Yokohama F. Marinos

Yokohama F. Marinos (横浜F・マリノス) is a Japanese professional football club based in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The club competes in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country.

Having won the J-League title five times and finishing second twice, they are one of the most successful J-League clubs. The team is based in Yokohama and was founded as the company team of Nissan Motor. The club was formed by the merger of Yokohama Marinos and Yokohama Flügels in 1999. The current name is intended to reflect both of the original names. Yokohama F. Marinos is the longest serving team in the top flight of Japanese football, having played at the top level since 1982, also making them, along with Kashima Antlers, one of only two teams to have competed in Japan's top flight of football every year since its inception.

As Nissan Motor (1972–1991)
The team traces its origins to 1972 as the Nissan Motor Football Club, based in Yokohama. Nissan Motor won promotion to Division 2 Football League in 1976. Under coach Shu Kamo, the team won Japan Soccer League in 1988 and 1989, as well as the JSL Cup in 1988, 1989 and 1990 and the Emperor's Cup in 1983, 1985, 1988, 1989 and 1991. The 1989 team won the "Triple Crown" - all three major tournaments in Japan - with famous players such as Takashi Mizunuma, Kazushi Kimura and Masami Ihara. At the end of the 1991–92 season, the team won the 1991–92 Asian Cup Winners' Cup.

As Yokohama Marinos (1992–1998)
Nissan Motors obtained registration in the newly formed J.League to acquire professional club status and changed the club's name to Yokohama Marinos, a reference to Yokohama's status as a major port city. In their first seasons as a professional team, Yokohama Marinos continued to win competitions: triumphant in the 1992 Emperor's Cup, a second consecutive 1992–93 Asian Cup Winners' Cup, and their first J.League title in 1995. Matches between Yokohama Marinos and Verdy Kawasaki were known as the National Derby.

As Yokohama F. Marinos (1999–present)
In 1999, the club was renamed Yokohama F. Marinos after the technical and financial merger with Yokohama Flügels, which had declared bankruptcy. An F was added to the name to represent the Flügels half of the club. However, many Flügels fans have rejected the new team, feeling that their team was dissolved into the F. Marinos rather than merged with it. As a result, they refused to follow F. Marinos and instead created Yokohama FC, the new city rival of F. Marinos, with the help of public donations and an affiliation with IMG, a talent agency.

In 2000, Marinos were runner-up in the 2000 J1 League, where Shunsuke Nakamura was named the best player of the season.

On 27 October 2001, Marinos won the J.League Cup, defeating Júbilo Iwata in a 0–0 match where Marinos won the penalty shootout 3–1.

In the 2002 season, Marinos were league runners-up behind Júbilo Iwata.

Back-to-back league champions
In 2003 and 2004, Marinos became back-to-back league champions with the stars of the team being South Koreans Ahn Jung-hwan, Yoo sang-chul and Japanese players Daisuke Oku, Tatsuhiko Kubo and Yuji Nakazawa (who was the best player of the year in 2004). Their coach was the Japanese Takeshi Okada, who was named the 'Best Coach of the Year' in 2003 and 2004.

From 2005 to 2008, with notable players Hayuma Tanaka, Hideo Ōshima, Daisuke Sakata and Koji Yamase, Marinos didn't achieve any single honours. The highest they reached during this period was the 2008 Emperor's Cup semi-final where they were knockout by Gamba Osaka in extra time.

In 2010, club legend Shunsuke Nakamura returned to Yokohama F. Marinos after 8 years and stayed until the end of the 2017 J1 League season.

On August 4, 2011, a year after leaving the club, former Marinos player Naoki Matsuda collapsed during training with Matsumoto Yamaga due to cardiac arrest and died at the age of 34. As a result, his former number 3 has been retired.

And after two semi-final defeats in 2011 and 2012, Marinos won the 2013 Emperor's Cup on 1 January 2014, the first after 21 years and in 2013, they were runner-up in the J.League for the second time in their history.

