Urawa Red Diamonds

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.

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.

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.

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.[2] As punishment for this racist behavior, the league match on 28 March was played behind closed doors.[3]

In the 2017 AFC Champions League edition, Urawa Reds had a good run throughout the entire tournament which see them face Saudi Arabia club, Al-Hilal in the final which see 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 which however, the club fell to 3–0 aggregate lost to the Saudi Arabia 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 than 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 would than faced their tournament rivals, Al-Hilal for the third time in the 2022 AFC Champions League final in which 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 the riot caused by the fans after 0–3 loss against Nagoya Grampus in the 4th round of 2023 edition.[4]

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.

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.

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.

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 3 tier.

The club also has a women's football team, currently playing in the WE League as Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies.[11]

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

As of 25 March 2024.[12]

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 Shusaku Nishikawa 2 DF  JPN Hiroki Sakai (captain) 3 MF  JPN Atsuki Ito 4 DF  JPN Hirokazu Ishihara 5 DF  NOR Marius Høibråten 6 MF  JPN Ken Iwao 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 17 FW  NOR Ola Solbakken (on loan from Roma)

No. Pos. Nation Player 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 27 MF  THA Ekanit Panya (on loan from Muangthong United) 28 DF  DEN Alexander Scholz (vice-captain) 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 39 MF  JPN Jumpei Hayakawa 47 MF  JPN Hidetoshi Takeda 66 DF  JPN Ayumu Ohata

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 15 DF  JPN Takahiro Akimoto (at OH Leuven) 18 FW  JPN Toshiki Takahashi (at Yokohama FC) — DF  JPN Kota Kudo (at Giravanz Kitakyushu) — DF  JPN Takuya Ogiwara (at Dinamo Zagreb) — DF  JPN Yudai Fujiwara (at Oita Trinita)

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  JPN Yuta Miyamoto (at Kyoto Sanga) — MF  JPN Kai Shibato (at Machida Zelvia) — FW  SWE David Moberg Karlsson (at Aris Thessaloniki) — FW  JPN Rei Kihara (at Nagano Parceiro)

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

• 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