Urawa Red Diamonds

This article is about the men's football club based in Japan. For the women's team, see Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies.

Urawa Reds

Full name	Urawa Red Diamonds
Nickname(s)	Reds (レッズ, Rezzu) / Red Devils (赤い悪魔, Akai Akuma)
Founded	1950 (1950) as Mitsubishi Motors FC
Stadium	Saitama Stadium 2002 Saitama, Japan
Capacity	63,700
Owner	Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Chairman	Makoto Taguchi
Manager	Maciej Skorża
League	J1 League
2024	J1 League, 13th of 20
Website	urawa-reds.co.jp
Home colours Away colours

The Urawa Red Diamonds (浦和レッドダイヤモンズ, Urawa Reddo Daiyamonzu), colloquially Urawa Reds (浦和レッズ, Urawa Rezzu), also known as Mitsubishi Urawa Football Club from April 1992 to January 1996, are a professional football club in the city of Saitama, part of the Greater Tokyo Area in Japan. The club plays in the J1 League, the top tier of football in the country. Its name comes from the former city of Urawa, now part of Saitama. It is one of the most successful clubs in the country, having won three AFC Champions League titles (most recently in 2022), and varied domestic titles, including a joint-record eight overall Emperor's Cup titles. It participated three times at the FIFA Club World Cup.

The name 'Red Diamonds' alludes to the club's pre-professional era parent company Mitsubishi. The corporation's logo consists of three red diamonds, one of which remains within the current club badge.

History

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries established a football club in 1950 in Kobe and moved the club to Tokyo in 1958. In 1965 it formed the Japan Soccer League (JSL) along with today's JEF United Chiba, Kashiwa Reysol, Cerezo Osaka, Sanfrecce Hiroshima and three other clubs who have since been relegated to regional leagues ("Original Eight").

Mitsubishi first won the JSL championship in 1969, as a break in Mazda/Sanfrecce's dominance (and also with the fact that Toyo were in Bangkok, Thailand, competing in the Asian Club Cup); their runs up the first division were sporadic but steady until the 1980s when they fell into the Second Division. In 1990 they were promoted as JSL Division 2 champions, and thus were ready when the J-League implementation began in earnest. Urawa Red Diamonds was an original member ("Original Ten") of the J.League in 1993.

Domestic treble

Mitsubishi were the first Japanese club to complete a domestic treble, when in 1978 they won the title, the Emperor's Cup and the Japan Soccer League Cup.

Name changed

The club name was than changed to ''Mitsubishi Urawa Football Club'' from in April 1992 where their nickname was "Red Diamonds". However, in February 1996, the club name was changed to "Urawa Red Diamonds".

The club has enjoyed mixed fortunes since the J-League advent. The club finished bottom of the league for the first two seasons of the J-League with an average crowd of under 15,000. In 1999 they suffered relegation to the second tier of Japanese football yet again. The club has since improved in form in recent years, starting with a 2003 victory in the Nabisco Cup.

In 2006, Urawa Reds clinched their first professional league title by defeating runners-up Gamba Osaka 3–2 on December 2 in front of 63,000 supporters. This came after two close calls in the previous two years. In 2005, they finished 2nd, one point behind champions Gamba Osaka. In 2004, they finished 3rd in the first stage and won the second stage. Having qualified for the two-match J.League Championship decider, they lost on penalty shootout to Yokohama F. Marinos.

Back to back cup champion

Urawa Reds were back to back Emperor's Cup winners in 2005 and 2006. Winning the title for the first time since their establishment as a professional club, they defeated Shimizu S-Pulse 2–1 on 1 January 2006, and retained the title in 2007 with a 1–0 win over Gamba Osaka. This win also completed a league-cup double. In the 2007 tournament they were defeated at the first hurdle by J2 League outfit Ehime FC.

In 2007, despite a seemingly unassailable lead of seven points with four games remaining, Urawa Reds picked up only two points from their final four games. This run included losing at home to Kashima Antlers; the club who would leapfrog Urawa on the final day of the season to claim their fifth J.League title. Following their capitulation in the fourth round of the Emperor's Cup to J2 League outfit Ehime FC, Urawa Reds had to be content with their 2007 AFC Champions League fixtures.