Owned by City Football Group
On 20 May 2014, it was announced that the City Football Group, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi United Group, had invested in a minority stake in Yokohama F. Marinos, creating a partnership with the football club and the automaker Nissan.

And after consecutive defeats, such as a loss in the 2017 Emperor's Cup Final and in the 2018 J.League Cup Final, the team managed to get a good shape thanks to the direction of the Australian coach Ange Postecoglou, which ended 15 years of drought by winning the 2019 J1 League title, with emphasis on the participation of Teruhito Nakagawa being the 'Best Player of the Season' and top scorer with 15 goals together with Brazilian Marcos Júnior.

In 2020, Marinos made it out of the 2020 AFC Champions League group stage for the first time since the AFC Champions League switched to the current format. The club were drawn in Group H alongside Chinese Shanghai SIPG, South Korean Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors and Australian Sydney FC. Marinos qualified to the knockout stages as group leaders with 4 wins, 1 draw and 1 losses. However the club was bowed out from the tournament in the Round of 16 losing 3–2 to South Korean Suwon Samsung Bluewings.

In 2021, Marinos finished in second place 13 points behind league champions, Kawasaki Frontale where on 18 July 2021, Head coach Ange Postecoglou was signed by Scottish club, Celtic while Hideki Matsunaga will be the caretaker for the club until 18 July 2021, Marinos signed another Australian head coach, Kevin Muscat.

In 2022, Kevin Muscat steered the club to win their fifth J1 League title. The club also finished as group leaders in the 2022 AFC Champions League group stage being placed in Group H alongside South Korean Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, Vietnamese Hoang Anh Gia Lai and Australian Sydney FC. Marinos qualified to the knockout stages with 4 wins, 1 draw and 1 losses where they faced another Japanese side Vissel Kobe in the Round of 16, however, the club suffered a 3–2 defeat to Vissel Kobe thus crashing out from the competition.

In 2023, Marinos than finished as league runners up with 64 points behind Vissel Kobe who got 71 points. Kevin Muscat than guided the club in the 2023–24 AFC Champions League group stage being drawn in Group G with Chinese Shandong Taishan, South Korean Incheon United and Filipino Kaya–Iloilo. Marinos finished the group tied with 12 points along with Shandong Taishan and Incheon United but qualified to the round of 16 as group leaders.

On 6 December 2023, Kevin Muscat resigned as the head coach in which Harry Kewell were appointed as the new head coach of the club on 31 December 2023 becoming the third consecutive Australian manager in the club history. Harry Kewell than guided the club in the round of 16 fixture against Thai Bangkok United, winning the match 3–2 on aggregate with Anderson Lopes scoring an injury time penalty in the 120th minute of extra time during the second leg sending the team to the quarter-finals. Marinos then faced off against Shandong Taishan again in which Marinos won 3–1 on aggregate thus seeing them to the semi-finals against South Korean Ulsan Hyundai. Marinos suffered a 1–0 defeat away in which the club bounced back in the second leg at home winning the match 3–2 thus seeing both club tied with 3–3 on aggregate sending the match into extra time and than penalties shootout. Marinos went on to win the penalties shootout 5–4 where vice-captain Eduardo scored the winning penalty to send the team to their first-ever Champions League final against Emirati Al Ain. They would start losing 0-1 during the first leg at home, but then came back with two goals from Asahi Uenaka and Kota Watanabe to make it 2–1 at the end of the match, but, unfortunately, they'd lose 5–1 away in the second leg (6–3 on aggregate), thus ending as runners-up of the competition.

Rivalries
Kanagawa Derby Previously, Verdy Kawasaki and the extinct Yokohama Flügels were Kanagawa Derby rivals. With Verdy moving to Tokyo from Kawasaki, matches between the two clubs are no longer considered Kanagawa derbies.
 * This is the derby played by the Kanagawa prefecture teams, currently the most important match is that of Yokohama F. Marinos and Kawasaki Frontale. Other Kanagawa derby rivals include Shonan Bellmare, Yokohama FC and YSCC Yokohama.

