, commonly referred to as Tochigi SC (栃木SC, Tochigi Esushi) is a Japanese professional football club based in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. They currently play in the J3 League, Japan's third tier of professional football, after being relegated from the J2 League in 2024.

History Teachers in Tochigi Prefecture founded the club in 1953. They were initially called Tochigi Teachers' Soccer Club (栃木教員サッカー部 Tochigi Kyōin Sakkā Bu). They started to welcome players with other professions in 1994 and renamed themselves as Tochigi Soccer Club. In 1999, Tochigi won the Kanto Regional League and were promoted to the Japan Football League after finishing runners-up in the Regional League play-off. In March 2005, they announced that they would set up a task force to give a serious consideration to turn professional and try to gain J.League status. In January 2007, they achieved J.League Associate Membership status and in the 2008 season they secured qualification for promotion to professional status on 16 November 2008. On 1 December 2008, promotion was made official by the J.League and Tochigi had competed in J.League Division 2 from 2009.

In 2015, Tochigi finished bottom and were relegated to the J3 League for the first time in their history, the third and lowest professional level in the league system. After two seasons, they returned to J2 League from 2018 season who finished as runner-up in 2017. On 27 October 2024, Tochigi officially relegated to the J3 League for the second time after defeat from Shimizu S-Pulse 0-1 at home, ending seven-year stint in the second tier.

League and cup record ChampionsRunners-upThird placePromotedRelegated League J.League Cup Emperor'sCupSeason Div. Tier Teams Pos. P W D L F A GD Pts Attendance/G 2007JFL 318 8th 34 14 10 10 43 29 14 52 4,457 — 3rd round20082nd 34 18 9 7 65 37 28 63 5,048 4th round2009J2 217th 51 8 13 30 38 77 -39 37 4,706 2nd round201019 10th 36 14 8 14 46 42 4 50 4,157 3rd round201120 38 15 11 12 44 39 5 56 4,939 3rd round201222 11th 42 17 9 16 50 49 4 60 3,850 2nd round20139th 42 17 12 13 61 55 6 63 4,922 3rd round201412th 42 15 10 17 52 58 -6 55 5,294 2nd round201522nd 42 7 14 21 39 64 -25 35 5,167 1st round2016J3 316 2nd 30 17 8 5 38 20 18 59 4,917 Did not qualify 201717 32 16 12 4 44 24 20 60 5,147 Did not qualify 2018J2 222 17th 42 13 11 18 38 48 -10 50 5,657 2nd round201920th 42 8 16 18 33 53 -20 40 5,148 3rd round2020 †10th 42 15 13 14 41 39 2 58 2,522 Did not qualify2021 †14th 42 10 15 17 37 51 -14 45 3,861 3rd round202217th 42 11 16 15 32 40 -8 49 4,429 Round of 16202319th 42 10 14 18 39 47 -8 44 5,834 Round of 16202420 18th 38 7 13 18 33 57 -24 34 6,238 1st round 2nd round2025J3 3 7th 38 17 7 14 42 36 6 58 5,393 2nd round 2nd round202610 TBD 18 N/A N/A2026-2720 TBD 38 TBD TBD Key

Honours +Tochigi SC honoursHonour No. YearsTochigi Prefecture Division 1101978, 1979, 1981, 1984, 1987,1988, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1998Tochigi Prefectural Football Championship Emperor's Cup Tochigi Prefectural Qualifiers101998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2025Kanto Soccer League11999

Players Current squad

Out on loan

Coaching staff Position NameManager Shinji KobayashiAssistant Manager Hiroaki NagashimaFirst-team coach Takumi MotohashiGoalkeeper coach Tomoaki OgamiAnalyst Shogo ManabePhysical coach Hirofumi SakamotoChief trainer Yuta MatsumotoTrainer Takahiro Watanabe Atsuya KanekoInterpreter Bruno Hideo OwadaChief manager Tatsuya Sakakibara Yusuke KenjoChief doctor Mitsugi ShimodaDoctor Hitoshi Akutsu Kei Ajisaka Taro Kuramochi Makoto Kuroda Atsuto Hoshikawa Yuichiro Yano Yusuke Eda Makoto Oe

Managerial history Manager Nationality Tenure Start Finish Kōichi Hashiratani January 1, 2007December 31, 2008Hiroshi Matsuda February 1, 2009September 13, 2013Ikuo Matsumoto September 13, 2013November 25, 2013Yūji Sakakura February 1, 2014July 20, 2015Yasuharu Kurata July 22, 2015December 31, 2015Yūji Yokoyama January 1, 2016December 31, 2018Kazuaki Tasaka February 1, 2019January 31, 2022Yū Tokisaki February 1, 2022January 31, 2024Makoto Tanaka February 1, 2024May 14, 2024Shinji Kobayashi May 15, 2024current

Kit evolution The team's colour is yellow. Home kits – 1st Away kits – 2nd

References

External links