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| Full name | Urawa Red Diamonds | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Reds (レッズ, Rezzu) / Red Devils (赤い悪魔, Akai Akuma) | ||
| Founded | 1950 as Mitsubishi Motors FC | ||
| Stadium | Saitama Stadium 2002 Saitama, Japan | ||
| Capacity | 63,700 | ||
| Owner | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries | ||
| Chairman | Keizo Fuchita | ||
| Manager | Per-Mathias Høgmo | ||
| League | J1 League | ||
| 2023 | J1 League, 4th of 18 | ||
| Website | Club website | ||
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Urawa Red Diamonds (浦和レッドダイヤモンズ, Urawa Reddo Daiyamonzu), colloquially Urawa Reds (浦和レッズ, Urawa Rezzu), also known as Mitsubishi Urawa Football Club from April 1992 to January 1996, is 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.
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[1] 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"[lower-alpha 1]).
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"[lower-alpha 2]) of the J.League in 1993.
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.
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 clinched their first professional league title by defeating runners-up Gamba Osaka 3–2 on December 2 before 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 kicks to Yokohama F. Marinos.
Urawa were back to back Emperor's Cup winners in 2005 and 2006. Winning the title for the first time since establishment as a professional club, they defeated Shimizu S-Pulse 2–1 on January 1, 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 outfit Ehime FC.
In 2007, despite a seemingly unassailable lead of seven points with four games remaining, Urawa 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 outfit Ehime FC, Urawa had to be content with their 2007 Asian Champions League title. Urawa recorded their first international title after overcoming Iranian club Sepahan F.C. 3–1 on aggregate. The victory made them the first Japanese side to win the title since the competition was reorganised from the Asian Champions Cup in 2003. In the Club World Cup of the same year, Urawa became the first AFC club to finish in third place, beating Tunisian Étoile Sportive du Sahel side on penalty kicks in the third / fourth place play off.
In 2008, Urawa attempted to win their second consecutive Asian 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.[2] As punishment for this racist behavior, the March 23 match was played in an empty stadium.[3]
On 19 September 2023, it was announced by JFA that Urawa 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 round of 4th of 2023 edition.[4]
International affiliation
The club is also notable in that former Feyenoord midfielder Shinji Ono began his professional career playing for Urawa. Ono returned for the 2006 season for a second stint with the club. Urawa is affiliated with German club FC Bayern Munich, whose nickname is also "The Reds".[5] Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, the chairman of the FC 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."[6] Some other foreign clubs, such as Arsenal F.C., Club Atlético Independiente, Clube de Regatas do Flamengo, VfB Stuttgart, Manchester United F.C., Feyenoord, Hamburger SV and Perth Glory FC, visited Japan and played friendly games at the Saitama Stadium.
In August 2004, Urawa appeared in a pre-season four-club friendly tournament, the Vodafone Cup, at Old Trafford, the home of Manchester United. The Japanese club, missing key players, lost their first game 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 fans had travelled to the game and were later compensated.
The club's supporters also have an unofficial relationship with Shanghai Shenhua. The clubs' supporters will support each other in continental competition. For example, Shenhua fans will support Urawa when Urawa plays in Shanghai against Shanghai SIPG.[7]
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, drawing an average audience of twenty thousand people.
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.[8] 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").[9] 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.[10]
Rivalries
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 3 tier.
Women's team
The club also has a women's football team, currently playing in the WE League as Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies.[11]
Kit and colours
Colours
The main colours of the Urawa Red Diamonds are red, black and white.