AFC Champions League winner

Urawa Reds players lifting the 2007 AFC Champions League trophy

Urawa Reds recorded their first prestigious cup overcoming Iranian club Sepahan 3–1 on aggregate to clinch the 2007 AFC Champions League trophy. The victory made them the first Japanese side to win the cup since the competition was reorganised from the Asian Champions Cup in 2003. In the 2007 FIFA Club World Cup of the same year, Urawa Reds became the first AFC club to finish in third place, beating Tunisian side Étoile Sportive du Sahel on penalty shootout in the third/fourth place play off.

Throughout the 2008 AFC Champions League edition, Urawa Reds attempted to win their second consecutive AFC Champions League title and progressed to the semi-finals where they were defeated by fellow J-League rivals, and eventual Champions League winners, Gamba Osaka 3–1 on aggregate.

On 8 March 2014, a banner which read "JAPANESE ONLY" was hung at one of the entrances to the stands. As punishment for this racist behavior, the league match on 28 March was played behind closed doors.

In the 2017 AFC Champions League edition, Urawa Reds had a good run throughout the entire tournament which saw them face Saudi Arabia club, Al-Hilal in the final which saw Urawa Reds winning the 2017 AFC Champions League final 2–1 on aggregate to clinch their 2nd trophy.

Urawa Reds managed to make their way through all the way until the 2019 AFC Champions League final facing off against Al-Hilal once again. However, the club fell in a 3–0 aggregate loss to the Saudi Arabian club.

During the 2022 AFC Champions League, Urawa Reds had an easier run en route to the final where they faced three Southeast Asian club along the way, Singapore league champions Lion City Sailors in the group stage while they faced Malaysia league champions Johor Darul Ta'zim 5–0 in the Round of 16 and Thailand league champions BG Pathum United 4–0 in the Quarter-finals. Urawa Reds would then face Korea league champions, Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors in the semi-finals which ended up with Urawa Reds advancing to the final after winning the penalty shootout. The club faced their tournament rivals Al-Hilal for the third time in the 2022 AFC Champions League final. Urawa Red won 2–1 on aggregate, clinching their 3rd trophy.

On 19 September 2023, it was announced by JFA that Urawa Reds will not be participating in 2024 edition of Emperor's Cup following supporters clash after 0–3 loss against Nagoya Grampus in the 4th round of 2023 edition.

International affiliation

The club is also notable in that former Feyenoord midfielder Shinji Ono began his professional career playing for Urawa Reds. Ono returned for the 2006 season for a second stint with the club. Urawa Reds is affiliated with German club Bayern Munich, whose nickname is also "The Reds". Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, the chairman of the Bayern Munich, announced that "We have been looking for clubs which have potential ability, management stability and cordial confidence. We could fulfill the desire to affiliate with this great club, Urawa Reds." Some other foreign clubs, such as Arsenal, Club Atlético Independiente, CR Flamengo, VfB Stuttgart, Manchester United, Feyenoord, Hamburger SV and Perth Glory, visited Japan and played friendly games at the Saitama Stadium.

In August 2004, Urawa Reds appeared in a pre-season four-club friendly tournament, the Vodafone Cup, at Old Trafford, the home ground of Manchester United. Urawa Reds missed a few key players, losing their first match 5–2 against the Argentinian side Boca Juniors. The second fixture against the hosts, Manchester United, was called off due to a massive electric storm. Some 800 Urawa Reds fans had travelled to the game and were later compensated.

The club's supporters also have an unofficial relationship with Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua. The clubs' supporters will support each other in continental competition. For example, Shenhua fans will support Urawa Reds when Urawa Reds plays in Shanghai against Shanghai SIPG.

Home stadium

Saitama stadium

Since the establishment of J.League in 1992, the club had used the Urawa Komaba Stadium as its home stadium. Due to the increasing popularity of the matches, Saitama City, owner of the stadium, expanded the seat capacity. During the renovation, the club used Ōmiya Park Soccer Stadium. In spite of the poor performance of the club, the stadium was filled with faithful supporters.

