Description
Tokyo Verdy 1969 are a professional soccer team in the J. League, presently part of J2. Their home town is the entire Tokyo metropolis. They were one of the 10 teams (original 10) to play in the J. League when it launched in 1993. The team’s home stadium is the Ajinomoto Stadium (Tokyo Stadium) in Chofu city.
The club was first founded in 1969 as the Yomiuri Football Club. They boast a record of 5 Japan Soccer League (JSL) championships, 3 Emperor Cup victories, 3 JSL cups. In preparation for the start of the J. League, in 1991 they made the Todoroki Athletics Stadium in Kawasaki city their home stadium and took on the nickname Verdy Kawasaki.
At the time, Verdy had continued the golden age that had started during the Yomiuri period and thanks to players that were key members of the Japan National Team like Ruy Ramos, Tetsuji Hashiratani, Kazuyoshi Miura, Nobuhiro Takeda, Tsuyoshi Kitazawa, Satoshi Tsunami and others, they not only won the 1990-91 and 1991-92 JSL championship, but also won the J. League cup (Nabisco Cup) when it first started in 1992, beating Shimizu S-Pulse 1-0 in the final to become the first reigning champions.
When the J. League finally kicked off in May 15th 1993, they first faced their old rivals, the Yokohama F. Marinos, in the National Soccer Stadium and tasted bitter defeat after their 1-2 score. They finished the first stage in 2nd place, the 2nd stage in 1st place and in the championships they won against the Kashima Antlers, who at the time had the former Brazil National Team player Zico in their squad. Thus Verdy took their glorious victory in the new J. League.
The following year, in 1994, they again advanced to the championships and beat Sanfrecce Hiroshima to claim their second title in a row. They also won the Nabisco Cup 3 years in a row and during the early years of the J. League they were considered the No.1 soccer team in Japan.
However, in the second half of the 1990s Yomiuri Shimbun and Yomiuri Land pulled back from managing the team and with the reduced budget their high salary players, who had pulled the team to the top for many years, also left. All of this brought about the team’s downfall.
In 2001, they moved their home town from Kawasaki city to Tokyo metropolis, changed their name to Tokyo Verdy 1969 and their new home stadium became the Tokyo Stadium in Chofu city.
After moving to Tokyo, they won their first title in 2004, the Emperor’s Cup. But the following year, in 2005, they finished in 17th place in their league and relegated to J2. After that they have promoted and relegated again and from 2009 they have been fighting in the J2 league.
The team’s home jersey is green and their supplier from 2011 has been ATHLETA. Their shirts hold logos of their sponsors ISPS HANDA, e-grand and others.
