FC Kariya

The club was founded in 1949 as Nippon Denso Soccer Club. They mainly played in the Tōkai Regional League; Kariya was already represented in the Japan Soccer League by the club belonging to Toyota Industries (not to be confused with nearby Toyota Motors, which is the club that became Nagoya Grampus).

Nippon Denso were finally promoted to the Japan Football League in 1996. They played their first JFL season under new name DENSO Soccer Club because of the change of their owner's name.

DENSO relinquished the ownership at the end of the 2005 season and non-profit organisation Kaeru Sports Club took over. Their name F.C. Kariya was chosen from entries from the public. Despite this change of ownership, F.C. Kariya did not show much ambition for J. League status in subsequent campaigns and finished in 17th place on the 2009 season of the Japan Football League, being relegated back to the Tokai Regional League after losing a promotion/relegation series to the more ambitious Zweigen Kanazawa.[1]

In 2015 Kariya became champions of the Tōkai Adult Soccer League and participated in the 2015 Regional League promotion play-offs, reaching the Top 4, but not the promotion back to JFL. They also featured three times in the Emperor's Cup, reaching 2nd round both in 2007 and in 2012.

In 2020 season, the Tōkai Adult Soccer League was held in an irregular knock-out format due to the covid-19 pandemic. Lead by a new manager Koji Kadota, FC Kariya won the tournament to qualify for the regional championship, and achieved runner-up in it, resulting to return to the Japan Football League for the 2021 season.

F.C. Kariya's shirt features the red sash (or Aka Dasuki in Japanese). This design was originally adopted by Kariya High School's soccer club who introduced the sport to the area in the Taishō period. Because of this, the red sash is regarded as the symbolic design of Kariya's football.

They play their home games mainly at Kariya Municipal Athletic Park, but Toyohashi City Iwata General Ballgame Stadium and Nagoya City Port Soccer Stadium are also used a couple of times a year. They practice at Denso Ikeda Factory ground which is not open to the public because it is in Denso's factory site.

Here are listed only the seasons disputed as "FC Kariya"'.

Key

• Pos. = Position in league; GP = Games Played; W = Games won; D = Games Drawn; L = Games Lost; F = Goals scored; A = Goals conceded; GD = Goals Difference; Pts = Points gained

• Tokai Soccer League Champions (5)
  • 1993, 1995, 2015, 2016, 2019
• Japanese Regional Champions (2)

Updated to 10 March 2022.[2]

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  JPN Takayuki Shirai ‡ 2 DF  JPN Ryosuke Oshima ‡ 3 DF  JPN Sota Matsui ‡ 4 DF  JPN Hiroki Sasaki 5 MF  JPN Shuto Itsuka ‡ 6 MF  JPN Shuto Kawakami ‡ 7 FW  JPN Sera Watanabe ‡ 8 MF  JPN Mashu Sata ‡ 9 FW  JPN Sora Nakaoka ‡ 10 MF  JPN Ryo Ozaki ‡ 11 FW  JPN Masato Kawanishi ‡ 13 MF  JPN Reiya Nakata

No. Pos. Nation Player 14 DF  JPN Eishiro Kanda ‡ 15 FW  JPN Masato Nomura ‡ 16 GK  JPN Kotaro Miyazaki ‡ 17 MF  JPN Hiroki Sekido ‡ 18 DF  JPN Rikuya Iwanaga 19 DF  JPN Manato Akimoto ‡ 20 MF  JPN Shuji Ikeda ‡ 21 GK  JPN Takuya Kojima ‡ 22 DF  JPN Kazunari Ishida ‡ 23 MF  JPN Shinichiro Sonoda ‡ 24 DF  JPN Masayuki Saito ‡

Key

‡ New for 2022 season

• Official Website (in Japanese)
• Official Facebook page (in Japanese)