Yokohama Derby
 * The classic among the most representative teams in the city of Yokohama, Yokohama F. Marinos, Yokohama FC and YSCC Yokohama. Between 1993 and 1998, the Yokohama derby corresponded only to the departure between the late Yokohama Flügels and Yokohama F. Marinos.

Kits and crests
Yokohama F. Marinos utilizes a three colour system composed of blue, white and red.

In 2012, Yokohama F. Marinos have unveiled a special edition 20th Anniversary jersey

Stadiums
The team's home stadiums are Nissan Stadium, otherwise known as International Stadium Yokohama, and Mitsuzawa Stadium. The team trained at Marinos Town located in the area of Minato Mirai, but moved to Kozukue Field located next to the home ground in 2016.

Theme song
The club's official theme song is "We Are F. Marinos" by Japanese duo Yuzu. The song was first released in 2005, with the song being used at games up to today, sometimes having mascot Marinos-kun dance to the song on a pedestal on the running track of Nissan Stadium.

Current squad
The official club website lists the club mascot as player #0 and the supporters as player #12.

International players
This list includes players that were called up to their national teams while playing at Yokohama F. Marinos, either to participate in official or friendly competitions, friendly matches or in training camps.

Club captains

 * 🇯🇵 Shigetatsu Matsunaga 1993
 * 🇯🇵 Masami Ihara 1994–1998
 * 🇯🇵 Yoshiharu Ueno 1999–2000
 * 🇯🇵 Norio Omura 2001
 * 🇯🇵 Naoki Matsuda 2002–2003
 * 🇯🇵 Daisuke Oku 2004
 * 🇯🇵 Naoki Matsuda 2005–2006
 * 🇯🇵 Yuji Nakazawa 2007
 * 🇯🇵 Ryuji Kawai 2008–2009
 * 🇯🇵 Yuzo Kurihara 2010
 * 🇯🇵 Shunsuke Nakamura 2011–2016
 * 🇯🇵 Manabu Saito 2017
 * 🇯🇵 Yuji Nakazawa 2018
 * 🇯🇵 Takuya Kida 2019–present

Players who played in the FIFA World Cup
The list includes players who were called up to their national teams while playing at Yokohama F. Marinos, to represent their country in the FIFA World Cup.


 * 1994 FIFA World Cup: Ramón Medina Bello
 * 1998 FIFA World Cup: Masami Ihara, Shoji Jo, Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, Norio Omura, César Sampaio
 * 2002 FIFA World Cup: Naoki Matsuda
 * 2006 FIFA World Cup: Yuji Nakazawa
 * 2010 FIFA World Cup: Yuji Nakazawa, Shunsuke Nakamura
 * 2014 FIFA World Cup: Manabu Saito
 * 2018 FIFA World Cup: Milos Degenek
 * 2022 FIFA World Cup: None

Record as J.League member

 * Key
 * Pos. = Position
 * Attendance/G = Average home league attendance
 * † 2020 & 2021 seasons attendances reduced by COVID-19 worldwide pandemic
 * Source: J.League Data Site

Performance in AFC competitions

 * AFC Champions League: 9 appearances
 * 1989–90: Runners-up
 * 1990–91: Group stage
 * 1996–97: Quarter-finals
 * 2004: Group stage
 * 2005: Group stage
 * 2014: Group stage
 * 2020: Round of 16
 * 2022: Round of 16
 * 2023–24: Runners-up
 * Asian Cup Winners' Cup: 3 appearances
 * 1991–92: Winners
 * 1992–93: Winners
 * 1993–94: Semi-finals

Awards
J.League MVP Award:
 * Shunsuke Nakamura (2000; 2013)
 * Yuji Nakazawa (2004)
 * Teruhito Nakagawa (2019)
 * Tomoki Iwata (2022)

