Up and Down

The “elevator club” concept is something that’s been used for long time in football. It’s something that encapsulates a squad struggling to keeping a superior tier, but that can not stay longer in the one below. In Japanese football, that kind of club was represented by Avispa Fukuoka and Shonan Bellmare.  They used to be that – but the story has drastically changed.

In Fukuoka they’ve just celebrated their first silverware in history and Shigetoshi Hasebe is doing better every year, despite they lose a couple of pieces every Winter. Shonan were technically relegated in 2020 (they came last), but no relegations were applied to that season due to the COVID-situation, and so Bellmare are ready to play their seventh consecutive season in J1 – the longest streak in the first tier of their history.

With these two being elevated to stable J1 teams, another one had to take that unwanted role. And that team was Yokohama FC… which could be kinda happy about it anyway. They’ve been a J2 squad for most of their history – getting promoted three times and always being relegated at the first season (when relegations were allowed: in 2020 they were not, but YFC came nonetheless 15th).

At the third downfall, the risk of getting stuck in J2 for a longer stint is concrete… but it’s also true that what YFC has accomplished in the last Winter transfer market might open the space for a surprise run at the playoffs. Especially upfront, what the Yokohama-bound club has obtained is very, very interesting.

2019-2021: a missed opportunity

We don’t wanna go too much back, but pointing out a couple of things seems helpful. Born from the dead project of Yokohama Flügels, Yokohama FC stayed in J2 from 2001 to 2006, then one surprising year in J1, and then another wait of 12 years before managing to get promoted again. At the time, it came out as a surprise – although the most important players were all over-30 (Leandro Domingues, Ibba Lajaab, Masahiko Inoha).

The master mind behind this miracle was Takahiro Shimotaira, who’s still today trying to figure out how to go back at the top. He had a promising experience with Kashiwa Reysol, he brought Yokohama FC back in J1, and he actually rejuvenated the team once in J1. In the end, it’s the same approach he took with Kashiwa – and it worked. Yokohama FC found young blood – Yusuke Matsuo and Koki Saito above all – and got a 15th place.

But their liaison with J1 wasn’t supposed to last. Once Kazu Miura was starting more – probably to get wider attention in Japan and in the world, but jeopardising the final results – Shimotaira was let go, being replaced by Tomonobu Hayakawa. Furthermore, the squad was even too young and the attack wasn’t able to produce goals – Kazuma Watanabe, Kléber, Sho Ito, and Felipe Vizeu are not exactly good options.

2022-2023: Same old, same old

When Yokohama FC started 2022 in J2, their hope was probably to live a mid-table season, maybe even playoffs. The arrival of Shuhei Yomoda on the bench was promising – he had a really solid stint with Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo, before becoming Petrovic’s assistant there -, but was the roster up to the task? The answer can be doubled: it depends on which level you’re thinking about.

For J2, Yokohama FC proved to be a solid side. Having Koki Ogawa scoring tons of goals and winning three “Player of the Month” awards helped reaching the final goal. Ryoya Yamashita and Tatsuya Hasegawa proved to be crucial assets on the wings. Sho Ito, Saulo Mineiro, and Kazuma Watanabe put together 13 goals together – which proposed Yokohama FC as the third-best attack of the league.

But in J1 YFC never stood a chance. Losing Ogawa mid-season was enough as a blow (he did so and he was nonetheless the top-scorer of 2023), while the replacements didn’t work out. Sure, a couple of youngsters did really well – shoutout to Tomoki Kondo and Kotaro Hayashi, who indeed moved respectively to Sapporo and Machida -, but the squad wasn’t good enough for Yomoda to make a miracle.

2024: what’s next?

The first positive news could actually come from the dugout: Shuhei Yomoda has been confirmed. He got promoted twice from J2, he knows really well the landscape there. And Yomoda might be looking towards that experience in Hokkaido to give his squad a refreshing optic. Starting from the new signings – in fact, Akito Fukumori arrived on loan and he’s actually flourished under Yomoda in Sapporo.

A bit of a reset happened in Yokohama. Hasegawa, Yamashita, Brodersen, Marcelo Ryan are out – but the signings are good. Toma Murata has blossomed into an interesting winger last year at Gifu, Yoshihiro Nakano should be reliable for J2. But most of all Yokohama could rely on a monstrous pair upfront – Solomon Sakuragawa arrived from JEF United Chiba and Kaito Mori joined from Kashiwa Reysol.

If Yomoda finds a way to integrate those two, Yokohama might have the most interesting pair of strikers in the whole league. Does that mean they should be a dark horse for promotion? Not by force, but surely if all clicks together, we wouldn’t be surprised to see them in full playoffs zone. And then, who knows – J2 is an open world with many cliffhangers. Yokohama might take again the elevator towards superior heights.

J2 previews are starting a full week of analysis on some matters, topics, and we’ll touch J1 as well. But if you didn’t want to lose what’s been said around J3, please have a deep dive into this page, where we touched the Top 10 transfers in the third tier, and you’ll find as well the lookout on Giravanz Kitakyushu and Kataller Toyama’s next steps.