FC Tokyo U18

Japanese J1 League U18
26 Aug 2026
Wednesday
Process
4 Edition

The FC Tokyo Courier

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Hayate Tanaka is the hero from the spot

A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Hayate Tanaka: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.

Match

FC Tokyo march on in the cup

Sanfrecce Hiroshima are out and FC Tokyo go through, 4‑4 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.

Match

Sanfrecce Hiroshima punish FC Tokyo for switching off

2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Yotaro Nakajima will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at FC Tokyo escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.

Player ratings

Marcelo Ryan scores twice — 8.72

Two goals and a mark of 8.72 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Market

Sanfrecce Hiroshima come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and FC Tokyo did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Player ratings

Yotaro Nakajima pops up at the right end — 7.31

7.31, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.

Boardroom

Deadline passes with 17 signed and 10 gone

That is the business done at FC Tokyo until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.

Match

FC Tokyo come up short against Gamba Osaka

Gamba Osaka left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Transfer targets

Central Coast Mariners tell FC Tokyo: Kaito Taniguchi is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

In brief

Back issues
3 Edition

The FC Tokyo Courier

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Not going: Kashif Bangnagande stays at FC Tokyo

“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Albirex Niigata had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.

Market

FC Tokyo say no — this time

The offer from Vissel Kobe for Teppei Oka was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Player ratings

Alexander Scholz goes up and wins it — 7.37

A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.37 for the rest of it.

Transfer targets

FC Tokyo baulk at the price for Taiki Watanabe

Yokohama F. Marinos wanted more than $1.4M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Yotaro Nakajima

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. FC Tokyo have done the hard part with Sanfrecce Hiroshima, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Squad

Yuto Nagatomo in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FC Tokyo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Wataru Goto moves on

Jubilo Iwata pay $680.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Yusuke Segawa

FC Tokyo asked and Kashiwa Reysol said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Match

Kashima Antlers take the points off FC Tokyo

Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

In brief

  • Player ratings Yuto Nagatomo was unplayable
  • Squad A row about effort at FC Tokyo
  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
2 Edition

The FC Tokyo Courier

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

FC Tokyo turn down Ventforet Kofu for Takahiro Ko

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Kein Sato moves on

Yokohama F. Marinos pay $3.0M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.

Transfer targets

FC Tokyo make their move for Taiki Watanabe

$1.4M on the table at Yokohama F. Marinos. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Boardroom

FC Tokyo go back to the board over Taiki Watanabe

The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.5M — a club that wants Taiki Watanabe enough to be asked twice.

Transfer targets

FC Tokyo make their move for Tomoya Inukai

$300.0K on the table at Kashiwa Reysol. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Squad

Kota Tawaratsumida in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FC Tokyo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

FC Tokyo sell Everton Galdino for $540.0K

Everton Galdino has left for Yokohama F. Marinos in a $540.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.

Market

Preußen Münster are about to pick up the phone

A conversation is coming this week. FC Tokyo will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.

The terraces

One of their own: Kota Tawaratsumida

He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.

In brief

1 Edition

The FC Tokyo Courier

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Kota Tawaratsumida was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 33. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Market

Hartberg come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and FC Tokyo did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

A career in one shirt: Masato Morishige

16 seasons and 551 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.

Market

Preußen Münster join the queue for Kota Tawaratsumida

Add another name to the list: Preußen Münster have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Kota Tawaratsumida. The answer from FC Tokyo has not changed — yet.

Market

Kota Tawaratsumida wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at FC Tokyo hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Yuto Nagatomo signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Yuto Nagatomo and FC Tokyo agree another 2 years.

Squad

Yuto Nagatomo retires from international football

“146 caps. I have loved every one, and it is somebody else’s turn.” At 39 he has stepped away from his country and is going nowhere at FC Tokyo.

Squad

A falling-out at FC Tokyo

Yuto Nagatomo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

FC Tokyo ask about Hiroto Noda

A loan enquiry to Kawasaki Frontale: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

In brief