Kit evolution
| Home kit - 1st | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
          1993–1994 |
     1995–1996 |
     1997 |
     1998 |
     1999–2000 |
     2001–2002 |
     2003 |
     2004 |
     2005 |
     2006 |
    2007 |
     2008 |
     2009 |
   2010 |
     2011 |
   2012 |
 2013 |
   2014 |
 2015 |
 2016 |
     2017 |
     2018 |
  2019 |
    2020 |
    2021 |
    2022 |
    2023– | |||
| Away kit - 2nd | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
     1993–1994 |
     1995–1996 |
     1997 |
     1998 |
     1999–2000 |
     2001–2002 |
     2003 |
     2004–2005 |
   2006–2007 |
     2008–2009 |
    2010 |
   2011 |
 2012 |
   2013 |
  2014 |
   2015 |
   2016 |
    2017 |
     2018 |
  2019 |
 2020 |
    2021 |
     2022 |
     2023– | |
| Alternative kit - 3rd | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
     1992 - 1993 Cup 1st |
  2012 3rd |
2013 3rd |
2014 3rd |
2017 3rd |
2019 3rd |
2020 3rd |
2022 vs PSG |
2022 vs Eintracht Frankfurt | |
League & cup record
| Champions | Runners-up | Third place | Promoted | Relegated |
| Season | Div. | Teams | Pos. | Avg. Attd. | J.League Cup | Emperor's Cup | Super Cup | AFC CL | Others | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | – | – | – | – | Group stage | Semi-finals | – | – | – | – |
| 1993 | J1 | 10 | 10th | 11,459 | Group stage | 2nd round | – | – | – | – |
| 1994 | 12 | 12th | 18,475 | Quarter-finals | 3rd round | – | – | – | – | |
| 1995 | 14 | 4th | 19,560 | – | Quarter-finals | – | – | – | – | |
| 1996 | 16 | 6th | 24,329 | Group stage | Semi-finals | – | – | – | – | |
| 1997 | 17 | 10th | 20,504 | Quarter-finals | Round of 16 | – | – | – | – | |
| 1998 | 18 | 6th | 22,706 | Group stage | Quarter-finals | – | – | – | – | |
| 1999 | 16 | 15th | 21,206 | Quarter-finals | Round of 16 | – | – | – | – | |
| 2000 | J2 | 11 | 2nd | 16,923 | 1st round | Round of 16 | – | – | – | – |
| 2001 | J1 | 16 | 10th | 26,720 | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | – | – | – | – |
| 2002 | 16 | 11th | 26,296 | Runners-up | 3rd round | – | – | – | – | |
| 2003 | 16 | 6th | 28,855 | Winners | 3rd round | – | – | – | – | |
| 2004 | 16 | 2nd | 36,660 | Runners-up | Semi-finals | – | – | – | – | |
| 2005 | 18 | 2nd | 39,357 | Semi-finals | Winners | – | – | – | – | |
| 2006 | 18 | 1st | 45,573 | Quarter-finals | Winners | Winners | – | – | – | |
| 2007 | 18 | 2nd | 46,667 | Quarter-finals | Round of 16 | Runners-up | Winners | A3 | 3rd place | |
| FIFA | 3rd place | |||||||||
| 2008 | 18 | 7th | 47,609 | Group stage | 5th round | – | Semi-finals | – | – | |
| 2009 | 18 | 6th | 44,210 | Quarter-finals | 2nd round | – | – | – | – | |
| 2010 | 18 | 10th | 39,941 | Group stage | Quarter-finals | – | – | – | – | |
| 2011 | 18 | 15th | 33,910 | Runners-up | Quarter-finals | – | – | – | – | |
| 2012 | 18 | 3rd | 36,634 | Group stage | Round of 16 | – | – | – | – | |
| 2013 | 18 | 6th | 37,100 | Runners-up | 3rd round | – | Group stage | – | – | |
| 2014 | 18 | 2nd | 35,516 | Quarter-finals | 3rd round | – | – | – | – | |
| 2015 | 18 | 3rd | 38,745 | Quarter-finals | Runners-up | Runners-up | Group stage | – | – | |
| 2016 | 18 | 2nd | 36,935 | Winners | Round of 16 | – | Round of 16 | – | – | |
| 2017 | 18 | 7th | 33,542 | Quarter-finals | Round of 16 | Runners-up | Winners | Suruga | Winners | |
| FIFA | 5th place | |||||||||
| 2018 | 18 | 5th | 34,798 | Play-off stage | Winners | – | – | – | – | |
| 2019 | 18 | 14th | 34,184 | Quarter-finals | Round of 16 | Runners-up | Runners-up | – | – | |
| 2020 † | 18 | 10th | 7,869 | Group stage | Did not qualify | – | – | – | – | |
| 2021 † | 20 | 6th | 8,244 | Semi-finals | Winners | – | – | – | – | |
| 2022 | 18 | 9th | 23,617 | Semi-finals | 3rd round | Winners | Winners | – | – | |
| 2023 | 18 | 4th | TBD | Runners-up | Round of 16 | – | Group stage | FIFA | 4th Place | |
- Key
- Pos. = Position in league
- Attendance/G = Average home league attendance
- † 2020, 2021 seasons attendance reduced by COVID-19 worldwide pandemic
Honours
Domestic
As both Mitsubishi (amateur era) and Urawa Red Diamonds (professional era)
League
- Japan Soccer League/J.League Division 1
- Japan Soccer League Division 2
Cups
International
Individual awards
Players
Current squad
- As of 13 January 2024.[12]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Out on loan
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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World Cup players
The following players have represented their country at the World Cup whilst playing for Urawa Red Diamonds:
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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
Former players
International capped players
Club officials
For the 2023 season.