New home ground

In October 2001, Saitama Prefecture built new football-specific Saitama Stadium in Saitama city. This stadium was used as a venue for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. After the World Cup, the club gradually increased home games in Saitama Stadium and in 2003 the stadium was formally designated as the home stadium. In 2008, only two games were held at Komaba Stadium.

Facilities

Urawa Reds uses Ohara City Field for training. In addition to this facility, the club opened Redsland in 2005, which has three grass fields, one artificial turf field, one baseball field, futsal courts and tennis courts. Redsland is opened to the public and club members can use the facilities at relatively cheap fees.

Mascots

The Red Diamonds have four mascots; Redia, Friendia, Schale, and Diarra. However, Redia doesn't make much appearances at Saitama Stadium, due to the club's policy of the stadium being a "place for serious competition". When he does occasionally appear at the stadium, he does not participate in any fan activities. Because of this, Reds fans dubbed him as a NEET mascot (which is an acronym for "No education, employment, or training"). According to the club profile, Redia and Friendia were married during a Reds fan festival in 1997. The younger twin mascots, Schale and Diarra, were born on the day the Red Diamonds won their first J. League Championship in 2006.

Rivalries

Saitama derby

Main article: Saitama derby

Urawa Red Diamonds has a local derby with Omiya Ardija, from Ōmiya-ku, Saitama city. They first met in the 1987 Emperor's Cup, with Mitsubishi defeating NTT Kanto by 5 to 0 at Nishigaoka National Stadium. The derby first took place in the JSL Second Division in the 1989–90 season, and it wouldn't take place until the 2000 season when Urawa was relegated to the second tier again. In 2003 the formerly separate Omiya and Urawa cities merged to become Saitama city, and since 2005 the derby became a top flight fixture after Omiya was promoted.

Marunouchi Gosanke

During the JSL years and into the 1990s, Urawa's main top flight rivals were JEF United Chiba and Kashiwa Reysol, both now based in Chiba Prefecture. Because of their former parent companies' headquarters being all based in Marunouchi, Tokyo, the three clubs were known as the Marunouchi Gosanke (丸の内御三家, "Marunouchi Big Three") and fixtures among them were known as the Marunouchi derbies, although the term is falling out of use as they are now based in different prefectures and rarely play home games in Tokyo stadiums.

Others

Rivals further afield include Kashima Antlers, FC Tokyo, Yokohama Marinos, Kawasaki Frontale, and, even farther away, Gamba Osaka. Old JSL championship rivalries with Sanfrecce Hiroshima, Cerezo Osaka and Shonan Bellmare have ebbed down as those clubs had nadirs in the second tier.

Women's team

The club also has a women's football team, currently playing in the WE League as Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies.

Kit and colours

Colours

The main colours of the Urawa Red Diamonds are red, black and white.

Kit evolution

Home kit - 1st
1993–1994	1995–1996	1997	1998	1999–2000
2001–2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
2022	2023	2024–

Away kit - 2nd
1993–1994	1995–1996	1997	1998	1999–2000
2001–2002	2003	2004–2005	2006–2007	2008–2009
2010	2011	2012	2013	2014
2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
2020	2021	2022	2023	2024–

Alternative kit - 3rd
1992 - 1993 Cup 1st	2012 3rd	2013 3rd	2014 3rd	2017 3rd
2019 3rd	2020 3rd	2022 vs PSG	2022 vs Eintracht Frankfurt

Players

Current squad

As of 1 September 2024.

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	Shusaku Nishikawa (captain)
4	DF	JPN	Hirokazu Ishihara
5	DF	NOR	Marius Høibråten
7	FW	JPN	Hiroki Abe
8	MF	JPN	Yoshio Koizumi
9	FW	NED	Bryan Linssen
10	MF	JPN	Shoya Nakajima
11	MF	SWE	Samuel Gustafson
12	FW	BRA	Thiago Santana
13	MF	JPN	Ryoma Watanabe
14	MF	JPN	Takahiro Sekine
16	GK	JPN	Ayumi Niekawa
19	MF	JPN	Shion Homma
20	DF	JPN	Yota Sato
21	MF	JPN	Tomoaki Okubo
23	DF	JPN	Rikito Inoue
24	MF	JPN	Yusuke Matsuo
25	MF	JPN	Kaito Yasui

