URAWA RED D I A M O N DS OFFICIAL ENGLISH GUIDE 2018 ©2018 Urawa Red Diamonds All rights reserved. URAWA RED DIAMONDS OFFICIAL ENGLISH GUIDE 2018 CLUB PROFILE Club Name: Urawa Red Diamonds Nickname: Urawa Reds Year of Formation: 1950 Turned Professional: 1992 Home Town: Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture Home Stadium: Saitama Stadium 2002 (63,700) Urawa Komaba Stadium, Saitama City (21,500) Club Colors: red shirts, white shorts and black socks President: FUCHITA Keizo Origin of club name Urawa was the name of the city where Reds started their J. League history in 1993. The city of Urawa became part of the new city of Saitama in 2001 when it merged with the neighboring cities of Yono and Omiya. Reds retained the old name because of its popularity with fans. Achievements: AFC Champions League champions twice (2007 and 2017) CLUB PHILOSPOPHY J. League champions (2006) 1. URAWA RED DIAMONDS aim to contribute to the healthy growth of youth, J. League Second Stage champions twice (2004 and 2016) and the fostering of valuable, conscientious members of society. J. League First Stage champions (2015) 2. URAWA RED DIAMONDS strive to provide an arena J. League Cup winners twice (2003 and 2016) for healthy recreation for the local community. Emperor's Cup winners 6 times (1971, 1973, 1978, 1980, 2005 and 2006) 3. URAWA RED DIAMONDS aim to be Saitama's window to the world. Xerox Super Cup winners (2006) Suruga Bank Championship winners (2017) The Reds Emblem Japan Soccer League champions 4 times (1969, 1973, 1978 and 1982) The core motifs are the ball and the whorl. They represent a call for everyone to JSL Cup winners twice (1978 and 1981) come together around the ball, the excitement and joy that the ball brings to all, J. League Championship runners-up 5 times (2004, 2005, 2007, 2014 and 2016) and gathering circles of goodwill and friendship that reach out to the whole world. J. League Cup runners-up 4 times (2002, 2004, 2011 and 2013) Emperor's Cup runners-up 4 times (1967, 1968, 1979 and 2015) The building at the top is the elite teacher training college where football was J. League Suntory Championship runners-up (2004) introduced to Saitama in 1908. The college is long gone but the building has Japan Soccer League runners-up 6 times (1970, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1976 and 1977) been rebuilt in its original form and is now a municipal museum. The diamond in the centre is, of course, the Red Diamond symbol. It stands for URAWA RED DIAMONDS［URAWA REDS］ the tightly bonded team. Address： 2-1 Misono, Midori-ku, Saitama City, Saitama 336-8505 Japan The sakuraso primrose, at bottom left and right, is the emblematic flower of both Phone： +81-48-812-1001 Fax： +81-48-812-1212 Saitama Prefecture and Saitama City. It is a designated natural treasure of Japan, Official Website： http://www.urawa-reds.co.jp and Saitama is one of the very best places for seeing this beautiful flower. Press Office e-mail： [email protected] 2 3 URAWA RED DIAMONDS OFFICIAL ENGLISH GUIDE 2018 Welcome to Reds Wonderland! Reds’ football won the hearts of local young fans from the J. League Yamazaki Nabisco Cup of 1992, the year before the J. League proper began, giving birth to the amazing fan base we see today. With the start of the J. League in 1993, however, Reds’ defensive frailty made the going hard and the team sank to the bottom of the table. Reds won only rarely in those early days even at their first home, the Komaba Stadium. The fans were disappointed but stood by their team. In fact, the support only grew. A German manager, Holger Osieck, took charge in 1995. Guido Buchwald and Uwe Bein had signed as players the previous summer. The team gained new balance with their leader- ship and climbed high in the league. The title was not to be, however, and the club instead again plumbed the depths in 1999 when it dropped to Division Two. Even on the day of darkest despair, however, when Reds’ relegation was sealed, the 20,000 fans who packed the Komaba Stadium did not turn against their team. They showed their commitment come what may by singing on and on: “We are Reds! We are Reds!” The unconditional love for Reds that filled the Komaba cauldron that day is the club’s greatest strength and treasure. Urawa Reds were promoted straight back the following year and grew strongly under the guidance of Hans Ooft to win the J. League Yamazaki Nabisco Cup in 2003. Guido Buchwald took charge in 2004 and steered them to victory in the J. League’s Second Stage. Reds also The passionate