FC Machida Zelvia

Football Club Machida Zelvia (フットボールクラブ町田ゼルビア, Futtobōru Kurabu Machida Zerubia) commonly known as Machida Zelvia (町田ゼルビア, Efu Shi Machida Zerubia) is a Japanese professional football club based in Machida, Tokyo. They currently play in the J1 League, following promotion as J2 League champions in 2023.

Machida Zelvia
町田ゼルビア

Full name	Football Club Machida Zelvia
Nickname(s)	Zelvia
Founded	1989; 36 years ago (1989) as FC Machida
Ground	Machida GION Stadium Machida, Tokyo
Capacity	15,489
Owner	CyberAgent
Chairman	Takehisa Otomo[1]
Manager	Go Kuroda
League	J1 League
2024	J1 League, 3rd of 20
Website	zelvia.co.jp
Home colours Away colours
Current season

History

Formation and election to the Prefectural League (1989–2002)

FC 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 through 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 talent, Machida founded its own top team, which at that time played in the Tokyo Prefectural League.

From non-League to Japan Football League (2002–2011)

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 (Machida city's official flower).

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, 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 the 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.^[2] The reborn team beat Tokyo Verdy, its arch-rival from the J. League, in the 2010 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.

Yo-yo years (2012–2022)

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 the start of the 2011 seasons. 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),^[3] 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. In the first return to J2 in the 2016 season, Machida were able to finish in 7th position, only four points short of the play-offs spot.

In 2017, Zelvia fell off more than a half place down to 15th with fifty points, twelve points up of relegation zone. In the 2018 season, while Zelvia culminated a great campaign by finishing inside the promotion play-offs zone of 4th place, Zelvia were unable to participate in the phase because they did not have a J1 League-level license. The 2019 season also saw the club fell down far on the table as they finished in 18th position, three points up from relegation places occupied by Kagoshima United and FC Gifu. At the end of this season the club acquired a J1 license. ^{[citation needed]}

In 2020, Zelvia finished in 19th. While they were able to conclude their 2021 campaign by finishing in 5th position, no promotion play-offs were held in this season, mainly because no relegation in the previous season due to COVID-19 Pandemic, so Zelvia remain in J2. In 2022 season, Zelvia once again fell far below their position of the previous campaign by finishing in the 15th position.

First silverware of professional era and J1 League debut (2023–present)

On 22 October 2023, after a seven-year run in J2 League, Machida eventually achieved promotion to the J1 League for the first time in the club history with manager Go Kuroda guiding Zelvia to the 2023 J2 League title with 87 points following their 3–0 away win against Roasso Kumamoto in matchweek 39.^[4] The club also confirmed their status as champions of second division on 28 October 2023 after Kumamoto defeated Shimizu S-Pulse 3–1.^[5]

Zelvia started off their debut 2024 J1 League season on 24 February 2024 against Gamba Osaka in a 1–1 draw with Junya Suzuki scoring their first top-tier league goal for the club. Zelvia went on to have a magnificent run in the first few matches leading at the top of the J1 League table with three wins, one draw and zero lost with 10 points.^[6] Zelvia then went on to finished in third place in their debut season where they also qualified for the 2025–26 AFC Champions League Elite.

Home Stadium

Machida GION Stadium

Zelvia currently competes at Machida GION Stadium, also known as Nozuta Stadium. Until 2011, the stadium's capacity was 6,200, including grassy areas, and it has featured lighting for night games since 2009. The stadium underwent renovations between the 2010 and 2011 seasons and now offers all-seated accommodations. Although the J2 League requires a minimum seating capacity of 10,000, Nozuta initially did not meet this criterion. Nonetheless, an agreement with J-League officials allows for home games expecting large crowds to be held at alternative stadiums rented for such occasions. Meanwhile, Nozuta Stadium was upgraded to fulfill the 10,000-seat minimum. Its current capacity stands at 15,489. In the 2024 season, the club's inaugural season in the top division of Japanese football, they hosted four matches at the new Japan National Stadium.

Kit and colours

Sponsors

Season(s)	Kit Manufacturer	Main Shirt Sponsor	Collarbone Sponsor		Additional Sponsor(s)
2019	svolme	AbemaTV	–	EAGLE KENSO (Right)	odakyu	TERADA 株式会社寺田電機製作所	Tamagawa University
2020			AQUA RESORT (Left)	25th Anniversary[a] (Right)
2021		ABEMA TV Video & Entertainment		EAGLE KENSO (Right)
2022		AQUA RESORT (1st) BEST LAND (2nd)	—	TERADA 株式会社寺田電機製作所		Tamagawa University	—
2023	Adidas	CyberAgent	—			TERADA 株式会社寺田電機製作所	Tamagawa University
2024			Rudel

Kit evolution

Home kit - 1st
2010	2011	2012	2013	2014
2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
2025

Away kit - 2nd
2010	2011	2012	2013	2014
2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
2025

Special kit - 3rd
2014 25th anniv.	2019 30th anniv.	2022 - 3rd	2024 35th anniv.

