Tochigi SC

, commonly referred to as Tochigi SC (栃木SC, Tochigi Esushi) is a Japanese football club based in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. They set to play in the J3 League after relegation from J2 in 2024, Japan's third tier of professional football.

History

Teachers in Tochigi Prefecture founded the club in 1953. They were initially called Tochigi Teachers' Soccer Club (栃木教員サッカー部 Tochigi Kyōin Sakkā Bu). They started to welcome players with other professions in 1994 and renamed themselves as Tochigi Soccer Club. In 1999, Tochigi won the Kanto Regional League and were promoted to the Japan Football League after finishing runners-up in the Regional League play-off. In March 2005, they announced that they would set up a task force to give a serious consideration to turn professional and try to gain J.League status.

In January 2007, they achieved J.League Associate Membership status and in the 2008 season they secured qualification for promotion to professional status on 16 November 2008. On 1 December 2008, promotion was made official by J.League and Tochigi had competed in J.League Division 2 from 2009.

In 2015, Tochigi finished bottom and were relegated to J3 League for the first time in their history, the third and lowest professional level in the league system. After two seasons, they returned to J2 League from 2018 season who finished as runner-up in 2017.

On 27 October 2024, Tochigi officially relegated to J3 League for second time after defeat from Shimizu S-Pulse 0-1 at home and ending seven years stint in second tier with two games left.

League and cup record

Champions

Runners-up

Third place

Promoted

Relegated

League														J.League Cup	Emperor's Cup
Season	Div.	Tier	Teams	Pos.	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts	Attendance/G
2007	JFL	3	18	8th	34	14	10	10	43	29	14	52	4,457	—	3rd round
2008			18	2nd	34	18	9	7	65	37	28	63	5,048		4th round
2009	J2	2	18	17th	51	8	13	30	38	77	-39	37	4,706		2nd round
2010			19	10th	36	14	8	14	46	42	4	50	4,157		3rd round
2011			20	10th	38	15	11	12	44	39	5	56	4,939		3rd round
2012			22	11th	42	17	9	16	50	49	4	60	3,850		2nd round
2013			22	9th	42	17	12	13	61	55	6	63	4,922		3rd round
2014			22	12th	42	15	10	17	52	58	-6	55	5,294		2nd round
2015			22	22nd	42	7	14	21	39	64	-25	35	5,167		1st round
2016	J3	3	16	2nd	30	17	8	5	38	20	18	59	4,917		Did not qualify
2017			17	2nd	32	16	12	4	44	24	20	60	5,147		Did not qualify
2018	J2	2	22	17th	42	13	11	18	38	48	-10	50	5,657		2nd round
2019			22	20th	42	8	16	18	33	53	-20	40	5,148		3rd round
2020 †			22	10th	42	15	13	14	41	39	2	58	2,522		Did not qualify
2021 †			22	14th	42	10	15	17	37	51	-14	45	3,861		3rd round
2022			22	17th	42	11	16	15	32	40	-8	49	4,429		Round of 16
2023			22	19th	42	10	14	18	39	47	-8	44	5,834		Round of 16
2024			20	18th	38	7	13	18	33	57	-24	34	6,238	1st round	2nd round
2025	J3	3	20	TBA	38									2nd round	2nd round

Key

Honours

Tochigi SC honours

Honour	No.	Years
Tochigi Prefecture Division 1	10	1978, 1979, 1981, 1984, 1987, 1988, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1998
Tochigi Prefectural Football Championship Emperor's Cup Tochigi Prefectural Qualifiers	10	1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2025
Kanto Soccer League	1	1999

