite playing in the 5th tier of prefectural league football, on 2018, after winning the Hiroshima Prefectural Adult Final Tournament, they got instantly promoted to the 2nd division of the prefecture for the 2019 season.[3][4]

On 2019, the team changed its name into Fukuyama City FC. The club won back-to-back promotions with high-scoring matches, alongside an unbeaten streak that started on their foundation, on 2017, only being broken on 2022.[5][6] The club quickly established themselves as one of the quickest-developed clubs in Japanese football, jumping from the Prefectural League 5th Division to the Chugoku Soccer League in a five-season span. They played in the 2020 Emperor's Cup, where they won four matches to arrive at the quarter-finals. Uncommon feat for a young club (4-years old at the time), they successfully managed to win against teams of the 4th and 5th tier of Japanese football while being a Prefectural League club. They were only stopped by Blaublitz Akita, to whom they lost by 3–1 in a tough match.[7]

In 2022, Fukuyama City won the Chugoku Soccer League in their debut at Regional League level, qualifying them for the 2022 Regional Champions League. They finished second in their group but were eliminated from the tournament. If they had won or finished runners up in the tournament they would have been directly promoted to the 2023 Japan Football League. Promotion to the JFL would have helped to potentially fulfill their goal of joining the J3 League by 2024.[8]

League and Cup record

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Champions Runners-up Third place Promoted Relegated
League Emperor's
Cup
Season Division Tier Pos. P W D L F A GD Pts
As Fukuyama City SCC
2017 Eastern Hiroshima Prefectural League 8 1st 9 9 0 0 42 3 39 27
2018 1st 11 11 0 0 67 1 66 33 Lost in the preliminaries
As Fukuyama City FC
2019 Hiroshima Prefectural League 2nd Div. 7 1st 11 11 0 0 107 5 102 33 Lost in the preliminaries
2020 Hiroshima Prefectural League 1st Div. 6 1st 5 5 0 0 41 0 41 15 Quarter-finals
2021 1st 6 6 0 0 54 0 54 18 2nd round
2022 Chugoku Soccer League 5 1st 18 15 2 1 60 10 50 47 2nd round
2023 1st 18 18 0 0 69 6 63 54 Did not qualify
2024 1st 18 14 3 1 71 13 58 45 2nd round
2025 TBA 18 TBA
Key
  • Pos. = Position in league; P = Games played; W = Games won; D = Games drawn; L = Games lost; F = Goals scored; A = Goals conceded; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points won

Honours

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Fukuyama City honours
Honour No. Years
Eastern Hiroshima Prefectural League 2 2017, 2018
Hiroshima Prefectural League 2nd Division 1 2019
Hiroshima Prefectural League 1st Division 1 2020
All Hiroshima Soccer Championship 3 2020, 2021, 2022
Chūgoku Soccer League 2 2022, 2023, 2024

Current squad

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As of 30 April 2024. [9]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK   JPN Daiki Kikuchi
2 DF   JPN Kazuki Ninomiya
3 DF   JPN Ryota Tokunaga
4 MF   JPN Yosuke Toji
5 DF   JPN Kota Nishihara
6 DF   JPN Kengo Takata
7 MF   JPN Atsushi Fujii
8 MF   JPN Yusuke Tsukada
9 FW   JPN Kei Takahashi
10 MF   JPN Wataru Sumida
11 MF   JPN Hiroki Takahashi
14 FW   JPN Naoto Toji
15 DF   JPN Ryotaro Hiramatsu
16 DF   JPN Wataru Kuromiya
17 MF   JPN Kumpei Kakuta
18 MF   JPN Ryoga Masuda (on loan from FC Imabari)
No. Pos. Nation Player
20 MF   JPN Shun Taguchi
21 GK   JPN Kotaro Miyazaki
22 MF   JPN Soto Yokoo
23 FW   JPN Yusuke Yoshii
25 MF   JPN Ryu Natori
26 MF   JPN Tomoya Nohama
27 DF   JPN Hibiki Nishio (on loan from Gainare Tottori)
28 MF   JPN Kento Wakamiya
29 FW   JPN Ryuichi Okubo
30 MF   JPN Kenta Sawada
31 GK   JPN Kaname Murata
33 MF   JPN Rikito Sugiura
36 MF   JPN Makoto Mimura
41 GK   JPN Kaito Inishi
47 MF   JPN Taiki Takaki

Coaching staff

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Position Name
Manager   Ryota Mori
Assistant manager   Hwang Choi
  Hakuto Miyashita
Goalkeeper coach   Hiroki Tsuda
Trainer   Daiki Tonoshiro
Strength & Conditioning coach   Yuki Kodama
Equipment manager and Kit man   Tomoya Takeishi
Sports nutritionist   Hiroe Uehara

References

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  1. ^ "CLUB". fukuyama-city.com. Fukuyama City FC. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  2. ^ "福山シティクラブとは?". fukuyama-scc.jp (in Japanese). Fukuyama SCC. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  3. ^ "2017 results". fukuyama-scc.jp (in Japanese). Fukuyama SCC. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  4. ^ "2018 results". fukuyama-scc.jp (in Japanese). Fukuyama SCC. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  5. ^ "SOCCER". fukuyama-scc.jp (in Japanese). FukuyamaSCC. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  6. ^ "福山シティ、J昇格へ着々 11日ホーム最終戦 中国リーグで首位堅持". chugoku-np.co.jp (in Japanese). Chugoku NP. 9 September 2022. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  7. ^ "ブラウブリッツ秋田 3-1 福山シティFC". jfa.jp. Japan Football Association. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  8. ^ "福山シティFC(3年連続3回目)". jfa.jp (in Japanese). Japan Football Association. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  9. ^ "SEASON 2024". fukuyama-city.com. Fukuyama City FC. Retrieved 30 April 2024.
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