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
27	MF	THA	Ekanit Panya (on loan from Muangthong United)
29	MF	JPN	Yota Horiuchi
30	FW	JPN	Shinzo Koroki
31	GK	JPN	Shun Yoshida
35	MF	JPN	Tomoya Ugajin
38	FW	JPN	Naoki Maeda
41	FW	JPN	Rio Nitta
47	MF	JPN	Hidetoshi Takeda
50	GK	JPN	Haruki Komori Type 2
51	DF	JPN	Shintaro Abe Type 2
52	FW	JPN	Toshikazu Teruuchi Type 2
54	DF	JPN	Junei Tohoda Type 2
55	DF	JPN	Atsuro Takahashi Type 2
57	MF	JPN	Masanobu Yoshida Type 2
66	DF	JPN	Ayumu Ohata
78	MF	JPN	Genki Haraguchi
88	MF	JPN	Yoichi Naganuma

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
18	FW	JPN	Toshiki Takahashi (at Yokohama FC)
39	MF	JPN	Jumpei Hayakawa (at Fagiano Okayama)
—	DF	JPN	Kota Kudo (at Giravanz Kitakyushu)
—	DF	JPN	Takuya Ogiwara (at Dinamo Zagreb)

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	DF	JPN	Yudai Fujiwara (at Oita Trinita)
—	DF	JPN	Yuta Miyamoto (at Kyoto Sanga)
—	MF	JPN	Kai Shibato (at Machida Zelvia)
—	FW	JPN	Rei Kihara (at Nagano Parceiro)

Club officials

For the 2024 J1 League season.

Position	Name
Sporting director	Hisashi Tsuchida
Manager	Maciej Skorża
Coach	Rafal Janas Wojciech Makowski Nobuyasu Ikeda Masato Maesako
Physical coach	Tatsuru Ishiguri Wojciech Ignatiuk
Goalkeeper coach	Juan Miret
Assistant goalkeeper coach	Tomoyasu Ando
Coach & analyst	Maiki Hayashi

Honours

As both Mitsubishi Motors (amateur era) and Urawa Red Diamonds (professional era)

Urawa Red Diamonds honours

Honour	No.	Years
Japan Soccer League Division 1	4	1969, 1973, 1978, 1982
Emperor's Cup	8	1971, 1973, 1978, 1980, 2005, 2006, 2018, 2021
JSL Cup	2	1978, 1981
Japanese Super Cup	5	1979, 1980, 1983, 2006, 2022
Japan Soccer League Division 2	1	1989–90
J.League Cup	2	2003, 2016
J1 League	1	2006
AFC Champions League	3	2007, 2017, 2022
J.League Cup / Copa Sudamericana Championship	1	2017

Individual awards

Further information: List of Urawa Red Diamonds individual award winners

World Cup players

The following players have represented their country at the World Cup whilst playing for Urawa Red Diamonds:

World Cup 1998

• Masayuki Okano
• Shinji Ono
• Željko Petrović

World Cup 2006

• Alex
• Shinji Ono
• Keisuke Tsuboi

World Cup 2010

• Yuki Abe

World Cup 2014

• Shusaku Nishikawa

World Cup 2018

• Wataru Endo
• Tomoaki Makino
• Andrew Nabbout

World Cup 2022

• Hiroki Sakai

Club captains

• Koichi Shitani 1992–1993
• Masahiro Fukuda 1994–1997
• Takashi Tsuchida 1998–1999
• Shinji Ono 2000–2001
• Masami Ihara 2001–2002
• Hideki Uchidate 2003
• Nobuhisa Yamada 2004–2008
• Keita Suzuki 2009–2011
• Yuki Abe 2012–2017
• Yōsuke Kashiwagi 2018–2019
• Shusaku Nishikawa 2020–2022
• Hiroki Sakai 2023–present