Players

Current squad

Template:Updated 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	Template:Fba/core	Shuhei Kawata
2	DF	Template:Fba/core	Wataru Hiramatsu
3	DF	Template:Fba/core	Hiroshi Omori (on loan from Fukushima United)
4	MF	Template:Fba/core	Sho Sato
5	DF	Template:Fba/core	Riita Mori (on loan from Albirex Niigata)
6	MF	Template:Fba/core	Kosuke Kambe
7	FW	Template:Fba/core	Akito Tanahashi (on loan from Tokushima Vortis)
8	DF	Template:Fba/core	Kenta Fukumori
9	FW	Template:Fba/core	Ryunosuke Sugawara (on loan from Vegalta Sendai)
10	MF	Template:Fba/core	Taiyo Igarashi (on loan from Kawasaki Frontale)
11	MF	Template:Fba/core	Taichi Aoshima
13	DF	Template:Fba/core	Keisuke Saka
18	FW	Template:Fba/core	Rensuke Kawana
19	FW	Template:Fba/core	Hogara Shoji
20	DF	Template:Fba/core	Shintaro Ide
21	GK	Template:Fba/core	Kim Min-jun
22	DF	Template:Fba/core	Hidenori Takahashi (on loan from Renofa Yamaguchi)
23	FW	Template:Fba/core	Soki Hoshino

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
25	MF	Template:Fba/core	Hiroshi Iwasaki
27	GK	Template:Fba/core	Kenta Tanno
29	FW	Template:Fba/core	Kisho Yano
31	GK	Template:Fba/core	Shuhei Shikano (on loan from Iwaki FC)
32	FW	Template:Fba/core	Ryunosuke Ota (on loan from Fagiano Okayama)
33	DF	Template:Fba/core	Rafael Costa
37	DF	Template:Fba/core	Yuto Kimura
38	FW	Template:Fba/core	Sora Kobori
39	MF	Template:Fba/core	Kazuma Yagi
40	DF	Template:Fba/core	Shuya Takashima
44	MF	Template:Fba/core	Rui Ageishi
47	MF	Template:Fba/core	Haruto Yoshino
61	FW	Template:Fba/core	Sosuke Hatano Type 2
62	MF	Template:Fba/core	Tasuku Yokohama Type 2
77	MF	Template:Fba/core	Kensuke Fujiwara (on loan from Júbilo Iwata)
78	MF	Template:Fba/core	Yota Horiuchi (on loan from Urawa Red Diamonds)
80	MF	Template:Fba/core	Kenneth Otabor
81	MF	Template:Fba/core	Katsuya Nakano
—	GK	Template:Fba/core	Ryoga Makino Type 2

Out on loan

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
—	MF	Template:Fba/core	Park Yong-ji (at ReinMeer Aomori)

Coaching staff

Position	Name
Manager	Template:Flagicon Shinji Kobayashi
Assistant Manager	Template:Flagicon Hiroaki Nagashima
First-team coach	Template:Flagicon Takumi Motohashi
Goalkeeper coach	Template:Flagicon Tomoaki Ogami
Analyst	Template:Flagicon Shogo Manabe
Physical coach	Template:Flagicon Hirofumi Sakamoto
Chief trainer	Template:Flagicon Yuta Matsumoto
Trainer	Template:Flagicon Takahiro Watanabe Template:Flagicon Atsuya Kaneko
Interpreter	Template:Flagicon Bruno Hideo Owada
Chief manager	Template:Flagicon Tatsuya Sakakibara Template:Flagicon Yusuke Kenjo
Chief doctor	Template:Flagicon Mitsugi Shimoda
Doctor	Template:Flagicon Hitoshi Akutsu Template:Flagicon Kei Ajisaka Template:Flagicon Taro Kuramochi Template:Flagicon Makoto Kuroda Template:Flagicon Atsuto Hoshikawa Template:Flagicon Yuichiro Yano Template:Flagicon Yusuke Eda Template:Flagicon Makoto Oe

Managerial history

Manager	Nationality	Tenure
		Start	Finish
Kōichi Hashiratani		January 1, 2007	December 31, 2008
Hiroshi Matsuda		February 1, 2009	September 13, 2013
Ikuo Matsumoto		September 13, 2013	November 25, 2013
Yūji Sakakura		February 1, 2014	July 20, 2015
Yasuharu Kurata		July 22, 2015	December 31, 2015
Yūji Yokoyama		January 1, 2016	December 31, 2018
Kazuaki Tasaka		February 1, 2019	January 31, 2022
Yū Tokisaki		February 1, 2022	January 31, 2024
Makoto Tanaka		February 1, 2024	May 14, 2024
Shinji Kobayashi		May 15, 2024	current

Kit evolution

The team's colour is yellow.

External links

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