Urawa Red Diamonds

The Urawa Red Diamonds (浦和レッドダイヤモンズ), colloquially Urawa Reds (浦和レッズ, Urawa Rezzu), also known as Mitsubishi Urawa Football Club from April 1992 to January 1996, are a professional football club in the city of Saitama, part of the Greater Tokyo Area in Japan. The club plays in the J1 League, the top tier of football in the country. Its name comes from the former city of Urawa, now part of Saitama. It is one of the most successful clubs in the country, having won three AFC Champions League titles (most recently in 2022), and varied domestic titles, including a joint-record eight overall Emperor's Cup titles. It participated three times at the FIFA Club World Cup.

The name 'Red Diamonds' alludes to the club's pre-professional era parent company Mitsubishi. The corporation's logo consists of three red diamonds, one of which remains within the current club badge.

History
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries established a football club in 1950 in Kobe and moved the club to Tokyo in 1958. In 1965 it formed the Japan Soccer League (JSL) along with today's JEF United Chiba, Kashiwa Reysol, Cerezo Osaka, Sanfrecce Hiroshima and three other clubs who have since been relegated to regional leagues ("Original Eight").

Mitsubishi first won the JSL championship in 1969, as a break in Mazda/Sanfrecce's dominance (and also with the fact that Toyo were in Bangkok, Thailand, competing in the Asian Club Cup); their runs up the first division were sporadic but steady until the 1980s when they fell into the Second Division. In 1990 they were promoted as JSL Division 2 champions, and thus were ready when the J-League implementation began in earnest. Urawa Red Diamonds was an original member ("Original Ten") of the J.League in 1993.

Domestic treble
Mitsubishi were the first Japanese club to complete a domestic treble, when in 1978 they won the title, the Emperor's Cup and the Japan Soccer League Cup.

Name changed
The club name was than changed to  Mitsubishi Urawa Football Club  from in April 1992 where their nickname was "Red Diamonds". However, in February 1996, the club name was changed to "Urawa Red Diamonds".

The club has enjoyed mixed fortunes since the J-League advent. The club finished bottom of the league for the first two seasons of the J-League with an average crowd of under 15,000. In 1999 they suffered relegation to the second tier of Japanese football yet again. The club has since improved in form in recent years, starting with a 2003 victory in the Nabisco Cup.

In 2006, Urawa Reds clinched their first professional league title by defeating runners-up Gamba Osaka 3–2 on December 2 in front of 63,000 supporters. This came after two close calls in the previous two years. In 2005, they finished 2nd, one point behind champions Gamba Osaka. In 2004, they finished 3rd in the first stage and won the second stage. Having qualified for the two-match J.League Championship decider, they lost on penalty shootout to Yokohama F. Marinos.

Back to back cup champion
Urawa Reds were back to back Emperor's Cup winners in 2005 and 2006. Winning the title for the first time since their establishment as a professional club, they defeated Shimizu S-Pulse 2–1 on 1 January 2006, and retained the title in 2007 with a 1–0 win over Gamba Osaka. This win also completed a league-cup double. In the 2007 tournament they were defeated at the first hurdle by J2 League outfit Ehime FC.

In 2007, despite a seemingly unassailable lead of seven points with four games remaining, Urawa Reds picked up only two points from their final four games. This run included losing at home to Kashima Antlers; the club who would leapfrog Urawa on the final day of the season to claim their fifth J.League title. Following their capitulation in the fourth round of the Emperor's Cup to J2 League outfit Ehime FC, Urawa Reds had to be content with their 2007 AFC Champions League fixtures.

AFC Champions League winner
Urawa Reds recorded their first prestigious cup overcoming Iranian club Sepahan 3–1 on aggregate to clinch the 2007 AFC Champions League trophy. The victory made them the first Japanese side to win the cup since the competition was reorganised from the Asian Champions Cup in 2003. In the 2007 FIFA Club World Cup of the same year, Urawa Reds became the first AFC club to finish in third place, beating Tunisian side Étoile Sportive du Sahel on penalty shootout in the third/fourth place play off.

Throughout the 2008 AFC Champions League edition, Urawa Reds attempted to win their second consecutive AFC Champions League title and progressed to the semi-finals where they were defeated by fellow J-League rivals, and eventual Champions League winners, Gamba Osaka 3–1 on aggregate.