support descends and fills the stadium won the Emperor’s Cup in 2005 and finally secured their longed for first J. League champion- from the molten red stands. On a glorious green pitch, waves of searing ship in 2006. Holger Osieck returned to the helm in 2007 and led Reds to victory in the AFC attacks sweep towards the opposing goal. Champions League, a triumph which also made them the first Japanese club to win this Welcome to Reds Wonderland, a place of fiery young supporters, tournament. Reds recorded an aggregate attendance of 809,353 for their 17 home league boys and girls sporting Reds shirts, and also older couples who join in matches in 2008, a J. League record average home attendance of 47,609 that also placed waving the flags! And of the players, who carry all of those dreams with them in the top 20 clubs in the world that year. fervour on the pitch. This is the special space and time that we call The form then dipped for several years until the arrival of new manager Mihailo Petrovic in Reds Wonderland. 2012 ushered in a fresh era of growth for the club. Playing with his hallmark game of all-out Urawa Reds, winners of the 2007 and 2017AFC Champions Leagues, attack and defence, breaking through by skilful combination, the football evolved and grew are supported by Japanʼs hottest supporters. You will be caught up in and Reds became regular title contenders again. In 2016, Reds won the Levain Cup, the furnace, too, from the moment you step inside. renamed that year from the Yamazaki-Nabisco Cup, for the first time in 13 years. Petrovic’s reign ended in late July, 2017, and head coach Takafumi Hori stepped up to the helm, as the Reds were one of the J. League’s 10 founding teams in 1993. The club was based on the form slumped sharply from around the time Reds secured their AFC Champions League famous Mitsubishi Football Club that had won both the Japan Soccer League and the quarter-final berth. The team’s focus turned to the Champions League and, in the quarter- Emperor’s Cup four times. Mitsubishi played in Tokyo but moved to the city of Urawa (now final, Reds overcame a 3-1 first leg deficit with a 4-1 win in the second leg against Kawasaki Saitama City) and changed the name to Urawa Red Diamonds with the start of the J. League. Frontale. Reds next overcame Shanghai SIPG of China in the semi-final and then Al-Hilal of Today, that has been shortened to the more familiar, Urawa Reds. Saudi Arabia in the final, drawing both first legs 1-1 and winning both second legs 1-0, Urawa was a longstanding hotbed of football in Japan. Fully five schools from this city to the to secure their second Asian crown a decade after the first. Reds carried on to secure fifth north of Tokyo had won the national senior high school football tournament. It was a city that place at the FIFA Club World Cup in the UAE in December with a 3-2 win over Casablanca of understood football well, and the crowd was demanding from the start. The team’s strong Morocco. In 2018, Reds are targeting the J. League title with all of their might under Takafumi attacking flavour was established early on as the club strove to satisfy those dreams. Hori. 4 5 URAWA RED DIAMONDS OFFICIAL ENGLISH GUIDE 2018 HOME TOWN decade. They were justly Saitama City proud of Urawa’s football tradition and their fervent support resounded across Saitama City, the home of Urawa Reds, is the capital of Saitama Prefecture in central Japan even ahead of the Japan. It lies 20km north of Tokyo and is reached in 30 minutes from the centre by train. The team itself. city has been growing in recent years as a major commuter town for the Tokyo megalopolis. The club was finally able It is a place of quiet residential districts with a total area of roughly 168 square kilometres and to respond to those citizens’ population of over 1,260,896 as of February, 2015. ardent desire to crown the Japan is a mostly very mountainous country but Saitama City is located in the east of its Urawa name, and the widest plain. Almost flat, it rises to only 20.3m above sea level at the highest point (and drops supporters’ longing to be the to only 3.1m at the lowest). number one team, not just The city of Saitama is only 16 years old. It was created in May, 2001, by the merger of the the number one supporters, cities of Urawa (the seat of the prefectural government), Yono and Omiya. in 2003. That was the year Urawa – Football’s First Home in Japan Urawa Reds won their first Red Diamonds – The Club which Inherited the Tradition title, the Yamazaki Nabisco Tochigi Cup.