Current squad

As of 28 March 2025.^[7]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  JPN Kosei Tani 3 DF  JPN Gen Shoji (captain) 4 DF  JPN Ryuho Kikuchi 5 DF  KOS Ibrahim Drešević 6 DF  JPN Henry Heroki Mochizuki 7 FW  JPN Yuki Soma 8 MF  JPN Keiya Sento 9 FW  JPN Shota Fujio 10 FW  KOR Na Sang-ho 13 GK  JPN Tatsuya Moriya 15 FW  AUS Mitchell Duke 16 MF  JPN Hiroyuki Mae 17 GK  MYA Kaung Zan Mara 18 MF  JPN Hokuto Shimoda (vice-captain) 19 DF  JPN Yuta Nakayama (vice-captain) 20 FW  JPN Takuma Nishimura

No. Pos. Nation Player 22 FW  JPN Takaya Numata 23 MF  JPN Ryohei Shirasaki 26 DF  JPN Kotaro Hayashi 28 MF  KOR Cha Je-hoon 30 FW  JPN Yuki Nakashima 38 MF  JPN Tenshiro Takasaki 39 MF  CHI Byron Vásquez 44 GK  JPN Yoshiaki Arai 46 MF  JPN Ken Higuchi 49 FW  JPN Kanji Kuwayama 50 DF  JPN Daihachi Okamura 60 MF  JPN Chui Hiromu Mayaka 77 DF  JPN Takumi Narasaka 88 DF  JPN Hotaka Nakamura 90 FW  KOR Oh Se-hun 99 MF  JPN Daigo Takahashi

Out on loan

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 11 FW  BRA Erik (at Vissel Kobe) 55 GK  JPN Anton Burns (at Roasso Kumamoto) — DF  JPN Soichiro Fukaminato (at Blaublitz Akita) — DF  JPN Mizuki Uchida (at Kamatamare Sanuki)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  JPN Kosei Ashibe (at Mito HollyHock) — MF  JPN Atsushi Kurokawa (at Spartak Varna) — MF  JPN Sho Fuseya (at Kataller Toyama)

Club officials

Club officials for 2024 season ^[8]

Position	Name
Manager	Go Kuroda
Head coach	Kim Myung-hwi
Coach	Shin Yamanaka Yuto Kurimoto
Assistant coach	Hikaru Mita Daiki Ueda
Goalkeeping coach	Nobuyuki Furo
Physical coach	Toru Yamazaki
Interpreter and coach	Leonardo Moreira
Analytics coach and Head of analysts	Yasuhiko Nishimura
Analytical coach	Yoshiro Akano
Technical staff	Sota Kinoshita Ryang Yoon-ho
Interpreter	Go Murakami Ken Takahashi Lee Seong-ang
Chief trainer	Yasuyuki Sasaki
Trainer	Yuta Hamada Shin Osawa Takashi Imai
Physiotherapist	Takuro Yoshitake
Medical coordinator	Akihisa Yamamoto
Chief manager	Naoya Watanabe
Sub manager	Ryota Kiyofuji
Kit manager	Hiroyuki Kawakita Yuto Suzuki
Nutrition management advisor	Jun Hamano
Chief doctor	Takahiro Fujisawa Keisuke Irako

Managerial history

Manager	Nationality	Tenure
		Start	Finish
Sadao Shigeta	Japan	1991	1995
Shoji Komoda		1996	2002
Minoru Moriya[9]		2003	2007
Tetsuya Totsuka		1 February 2008	31 January 2010
Naoki Soma		1 February 2010	31 January 2011
Ranko Popović	Serbia	1 February 2011	31 January 2012
Osvaldo Ardiles	Argentina	1 February 2012	17 November 2012
Yutaka Akita	Japan	26 November 2012	25 June 2013
Naoki Kusunose		25 June 2013	31 January 2014
Naoki Soma		1 February 2014	31 January 2020
Ranko Popović	Serbia	1 February 2020	31 January 2023
Go Kuroda[10]	Japan	1 February 2023	present

League and cup record

Champions

Runners-up

Third place

Promoted

Relegated

Season	Div.	Teams	Pos.	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts	Attendance/G	J. League Cup	Emperor's Cup	ACL Elite
2009	JFL	18	6th	34	14	12	8	38	30	8	54	1,886	Not eligible	–	—
2010		18	3rd	34	19	4	11	71	44	27	61	3,503		3rd round
2011		18	3rd	33	18	7	8	61	28	33	61	3,515		2nd round
2012	J2	22	22nd	42	7	11	24	34	67	-33	32	3,627		4th round
2013	JFL	18	4th	34	18	7	9	51	44	7	61	3,174		–
2014	J3	12	3rd	33	20	8	5	59	23	37	68	3,134		–
2015		13	2nd	36	23	9	4	52	18	34	78	3,766		4th round
2016	J2	22	7th	42	18	11	13	53	44	9	65	5,123		1st round
2017		22	16th	42	11	17	14	53	53	0	50	4,056		2nd round
2018		22	4th	42	21	13	8	62	44	18	76	4,915		3rd round
2019		22	18th	42	9	16	17	36	59	-23	43	4,718		2nd round
2020 †		22	19th	42	12	13	17	41	52	-11	49	1,302		Did not qualify
2021 †		22	5th	42	20	12	10	64	38	26	72	2,577		2nd round
2022		22	15th	42	14	9	19	51	50	1	51	3,243		2nd round
2023		22	1st	42	26	9	7	79	35	44	87	7,426		Round of 16
2024	J1	20	3rd	38	19	9	10	54	34	20	68	17,610	Quarter final	2nd round
2025		20	TBD	38									TBD	TBD	TBD

Key

• Pos. = Position in league; P = Games played; W = Games won; D = Games drawn; L = Games lost; F = Goals scored; A = Goals conceded; GD = Goals difference; Pts = Points gained
• Attendance/G = Average home league attendance
• † 2020 & 2021 seasons attendances reduced by COVID-19 worldwide pandemic
• Source: J. League Data Site

Honours

FC Machida Zelvia honours

Honour	No.	Years
Kanto Soccer League Division 2	1	2006
Kanto Soccer League Division 1	1	2007, 2008
Japanese Regional Football Champions League	1	2008
Tokyo Metropolitan Football Tournament	2	2011, 2015
J2 League	1	2023

Notes

1. EAGLE KENSO