FC Tokyo U-18

2026 season

Currently 4th in the Premier League EAST with 26 points from 14 matches (8W 2D 4L, 32-18). Updated daily.

Playing style

The programme's phrase is "together with the community", and it treats personal development and football as the same project. On the pitch it works backwards from the first team: pressing high, moving quickly in transition, and building from the goalkeeper. Under KITA Shin the emphasis is on being proactive — taking the initiative with and without the ball — with SATO Yukihiko and KAJIYAMA Yohei, who wore FC Tokyo's number 10 for years, among the coaching staff.

Honours

The 2017 season is the one the club tells its players about: a second straight Club Youth Championship, EAST champions, then two goals behind in the national final and winners at the end of it.

History

• 1999 — FC Tokyo enters the J.League and builds a professional academy out of the old company club's youth set-up. It has neither the facilities nor the scouting network of the original J.League clubs, so it finds players in Tokyo and develops them hard.
• 2001 — A first national title at the Club Youth Championship, plus a runners-up finish in the J Youth Cup.
• 2002–2006 — The Kodaira training ground opens and is expanded; the under-18s move there, onto a site shared with the first team. Training next to professionals every day changes the standard of everything.
• 2007 — The J Youth Cup, at last.
• 2008 — A second Club Youth Championship.
• 2016 — A third, beating Shimizu S-Pulse Youth in the final.
• 2017 — A fourth Club Youth Championship, and a second in a row: 2-0 against Urawa Red Diamonds Youth in the final, KUBO Takefusa scoring the first. Then Premier League EAST, and the national title after that comeback. BANGNAGANDE Kashif comes out of the same period.
• 2026 — KITA Shin is head coach; the squad continues the club's habit of touring, with trips to the United States and France built into the programme.

Development pathway

• Two junior-youth teams, not one. FC Tokyo runs under-15 sides in Fukagawa in the east of the city and in the Musashino area in the west, which together cover Tokyo and parts of Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa. The best of both compete for the same under-18 places. No other club in Japan has this, because no other club has this population inside one commuting network.
• One site with the first team. The academy and the professionals train at Kodaira. First-team staff watch under-18 sessions directly, and a player who is ready can be registered for the first team immediately. The artificial pitch there also hosts Premier League matches, so home games are played on familiar ground.
• Development as a public thing. The club's stated position is that an academy should not be a sealed elite institution. Home matches are played in front of supporters and local residents, and since 2012 the ground has been open to community groups on weekdays. Playing under real noise from 16 is part of the training.
• Long-haul touring on purpose. Trips to the United States and France are scheduled with the travel included as the point: more than 24 hours to Paris via Dubai, jet lag, unfamiliar food, and meetings where the players are expected to argue with each other rather than wait to be told.

Former players

• KUBO Takefusa (midfielder, Real Sociedad) — came through Barcelona's academy, returned to FC Tokyo, broke the J.League's youngest-appearance records, and moved to Real Madrid. He wore Japan's number 8 at the 2026 World Cup.
• GONDA Shuichi (goalkeeper) — Japan's goalkeeper at the 2022 World Cup.
• MUTO Yoshinori (forward) — Mainz, Newcastle and Eibar in Europe, then back to Japan.
• BANGNAGANDE Kashif (left-back, FC Tokyo) — a Japan international, and the academy's current public face.
• SATO Ryunosuke (midfielder, FC Tokyo) — left-footed, came through the Musashino under-15 side, was named the J.League's best young player after a loan season, and missed the 2026 World Cup squad at 19.
• NOZAWA Taishi Brandon (goalkeeper, Royal Antwerp) — moved to Belgium in 2025.
• HASHIMOTO Kento (midfielder, FC Tokyo) — played in Russia and Spain before returning.
• HARA Taichi (forward), KIMURA Seiji (defender), OMORI Rio, OTAKE Yohei, NOZAWA Hideyuki, SHIGEMATSU Kentaro and KAMATA Jiro — a long list of professionals across every position.
• YOSHIMOTO Kazunori (defender) — now a scout for the club he played for.

The academy does not specialise in one type of player, which for a club drawing from a city of this size is the sensible design.

Players to watch in 2026

Players worth knowing in the 2026 season:

• TANAKA Haruto (defender, third year, no. 6) — named in the J.League U-18 selection for the NEXT GENERATION MATCH in February 2026.
• WATANABE Matthew (goalkeeper, third year, no. 1) — promoted to the first team for 2026-27.
• TOMOMATSU Yuuki (midfielder, third year, no. 10), NAKANO Hiroki (midfielder, third year, no. 7) and NAKAJIMA Taiga (midfielder, third year, no. 14) — the senior midfield.
• IBE Yuito (forward, third year, no. 9) and AKAMATSU Judah (forward, third year, no. 18) — the front line.
• YOSHIDA Haruto (no. 3), TANAKA Riku (no. 4), NITTA Haruto (no. 5) and MATSUNO Taichi (no. 15) — the third-year defence.
• KAJIYAMA Rento (midfielder, second year, no. 8), NAKASHIMA Riku (midfielder, second year, no. 17) and ONONOJU Luis (midfielder, second year, no. 33) — the next group.
• SEGA Yuujin (no. 25), ITO Kou (no. 32) and YONEKAWA Yuki (no. 43) — first-years already registered.

Four junior-high players are also registered with the squad, which is how this club moves people up: early, and on merit.

Notes

Full profile in Japanese, with the current squad list and every result: FC東京U-18.

Where a player has no official English spelling published by the JFA or the J.League, the name is shown in Japanese.

See also: Premier League standings and how youth football works in Japan.