Former players

See also: Category:Urawa Red Diamonds players and Category:J.League players

International capped players

JFA. Masayuki Okano Shinji Ono Keisuke Tsuboi Alex Masahiro Fukuda Yuichiro Nagai Nobuhisa Yamada Marcus Tulio Tanaka Tatsuya Tanaka Teruaki Kurobe Tomoyuki Sakai Hiromitsu Isogai Ryōta Tsuzuki Naohiro Takahara Hajime Hosogai Yuki Abe Makoto Hasebe Keita Suzuki Tadanari Lee Ryota Moriwaki Naoki Yamada Genki Haraguchi Shusaku Nishikawa Wataru Endo Tomoaki Makino Shinzo Koroki Yōsuke Kashiwagi Tomoya Ugajin Yuki Muto Kazuki Nagasawa Kenyu Sugimoto Ataru Esaka Hiroki Sakai Zion Suzuki Atsuki Ito Hiroki Abe Shoya Nakajima

AFC/ CAF/ OFC. Matthew Spiranovic Ned Zelić Andrew Nabbout Thomas Deng Emerson Cho Kwi-jea Gwak Kyung-keun Ekanit Panya Wilfried Sanou Faisal Mohammed José Kanté

UEFA. Michael Baur Tomislav Marić Brian Steen Nielsen Basile Boli Uwe Bein Guido Buchwald Uwe Rahn Michael Rummenigge Giuseppe Zappella Željko Petrović Alfred Nijhuis Andrzej Kubica Yuriy Nikiforov Ranko Despotović Ľubomír Luhový Miroslav Mentel Zlatan Ljubijankič Txiki Begiristain Alpay Özalan David Moberg

CONMEBOL. Osvaldo Escudero Victor Ferreyra Marcelo Morales Marcelo Trivisonno Adiel Adriano Donizete Oliveira Edmilson Edmundo Harison Márcio Richardes Mazola Nenê Robson Ponte Popo Santos Toninho Tuto Washington Fernando Picun

Manager history

Manager	Nationality	Tenure
		Start	Finish
Hiroshi Ninomiya	Japan	1 February 1967	31 January 1975
Kenzo Yokoyama	Japan	1 February 1975	31 January 1984
Kuniya Daini	Japan	1 February 1984	30 June 1989
Kazuo Saito	Japan	1 July 1989	30 June 1992
Takaji Mori	Japan	1 July 1993	31 January 1994
Kenzo Yokoyama (2)	Japan	1 February 1994	31 January 1995
Holger Osieck	Germany	1 February 1995	31 December 1996
Horst Köppel	Germany	1 February 1997	31 December 1998
Hiromi Hara	Japan	1 February 1998	30 June 1999
Aad de Mos	Netherlands	1 July 1999	3 December 1999
Yasushi Yoshida	Japan	4 December 1999	31 January 2000
Kazuo Saito (2)	Japan	2 February 2000	2 October 2000
Kenzo Yokoyama (3)	Japan	3 October 2000	31 January 2001
Tita	Brazil	1 February 2001	27 August 2001
Pita	Brazil	28 August 2001	31 January 2001
Hans Ooft	Netherlands	1 February 2002	31 January 2004
Guido Buchwald	Germany	1 February 2004	31 January 2007
Holger Osieck (2)	Germany	1 February 2007	16 March 2008
Gert Engels	Germany	16 March 2008	27 November 2008
Volker Finke	Germany	1 February 2009	31 January 2011
Željko Petrović	Montenegro	1 February 2011	20 October 2011
Takafumi Hori (caretaker)	Japan	20 October 2011	31 January 2012
Mihailo Petrović	Serbia	1 February 2012	30 July 2017
Takafumi Hori	Japan	31 July 2017	2 April 2018
Tsuyoshi Otsuki	Japan	3 April 2018	24 April 2018
Oswaldo de Oliveira	Brazil	25 April 2018	28 May 2019
Tsuyoshi Otsuki (2)	Japan	29 May 2019	22 December 2020
Ricardo Rodríguez	Spain	22 December 2020	30 October 2022
Maciej Skorża	Poland	10 November 2022	30 December 2023
Per-Mathias Høgmo	Norway	1 January 2024	27 August 2024
Nobuyasu Ikeda (interim)	Japan	27 August 2024	1 September 2024
Maciej Skorża	Poland	1 September 2024	Current

