Urawa Red Diamonds - last updated on 14 December 2007
(Courtesy of Johnny Beaufays)
Club name: Urawa Red Diamonds (浦和レッドダイヤモンズ)
Foundation: 1950
City: Urawa
Colours: Red, white and black
Website: www.urawa-reds.co.jp
Honours:
AFC Champions League - 1 (2007)
J. League Division 1 - 1 (2006)
Emperor's Cup - 2 (2005, 2006)
J. League Cup - 1 (2004)
Xerox Super Cup - 1 (2006)
A bit of history:
Like most other J. League clubs, Urawa Reds started out as a company-based team run for the benefit of company staff. It all began in 1950 with the formation of a football club at Kobe-based Shin-Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The club relocated to Tokyo together with the company in 1958. The company changed its name to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in 1964. Before long, they had developed to become one of the powerhouses of Japanese company football, a status that was maintained for the next three decades. When Japan's first non-professional national league, the Japan Soccer League (JSL), was launched in 1965, Mitsubishi were one of the eight founding members. Four Mitsubishi players were regular members of the team that won Japan's historic bronze medal at the Mexico Olympics of 1968, including goalkeeper Kenzo Yokoyama and midfielder Takaji Mori. That success gave a great spur to football's popularity in Japan, a change symbolised by a match between Mitsubishi and Yanmar at the National Stadium in Tokyo on November 17, 1968, that featured several Olympic stars and attracted a record JSL crowd of 40,000. Mitsubishi's greatest period was from 1969 to 1982, when they won the league championship 4 times, came second 6 times, and also took the Emperor's Cup on 4 occasions. In 1978, Mitsubishi won Japan's first ever treble (the league, Emperor's Cup and League Cup). For the League Cup, the first of those three trophies, the team colour was changed from blue to red, and it has stayed that way ever since. The 1980's included a difficult patch and the team were even relegated to Division 2 at the end of the 1988/89 season. A young striker named Masahiro Fukuda arrived at the club the following year and they bounced straight back by winning Division 2. The club changed umbrellas from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to Mitsubishi Motors for the 1990/91 season in preparation for joining the J. League -- the nation's first professional football league -- again as founding members.
The name was changed from Mitsubishi to Urawa Red Diamonds and the first Reds team played in the inaugural J. League Yamazaki Nabisco Cup -- in effect, the pre-J. League tournament -- in 1992. They were guided by former Mitsubishi player Takaji Mori, who had since also managed the Japan national team. The team featured two players from Argentina, Osvaldo Escudero and Marcelo Trivisonno, and a Japanese-Peruvian, Edwin Uehara. Reds finished fifth in the first-round group stage and did not advance to the semi-finals. They did, however, reach the Emperor's Cup semi-finals, and approached the J. League's opening season with high expectations.
Club crests: (roll on the crest to get more informations)
Mitsubishi Urawa FC -
Until 1992
Urawa Red Diamonds -
Since 1992
Club mascot: (roll on the crest to get more informations)
Urawa Red Diamonds -
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