FC Machida Zelvia

Machida is known as the "Brazil of Tokyo" due to the popularity of football in the city; in fact, it has produced the second-largest number of J. League players though its football school. Originally formed in 1977, this school is well known for its development of young talents into professional players. In 1989, in order to retain talents, Machida founded its own top team, which at that time played in the Tokyo Prefectural League.

In 2003, they became a multi-sport club under the name Athletic Club Machida, and in 2005 were promoted to the Kanto League, having won the Tokyo Prefectural League (First Division). They came first in the Kanto league (Second Division) the following year, and were promoted to First Division, where they stayed until promotion to the Japan Football League as champions of the Regional Promotion Playoff Series in 2008.

In 2009, they adopted the current nickname Zelvia, a portmanteau of the Portuguese words zelkova (Machida city's official tree) and salvia (a grassy plant commonly used in football pitches).

The same year, the club declared its intent to be promoted to J. League's 2nd division, and its status of semi-affiliate was officially approved by the J. League. However, its home stadium capacity and light specifications did not meet the J. League's requirements, average attendance did not reach 3,000, and the team's final position of 6th place did not allow for Zelvia's promotion to the J. League.

In 2010, Machida Zelvia appointed Naoki Soma, a former star player who played in the 1998 FIFA World Cup, as its new head coach. The stadium's lighting was renewed, and club added several J. League players to its roster. Zelvia also announced its partnership with Major League Soccer's D.C. United, which became the first historic partnership between a Japanese and American club.[1] The reborn team beat Tokyo Verdy, its arch-rival from the J. League, in the Emperor's Cup, but was knocked out by Albirex Niigata in the third round. Soma left at the end of the season and was replaced by Ranko Popović, former coach of Oita Trinita.

The stadium's capacity and conditions were still short of fulfilling J. League criteria, so the club completed another renovation between the end of the 2010 and start of the 2011 seasons. Machida Zelvia finished the 2011 season in third place after beating Kamatamare Sanuki in the final match of that season, thereby granting them promotion to J. League (Second Division),[2] but were relegated after a bottom-placed finish. They became one of the original J3 clubs after finishing in 4th place in the 2014 JFL season and returned to J2 as 2015 runners-up by beating Oita Trinita in the promotion/relegation play-off.

Machida Zelvia currently plays at Machida Municipal Athletic Stadium (Nozuta Stadium). Capacity until 2011 was 6,200, including grassy areas, and has had lighting for night games since 2009. Between the 2010 and 2011 seasons the stadium was upgraded and is now all-seated. Although the minimum seating requirement for J2 is 10,000, Nozuta fell short of that number. However, under an agreement made with J-League officials, home games where a large attendance is expected will be played at other stadia leased specifically for the purpose, and upgrades to Nozuta were made to meet the 10,000-capacity requirement. The current capacity of the stadium is 15,489.

Key

• Kanto Soccer League
  • Champions (2): 2007, 2008
• Japanese Regional League
  • Champions (1): 2008

As of 15 January 2023.[3][4][5]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  SRB Nedeljko Stojisic 2 DF  JPN Masayuki Okuyama 3 DF  JPN Kai Miki 4 DF  JPN Jurato Ikeda 5 DF  JPN Kota Fukatsu 6 DF  JPN Kosuke Ota 7 FW  JPN Shunta Araki (on loan from Sagan Tosu) 8 MF  JPN Leo Takae 9 FW  JPN Takaya Numata 10 MF  JPN Daigo Takahashi 11 FW  BRA Erik 13 DF  JPN Soichiro Fukaminato 14 DF  KOR Jang Min-gyu 15 FW  AUS Mitchell Duke 16 MF  JPN Zento Uno 17 DF  JPN Shohei Takahashi 18 MF  JPN Hokuto Shimoda 19 MF  JPN Shuto Inaba

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 FW  JPN Daiki Sato 22 MF  JPN Hijiri Onaga 23 GK  JPN William Popp 24 DF  JPN Mizuki Uchida 26 DF  ESP Carlos Gutiérrez 27 FW  JPN Yu Hirakawa 28 MF  JPN Yohei Okuyama 30 FW  JPN Yuki Nakashima 31 FW  JPN Yuya Takazawa 32 MF  JPN Atsushi Kurokawa 34 DF  JPN Yudai Fujiwara (on loan from Urawa Red Diamonds) 40 MF  JPN Sho Fuseya 41 MF  JPN Takuya Yasui 42 GK  JPN Koki Fukui 45 MF  JPN Kazuma Yamaguchi (on loan from Matsumoto Yamaga) 46 MF  JPN Ken Higuchi 50 GK  JPN Anton Burns

Out on loan

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  JPN Takumi Narasaka (on loan at Kamatamare Sanuki) — DF  JPN Yoshitaka Aoki (on loan at ReinMeer Aomori)

Staff for the 2023 season.[6]

Position	Name
Manager	Go Kuroda
Assistant manager	Kim Myung-hwi
First-Team coach	Shin Yamanaka
Goalkeeping coach	Nobuyuki Furo
Physical coach	Toru Yamazaki
Assistant coach	Hikaru Mita Daiki Ueda
Analyst	Sota Kinoshita
Chief doctor	Takahiro Fujisawa Keisuke Irako
Chief trainer	Yasuyuki Sasaki
Trainer	Yuta Hamada Shin Osawa
Physiotherapist	Takuro Yoshitake
Interpreter	Go Murakami Ken Takahashi Lee Seong-ang
Chief manager	Naoya Watanabe
Kit manager	Hiroyuki Kawakita
Sub manager	Yuto Suzuki
Nutrition management advisor	Jun Hamano

• Official website (in Japanese)
• FC Machida Zelvia on Facebook (in Japanese)
• FC Machida Zelvia on Twitter (in Japanese)