Tochigi SC

For the club in Tochigi city renamed from Tochigi Uva, see Tochigi City FC.

Tochigi SC
栃木SC

Full name	Tochigi Soccer Club
Founded	1953 (1953)
Stadium	Kanseki Stadium Tochigi
Capacity	25,244
President	Daisuke Hashimoto
Manager	Shinji Kobayashi
League	J3 League
2025	J3 League, 7th of 20
Website	tochigisc.jp
Home colours Away colours

Tochigi Soccer Club (栃木サッカークラブ, Tochigi Sakkākurabu), 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

Champions

Runners-up

Third place

Promoted

Relegated

League														J.League Cup	Emperor's Cup
Season	Div.	Tier	Teams	Pos.	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts	Attendance/G
2007	JFL	3	18	8th	34	14	10	10	43	29	14	52	4,457	—	3rd round
2008				2nd	34	18	9	7	65	37	28	63	5,048		4th round
2009	J2	2		17th	51	8	13	30	38	77	-39	37	4,706		2nd round
2010			19	10th	36	14	8	14	46	42	4	50	4,157		3rd round
2011			20		38	15	11	12	44	39	5	56	4,939		3rd round
2012			22	11th	42	17	9	16	50	49	4	60	3,850		2nd round
2013				9th	42	17	12	13	61	55	6	63	4,922		3rd round
2014				12th	42	15	10	17	52	58	-6	55	5,294		2nd round
2015				22nd	42	7	14	21	39	64	-25	35	5,167		1st round
2016	J3	3	16	2nd	30	17	8	5	38	20	18	59	4,917		Did not qualify
2017			17		32	16	12	4	44	24	20	60	5,147		Did not qualify
2018	J2	2	22	17th	42	13	11	18	38	48	-10	50	5,657		2nd round
2019				20th	42	8	16	18	33	53	-20	40	5,148		3rd round
2020 †				10th	42	15	13	14	41	39	2	58	2,522		Did not qualify
2021 †				14th	42	10	15	17	37	51	-14	45	3,861		3rd round
2022				17th	42	11	16	15	32	40	-8	49	4,429		Round of 16
2023				19th	42	10	14	18	39	47	-8	44	5,834		Round of 16
2024			20	18th	38	7	13	18	33	57	-24	34	6,238	1st round	2nd round
2025	J3	3		7th	38	17	7	14	42	36	6	58	5,393	2nd round	2nd round
2026			10	TBD	18									N/A	N/A
2026-27			20	TBD	38									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 league home attendance
• † 2020 & 2021 seasons attendance reduced by COVID-19 worldwide pandemic
• Source: J.League Data Site

Honours

Tochigi SC honours

Honour	No.	Years
Tochigi Prefecture Division 1	10	1978, 1979, 1981, 1984, 1987, 1988, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1998
Tochigi Prefectural Football Championship Emperor's Cup Tochigi Prefectural Qualifiers	10	1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2025
Kanto Soccer League	1	1999

Players

Current squad

As of 21 May 2026.

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	Shuhei Kawata
4	MF	JPN	Sho Sato
5	DF	JPN	Yasutaka Yanagi
6	DF	JPN	Kaito Abe
7	FW	JPN	Rennosuke Kawana
9	FW	JPN	Yoshihito Kondo (on loan from Iwaki FC)
10	MF	JPN	Taiyo Igarashi
11	MF	JPN	Taichi Aoshima
13	MF	JPN	Kota Osone
14	DF	JPN	Shunya Suzuki (on loan from RB Omiya Ardija)
15	MF	JPN	Haruki Tsutsumi
17	MF	JPN	Koki Sugimori
19	FW	JPN	Hogara Shoji
21	GK	JPN	Riki Sakuraba
24	DF	JPN	Ryusei Tabata
25	DF	JPN	Hiroshi Iwasaki

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
26	DF	JPN	Tomoki Tabata
27	MF	JPN	Taishi Nagai
29	FW	JPN	Kisho Yano
31	GK	JPN	Shuhei Shikano
37	DF	JPN	Yuto Kimura
39	MF	JPN	Kazuma Yagi
40	MF	JPN	Soma Meshino (on loan from Tokyo Verdy)
47	MF	JPN	Haruto Yoshino
50	MF	JPN	Haruaki Ichikawa
51	MF	JPN	Yugo Yuasa
52	MF	JPN	Tasuku Yokohama
71	GK	JPN	Yui Inokoshi (on loan from Shimizu S-Pulse)
77	FW	JPN	Taiyo Nishino (on loan from Tokushima Vortis)
80	FW	NGA	Kenneth Otabor
81	MF	JPN	Katsuya Nakano
88	DF	JPN	Kohei Uchida

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
—	FW	JPN	Sora Kobori (at Okinawa SV)
—	MF	JPN	Soki Hoshino (at Maruyasu Okazaki)
—	MF	JPN	Rui Ageishi (at Maruyasu Okazaki)

Coaching staff

Position	Name
Manager	Shinji Kobayashi
Assistant Manager	Hiroaki Nagashima
First-team coach	Takumi Motohashi
Goalkeeper coach	Tomoaki Ogami
Analyst	Shogo Manabe
Physical coach	Hirofumi Sakamoto
Chief trainer	Yuta Matsumoto
Trainer	Takahiro Watanabe Atsuya Kaneko
Interpreter	Bruno Hideo Owada
Chief manager	Tatsuya Sakakibara Yusuke Kenjo
Chief doctor	Mitsugi Shimoda
Doctor	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	Japan	January 1, 2007	December 31, 2008
Hiroshi Matsuda		February 1, 2009	September 13, 2013
Ikuo Matsumoto		September 13, 2013	November 25, 2013
Yūji Sakakura		February 1, 2014	July 20, 2015
Yasuharu Kurata		July 22, 2015	December 31, 2015
Yūji Yokoyama		January 1, 2016	December 31, 2018
Kazuaki Tasaka		February 1, 2019	January 31, 2022
Yū Tokisaki		February 1, 2022	January 31, 2024
Makoto Tanaka		February 1, 2024	May 14, 2024
Shinji Kobayashi		May 15, 2024	current

Kit evolution

The team's colour is yellow.

Home kits – 1st
2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
2023	2024	2025 -

Away kits – 2nd
2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
2023	2024	2025 -

External links

• Official website (in Japanese)