League & cup record

Champions

Runners-up

Third place

Promoted

Relegated

Season	Div.	Teams	Pos.	Avg. Attd.	J.League Cup	Emperor's Cup	Super Cup	AFC CL	Others
1992	–	–	–	–	Group stage	Semi-final	–	–	–	–
1993	J1	10	10th	11,459	Group stage	2nd round	–	–	–	–
1994		12	12th	18,475	3rd round	–	–	–	–
1995		14	4th	19,560	–	Quarter-final	–	–	–	–
1996		16	6th	24,329	Semi-final	–	–	–	–
1997		17	10th	20,504	Round of 16	–	–	–	–
1998		18	6th	22,706	Group stage	Quarter-final	–	–	–	–
1999		16	15th	21,206	Round of 16	–	–	–	–
2000	J2	11	2nd	16,923	Round of 16	–	–	–	–
2001	J1	16	10th	26,720	Quarter-final	Semi-final	–	–	–	–
2002		16	11th	26,296	Runners-up	3rd round	–	–	–	–
2003		16	6th	28,855	Winners	3rd round	–	–	–	–
2004		16	2nd	36,660	Runners-up	Semi-final	–	–	–	–
2005		18	2nd	39,357	Semi-final	Winners	–	–	–	–
2006		18	1st	45,573	Quarter-final	Winners	Winners	–	–	–
2007		18	2nd	46,667	Quarter-final	Round of 16	Runners-up	Winners	A3	3rd place
									FIFA	3rd place
2008		18	7th	47,609	Group stage	5th round	–	Semi-finals	–	–
2009		18	6th	44,210	Quarter-final	2nd round	–	–	–	–
2010		18	10th	39,941	Group stage	Quarter-final	–	–	–	–
2011		18	15th	33,910	Runners-up	Quarter-final	–	–	–	–
2012		18	3rd	36,634	Group stage	Round of 16	–	–	–	–
2013		18	6th	37,100	Runners-up	3rd round	–	Group stage	–	–
2014		18	2nd	35,516	Quarter-final	3rd round	–	–	–	–
2015		18	3rd	38,745	Quarter-final	Runners-up	Runners-up	Group stage	–	–
2016		18	2nd	36,935	Winners	Round of 16	–	Round of 16	–	–
2017		18	7th	33,542	Quarter-final	Round of 16	Runners-up	Winners	Suruga	Winners
									FIFA	5th place
2018		18	5th	34,798	Play-off stage	Winners	–	–	–	–
2019		18	14th	34,184	Quarter-final	Round of 16	Runners-up	Runners-up	–	–
2020 †		18	10th	7,869	Group stage	Did not qualify	–	–	–	–
2021 †		20	6th	8,244	Semi-final	Winners	–	–	–	–
2022		18	9th	23,617	Semi-final	3rd round	Winners	Winners	–	–
2023		18	4th	30,509	Runners-up	Round of 16	–	Group stage	FIFA	4th Place
2024		20	13th	37,519	Group stage (3)	Banned
2025		20	TBD		TBD

Key

• Pos. = Position in league
• Attendance/G = Average home league attendance
• † 2020, 2021 seasons attendance reduced by COVID-19 worldwide pandemic

League history

Excepting two seasons in which they were in the second tier, Mitsubishi/Urawa has always competed in the top flight, thereby being the club with the most top flight seasons total.

• Mitsubishi (Amateur era)
  • Division 1 (JSL and JSL Div.1): 1965–66, 1988–89
  • Division 2 (JSL Div.2): 1989–90
  • Division 1 (JSL Div.1): 1990–91, 1991–92
• Urawa Red Diamonds (Professional era)
  • Division 1 (J.League): 1993–99
  • Division 2 (J.League Div.2): 2000
  • Division 1 (J.League Div.1): 2001–
• Top scorer: Masahiro Fukuda with 152 goals

External links

• Official website (in Japanese and English)
• Urawa Red Diamonds Supporters Media website (unofficial) (in Japanese)