On 8 March 2014, a banner which read "JAPANESE ONLY" was hung at one of the entrances to the stands. As punishment for this racist behavior, the league match on 28 March was played behind closed doors.

In the 2017 AFC Champions League edition, Urawa Reds had a good run throughout the entire tournament which see them face Saudi Arabia club, Al-Hilal in the final which see Urawa Reds winning the 2017 AFC Champions League final 2–1 on aggregate to clinch their 2nd trophy.

Urawa Reds managed to make their way through all the way until the 2019 AFC Champions League final facing off against Al-Hilal once again which however, the club fell to 3–0 aggregate lost to the Saudi Arabia club.

During the 2022 AFC Champions League, Urawa Reds had an easier run en route to the final where they faced three Southeast Asian club along the way, Singapore league champions Lion City Sailors in the group stage while they faced Malaysia league champions Johor Darul Ta'zim 5–0 in the Round of 16 and Thailand league champions BG Pathum United 4–0 in the Quarter-finals. Urawa Reds would than face Korea league champions, Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors in the semi-finals which ended up with Urawa Reds advancing to the final after winning the penalty shootout. The club would than faced their tournament rivals, Al-Hilal for the third time in the 2022 AFC Champions League final in which Urawa Red won 2–1 on aggregate clinching their 3rd trophy.

On 19 September 2023, it was announced by JFA that Urawa Reds will not be participating in 2024 edition of Emperor's Cup following the riot caused by the fans after 0–3 loss against Nagoya Grampus in the 4th round of 2023 edition.

International affiliation
The club is also notable in that former Feyenoord midfielder Shinji Ono began his professional career playing for Urawa Reds. Ono returned for the 2006 season for a second stint with the club. Urawa Reds is affiliated with German club Bayern Munich, whose nickname is also "The Reds". Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, the chairman of the Bayern Munich, announced that "We have been looking for clubs which have potential ability, management stability and cordial confidence. We could fulfill the desire to affiliate with this great club, Urawa Reds." Some other foreign clubs, such as Arsenal, Club Atlético Independiente, CR Flamengo, VfB Stuttgart, Manchester United, Feyenoord, Hamburger SV and Perth Glory, visited Japan and played friendly games at the Saitama Stadium.

In August 2004, Urawa Reds appeared in a pre-season four-club friendly tournament, the Vodafone Cup, at Old Trafford, the home ground of Manchester United. Urawa Reds missed a few key players, losing their first match 5–2 against the Argentinian side Boca Juniors. The second fixture against the hosts, Manchester United, was called off due to a massive electric storm. Some 800 Urawa Reds fans had travelled to the game and were later compensated.

The club's supporters also have an unofficial relationship with Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua. The clubs' supporters will support each other in continental competition. For example, Shenhua fans will support Urawa Reds when Urawa Reds plays in Shanghai against Shanghai SIPG.

Home stadium
Since the establishment of J.League in 1992, the club had used the Urawa Komaba Stadium as its home stadium. Due to the increasing popularity of the matches, Saitama City, owner of the stadium, expanded the seat capacity. During the renovation, the club used Ōmiya Park Soccer Stadium. In spite of the poor performance of the club, the stadium was filled with faithful supporters.

New home ground
In October 2001, Saitama Prefecture built new football-specific Saitama Stadium in Saitama city. This stadium was used as a venue for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. After the World Cup, the club gradually increased home games in Saitama Stadium and in 2003 the stadium was formally designated as the home stadium. In 2008, only two games were held at Komaba Stadium.

Facilities
Urawa Reds uses Ohara City Field for training. In addition to this facility, the club opened Redsland in 2005, which has three grass fields, one artificial turf field, one baseball field, futsal courts and tennis courts. Redsland is opened to the public and club members can use the facilities at relatively cheap fees.

Mascots
The Red Diamonds have four mascots; Redia, Friendia, Schale, and Diarra. However, Redia doesn't make much appearances at Saitama Stadium, due to the club's policy of the stadium being a "place for serious competition". When he does occasionally appear at the stadium, he does not participate in any fan activities. Because of this, Reds fans dubbed him as a NEET mascot (which is an acronym for "No education, employment, or training"). According to the club profile, Redia and Friendia were married during a Reds fan festival in 1997. The younger twin mascots, Schale and Diarra, were born on the day the Red Diamonds won their first J. League Championship in 2006.