J.League Top Scorer:
 * Ramón Díaz (1993)
 * Teruhito Nakagawa (2019)
 * Marcos Júnior (2019)
 * Daizen Maeda (2021)
 * Anderson Lopes (2023)

J.League Rookie of the Year:
 * Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi (1995)
 * Daisuke Nasu (2003)
 * Kazuma Watanabe (2009)

J.League Manager of the Year:
 * Takeshi Okada (2003; 2004)
 * Ange Postecoglou (2019)
 * Kevin Muscat (2022)

J.League Fair Play Award:
 * Daisuke Sakata (2007)
 * Yuji Nakazawa (2015; 2017)

J.League Monthly MVP :
 * Shunsuke Nakamura (March 2013)
 * Tetsuya Enomoto (October 2013)
 * Manabu Saito (August 2015)
 * Shunsuke Nakamura (October 2015)
 * Manabu Saito (October 2016; November 2016)
 * Yuji Nakazawa (June 2017)
 * Takuya Kida (May 2019)
 * Teruhito Nakagawa (October 2019)
 * Erik (September 2020)
 * Leo Ceara (August 2021)
 * Kota Mizunuma (June 2022)
 * Tomoki Iwata (September 2022)

J.League Best XI:
 * 1993: Shigetatsu Matsunaga, Masami Ihara, Ramón Díaz
 * 1994: Masami Ihara
 * 1995: Masami Ihara, Masaharu Suzuki
 * 1996: Masami Ihara
 * 1997: Masami Ihara
 * 1999: Shunsuke Nakamura
 * 2000: Naoki Matsuda, Shunsuke Nakamura
 * 2002: Naoki Matsuda
 * 2003: Yuji Nakazawa, Daisuke Oku, Tatsuhiko Kubo, Dutra
 * 2004: Yuji Nakazawa, Daisuke Oku, Dutra
 * 2005: Yuji Nakazawa
 * 2008: Yuji Nakazawa
 * 2013: Yuji Nakazawa, Shunsuke Nakamura
 * 2019: Teruhito Nakagawa, Marcos Júnior, Takuya Kida, Thiago Martins
 * 2021: Daizen Maeda
 * 2022: Élber, Kota Mizunuma, Tomoki Iwata, Ryuta Koike, Yohei Takaoka
 * 2023: Anderson Lopes

AFC Champions League Best XI:
 * 2020: Takuya Kida, Teruhito Nakagawa

J.League Cup MVP:
 * 2001: Tatsuya Enomoto

J.League Cup New Hero:
 * 2013: Manabu Saito
 * 2018: Keita Endo

In popular culture
In the manga series – Captain Tsubasa, one of the characters was Yokohama Marinos midfielder Mamoru Izawa.

Base categories
The base category of Yokohama F. Marinos started in 1986, before the opening of the J-League, and it is divided into 3 categories U-12, U-15 and U-18 and these are some of the best players formed at the base of Marinos, Shunsuke Nakamura, Manabu Saito, Jungo Fujimoto, Mike Havenaar, Hiroki Iikura, Takashi Amano, Hiroyuki Taniguchi, Tetsuya Enomoto, Yuzo Kurihara, Hayuma Tanaka, Yuki Kaneko, Daisuke Sakata, Naohiro Ishikawa, Rikizo Matsuhashi, Eitaro Matsuda, Kota Yamada, Keita Endo, Ryo Takano, Takuya Kida, Andrew Kumagai, Yuji Ono, Jun Amano, Sho Matsumoto, Jin Hanato, Kota Mizunuma, Takashi Kanai, Masakazu Tashiro, Yota Akimoto etc. ... .
 * All Japan Club Youth Soccer Tournament
 * JFA Prince League Kanto
 * Prince Takamado Trophy
 * J-Youth Cup
 * JFA Championship
 * Danone Nations Cup