The Tainai Deers is an American football team located in Chofu, Tokyo, Japan. They are a member of the X-League.
Team history 1989 Team founded by the Kajima Business group. Team known as the Kajima Deers 1992 Promoted from X2 to X1. 1997 Won first Tokyo Super Bowl title. 2009 Won 2nd Japan X Bowl title and 1st Rice Bowl National Championship
2014 Kajima Group ends team sponsorship. Lixil Group offers new sponsorship. Team renamed the LIXIL Deers.
2021 Lixil Group end sponsorship. Team renamed Deers Football Club.
2022 Team renamed Tainai Deers.
Seasons X-League champions (1987–present)Division championsFinal Stage/Semifinals BerthWild Card /2nd Stage Berth
SeasonDivision Regular SeasonPostseason resultsAwardsHead coachesFinishWinsLossesTies1989East1st400Makoto Kaneji1990East1st800Makoto Kaneji1991East1st1020Won X2-X1 promotion match (Silver Ox) 24–16Makoto Kaneji1992East3rd640Makoto Kaneji1993East4th760Shigeru Saito1994East1st621Lost semifinals match (Onward) 6–34Shigeru Saito1995East3rd830Shigeru Saito1996Central3rd620Motohide Takano1997Central1st1010Won Semifinals match (Onward) 23–20 2OTWon Tokyo Super Bowl XI (Matsushita Electric Works) 48–12Won 51st Rice Bowl National Championship game (Hosei) 39–0Motohide Takano1998Central1st820Lost semifinals match (Asahi Beer) 13–38Motohide Takano1999Central1st900Won Semifinals match (Recruit) 20–13Lost Tokyo Super Bowl XIII (Asahi Beer) 16–18 Motohide Takano2000Central3rd630 Kiyoyuki Mori2001Central1st910 Lost semi-finals match (Asahi Soft Drinks) 13–21Kiyoyuki Mori2002East2nd930 Lost Wildcard match (Asahi Soft Drinks) 10–28Kiyoyuki Mori2003Central1st710 Lost Wild Card match (Asahi Beer) 3–7Kiyoyuki Mori2004East1st1000 Lost Wild Card match (Obic) 3–10Kiyoyuki Mori2005Central1st920 Won Wild card match (Onward) 27–6Lost semi-finals match (Matsushita Denko) 0–3Kiyoyuki Mori2006East2nd530 Won Wild Card match (Asahi Beer) 14–6Won Semi-finals match (Matsushita Denko) 13–6Lost Japan X Bowl XX (Onward) 21–24Kiyoyuki Mori2007Central1st620 Lost Wild Card match (Obic) 13–19 OTKiyoyuki Mori2008Central1st1000 Won Wild Card match (Fujitsu) 21–19Won Semi-finals match (Asahi Soft Drinks) 24–7Lost Japan X Bowl XXII (Panasonic Denko) 14–28Kiyoyuki Mori2009Central1st810 Won 2nd stage match (Suita) 32–19Won 2nd stage match (Asahi Beer) 24–14Won Final stage match (Panasonic) 34–26Won Japan X Bowl XXIII (Fujitsu) 21–14Won 63rd Rice Bowl National Championship game (Kansai) 19–16Kiyoyuki Mori2010East1st710 Won 2nd stage match (Meiji Yasuda) 52–13Lost 2nd stage match (Asahi Soft Drinks) 38–23Lost final stage match (Obic) 21–28 OTKiyoyuki Mori2011East1st700 Won 2nd stage match (As One) 55–7Lost 2nd stage match (Nojima Sagamihara) 20–27 OTLost final stage match (Obic) 20–45Kiyoyuki Mori2012East1st710 Won 2nd stage match (at As One) 40–6Won 2nd stage match (Fujitsu) 27–15Won Final stage match (Fujitsu) 24–14Lost Japan X Bowl XXVI (at Obic) 24–27Yasuhiro Maruta (MVP)Kohei Arai (ROY)Kiyoyuki Mori2013East2nd710 Lost 2nd stage match (IBM) 35–56Won 2nd stage match (at Panasonic) 47–45Lost final stage match (at Obic) 12–21Kiyoyuki Mori2014Central1st710 Won 2nd stage match (at Asahi Soft Drinks) 23–7Lost 2nd stage match (IBM) 10–38Lost final stage match (at IBM) 54–69Kiyoyuki Mori2015Central2nd520 Won 2nd stage match (at Elecom Kobe) 35–8Lost 2nd stage match (at Fujitsu) 24–34Kiyoyuki Mori2016Central2nd730 Lost quarterfinals match (IBM) 16–37 Kiyoyuki Mori2017East2nd630 Lost quarterfinals match (IBM) 31–51Tominaga Hajime2018Central3rd450 Lost Wildcard match (at Tokyo Gas) 7–14 OTTominaga Hajime2019X1 Area Central1st630 Motohide Takano2020X1 Area CentralN/A300 Motohide Takano2021X1 Area Central1st420 Motohide Takano2022X1 Super Div. A5th350 Motohide Takano2023X1 Super Div. B6th151 Lost X1 Super Ranking match (Asahi Soft Drinks) 8–14Lost X1 Super/X1 Area replacement match (All Mitsubishi) 17–31Yasushi Nakagawa2024X1 Area Central1st900 Lost X1 Super/X1 Area replacement match (FujiFilm Ebina) 17–20Takashi Kubo2025X1 Area Central1st900 Won X1 Area East Japan Championship (Dentsu) 21–16Takashi KuboTotal249682(1989–2025, includes only regular season)24270(1989–2025, includes only playoffs)273952(1989–2025, includes both regular season and playoffs)
Head coaches CoachYearsRecord Makoto Kaneji 1989–1992 29–6 Shigeru Saito 1993–1995 21–12–1 Motohide Takano 1996–1999, 2019–22 46–10 Kiyoyuki Mori 2000–2016 154–54 Tominaga Hajime 2017–18 10–10 Yasushi Nakagawa 2023 1–7–1 Takashi Kubo 2024–present 19–1
Current Import Players Jersey #NamePositionYears with the teamAlma materAchievements #21 Paul Morant DB 2025–present Old Dominion University X1 Area ROY (2025)
Former Import players NamePositionYears with the teamAlma materAchievements Michael Hawkins CB 2022–24 University of San Diego Ian Park LT 2019–2023 Northwestern University 2x All X-League Area Team member (2019 & 2020) Joseph Marton DL 2022 SGS College Joe Mathis OLB 2020 Washington 2x All X-League Team member (2018 & 2020) Dakota Torres TE 2019 University of Hawaii at Manoa Max Look CB 2019 Pacific University All X-League Area Team member (2019) Fred Wyatt DT 2019 Northwestern University Derrick Bryant LB 2018 University of Indianapolis
References
External links (Japanese)