Saitama derby
Urawa Red Diamonds has a local derby with Omiya Ardija, from Ōmiya-ku, Saitama city. They first met in the 1987 Emperor's Cup, with Mitsubishi defeating NTT Kanto by 5 to 0 at Nishigaoka National Stadium. The derby first took place in the JSL Second Division in the 1989–90 season, and it wouldn't take place until the 2000 season when Urawa was relegated to the second tier again. In 2003 the formerly separate Omiya and Urawa cities merged to become Saitama city, and since 2005 the derby became a top flight fixture after Omiya was promoted.

Marunouchi Gosanke
During the JSL years and into the 1990s, Urawa's main top flight rivals were JEF United Chiba and Kashiwa Reysol, both now based in Chiba Prefecture. Because of their former parent companies' headquarters being all based in Marunouchi, Tokyo, the three clubs were known as the Marunouchi Gosanke (丸の内御三家, "Marunouchi Big Three") and fixtures among them were known as the Marunouchi derbies, although the term is falling out of use as they are now based in different prefectures and rarely play home games in Tokyo stadiums.

Others
Rivals further afield include Kashima Antlers, FC Tokyo, Yokohama Marinos, Kawasaki Frontale, and, even farther away, Gamba Osaka. Old JSL championship rivalries with Sanfrecce Hiroshima, Cerezo Osaka and Shonan Bellmare have ebbed down as those clubs had nadirs in the second tier.

Women's team
The club also has a women's football team, currently playing in the WE League as Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies.

Colours
The main colours of the Urawa Red Diamonds are red, black and white.

Current squad
.

Club officials
For the 2024 J1 League season.

Honours
As both Mitsubishi Motors (amateur era) and Urawa Red Diamonds (professional era)

World Cup players
The following players have represented their country at the World Cup whilst playing for Urawa Red Diamonds:

World Cup 1998
 * 🇯🇵 Masayuki Okano
 * 🇯🇵 Shinji Ono
 * Željko Petrović

World Cup 2006
 * 🇯🇵 Alex
 * 🇯🇵 Shinji Ono
 * 🇯🇵 Keisuke Tsuboi

World Cup 2010
 * 🇯🇵 Yuki Abe

World Cup 2014
 * 🇯🇵 Shusaku Nishikawa

World Cup 2018
 * 🇯🇵 Wataru Endo
 * 🇯🇵 Tomoaki Makino
 * 🇦🇺 Andrew Nabbout

World Cup 2022
 * 🇯🇵 Hiroki Sakai

Club captains

 * 🇯🇵 Koichi Shitani 1992–1993
 * 🇯🇵 Masahiro Fukuda 1994–1997
 * 🇯🇵 Takashi Tsuchida 1998–1999
 * 🇯🇵 Shinji Ono 2000–2001
 * 🇯🇵 Masami Ihara 2001–2002
 * 🇯🇵 Hideki Uchidate 2003
 * 🇯🇵 Nobuhisa Yamada 2004–2008
 * 🇯🇵 Keita Suzuki 2009–2011
 * 🇯🇵 Yuki Abe 2012–2017
 * 🇯🇵 Yōsuke Kashiwagi 2018–2019
 * 🇯🇵 Shusaku Nishikawa 2020–2022
 * 🇯🇵 Hiroki Sakai 2023–present

League & cup record

 * Key
 * Pos. = Position in league
 * Attendance/G = Average home league attendance
 * † 2020, 2021 seasons attendance reduced by COVID-19 worldwide pandemic

League history
Excepting two seasons in which they were in the second tier, Mitsubishi/Urawa has always competed in the top flight, thereby being the club with the most top flight seasons total.
 * Mitsubishi (Amateur era)
 * Division 1 (JSL and JSL Div.1): 1965–66, 1988–89
 * Division 2 (JSL Div.2): 1989–90
 * Division 1 (JSL Div.1): 1990–91, 1991–92
 * Urawa Red Diamonds (Professional era)
 * Division 1 (J.League): 1993–99
 * Division 2 (J.League Div.2): 2000
 * Division 1 (J.League Div.1): 2001–
 * Top scorer: Masahiro Fukuda with 152 goals