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Sporting director | Hisashi Tsuchida |
| Manager |  Maciej Skorża[lower-alpha 3] |
| Assistant manager | Masato Maesako Nobuyasu Ikeda Rafal Janas Wojciech Makowski |
| First-team coach & Analyst | Maiki Hayashi |
| Physical coach | Tatsuru Ishiguri Wojciech Ignatiuk |
| Goalkeeper coach |  Juan Miret |
| Assistant goalkeeper coach | Hitoshi Shiota |
| Match Analyst | Yuma Moriya |
| Interpreter | Vacant  Narit Jampalee |
Manager history
| Manager | Nationality | Tenure | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start | Finish | ||
| Hiroshi Ninomiya | Japan | 1 February 1967 | 31 January 1975 |
| Kenzo Yokoyama | Japan | 1 February 1975 | 31 January 1983 |
| Kuniya Daini | Japan | 1 February 1984 | 30 June 1989 |
| Kazuo Saito | Japan | 1 July 1989 | 30 June 1992 |
| Takaji Mori | Japan | 1 July 1993 | 31 January 1994 |
| Kenzo Yokoyama | Japan | 1 February 1994 | 31 January 1995 |
| Holger Osieck |  Germany | 1 February 1995 | 31 December 1996 |
| Horst Köppel | Germany | 1 February 1997 | 31 December 1998 |
| Hiromi Hara | Japan | 1 February 1998 | 30 June 1999 |
| Aad de Mos |  Netherlands | 1 July 1999 | 3 December 1999 |
| Yasushi Yoshida | Japan | 4 December1999 | 31 January 2000 |
| Kazuo Saito | Japan | 2 February 2000 | 2 October 2000 |
| Kenzo Yokoyama | Japan | 3 October 2000 | 31 January 2001 |
| Tita |  Brazil | 1 February 2001 | 27 August 2001 |
| Pita | Brazil | 28 August 2001 | 31 January 2001 |
| Hans Ooft | Netherlands | 1 February 2002 | 31 January 2004 |
| Guido Buchwald | Germany | 1 February 2004 | 31 January 2006 |
| Holger Osieck | Germany | 1 February 2007 | 16 March 2008 |
| Gert Engels | Germany | 16 March 2008 | 27 November 2008 |
| Volker Finke | Germany | 1 February 2009 | 31 January 2011 |
| Željko Petrović |  Montenegro | 1 February 2011 | 20 October 2011 |
| Takafumi Hori (caretaker) | Japan | 20 October 2011 | 31 January 2012 |
| Mihailo Petrović |  Serbia | 1 February 2012 | 30 July 2017 |
| Takafumi Hori | Japan | 31 July 2017 | 2 April 2018 |
| Tsuyoshi Otsuki | Japan | 3 April 2018 | 24 April 2018 |
| Oswaldo de Oliveira | Brazil | 25 April 2018 | 28 May 2019 |
| Tsuyoshi Otsuki | Japan | 29 May 2019 | 22 December 2020 |
| Ricardo Rodríguez | Spain | 22 December 2020 | 30 October 2022 |
| Maciej Skorża | Poland | 10 November 2022 | 30 December 2023 |
| Per-Mathias Høgmo |  Norway | 01 January 2024 | |
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)
- 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
Notes
- ↑ The original clubs of the Japan Soccer League in 1965 were Mitsubishi Motors, Furukawa Electric, Hitachi, Yanmar Diesel, Toyo Kogyo, Yawata Steel, Toyota Industries and Nagoya Mutual Bank.
- ↑ The original clubs of the J.League in 1993 were Kashima Antlers, Urawa, JEF United Ichihara, Verdy Kawasaki, Yokohama Marinos, Yokohama Flügels, Shimizu S-Pulse, Nagoya Grampus Eight, Gamba Osaka and Sanfrecce Hiroshima.
- ↑ until 30 December 2023.
References
- ↑ 浦和レッズ年表 Archived 2008-10-25 at the Wayback Machine, Urawa Red Diamonds
- ↑ ARUDOU, DEBITO (12 March 2014). "J.League and media must show red card to racism". Japan Times. Archived from the original on 12 March 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
- ↑ "Urawa Reds play to empty stadium after fans banned for racist banner". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 23 June 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
- ↑ "【規律委員会】 2023年9月19日付 公表". www.jfa.jp (in Japanese). JFA. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
- ↑ J-League partner Urawa seal domestic double Archived 2007-05-19 at the Wayback Machine, FC Bayern
- ↑ 06.01.18 FCバイエルン・ミュンヘン(ドイツ)とのパートナーシップ締結について Archived 2008-12-08 at the Wayback Machine, Urawa Red Diamonds
- ↑ "Wild East Football". Archived from the original on 2019-03-25. Retrieved 2019-03-25.
- ↑ レッズランド | 浦和レッズ Archived 2008-10-24 at the Wayback Machine, Urawa Red Diamonds
- ↑ A brief history of J.League mascots | Mascot madness in Japanese football, archived from the original on 2022-04-07, retrieved 2022-04-08
- ↑ "CLUB-PROFILE | URAWA RED DIAMONDS OFFICIAL WEBSITE". www.urawa-reds.co.jp. Archived from the original on 2022-05-09. Retrieved 2022-04-15.
- ↑ URAWA REDS LADIES Archived 2008-10-24 at the Wayback Machine, Urawa Red Diamonds
- ↑ "TOP TEAM". Retrieved 13 January 2024.
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External links
- Urawa Red Diamonds official website (in Japanese and English)
- Urawa Red Diamonds Supporters Media website (unofficial) (in Japanese)
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