FC Ryukyu 2009 Home Shirt

FC RYUKYU - HOME SHIRT 2009

FC Ryukyu are the flag-bearers of Okinawa football, founded in 2003 by players from the disbanded Okinawa Kariyushi and named after the old Ryukyu Kingdom that ruled the islands until 1879. Climbing a division almost every year, in 2006 they became the first Okinawan side ever to reach a national league. Their crest carries a pair of shisa, the talismanic lion-dogs found on rooftops across the islands, together with the crown of the Ryukyu kings, while their claret bengara colours echo the famous red of Shuri Castle. In the years before this season the club had even employed former Japan national coach Philippe Troussier as general manager.

The 2009 season, during which this understated home shirt was worn, saw the young Okinawan club soldiering on in the Japan Football League, then the third tier of Japanese football. Under new manager Hiroyuki Shinzato, Ryukyu finished 16th of 18 teams on 38 points, with 11 wins, five draws and 18 defeats from their 34 games, scoring 42 goals but shipping 57 as they fought to establish themselves in the national game.

Silverware came at home rather than nationally. Ryukyu were regular winners of the Okinawa Prefectural qualifiers for the Emperor's Cup, keeping the island's flag flying in Japan's grand old knockout competition, though a run deep into the main draw was still beyond this developing squad.

Concrete individual statistics from this amateur-era campaign are scarce, but the 42 goals Ryukyu mustered pointed to a side that could entertain even as results fluctuated. The foundations laid in seasons like this eventually bore fruit, as the club claimed the J3 title in 2018 and climbed all the way to the J2 League, a remarkable journey for a team from Japan's southernmost prefecture.

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