Fukushima United 2019 Home Shirt

FUKUSHIMA UNITED - HOME SHIRT 2019

Fukushima United are the standard-bearers for football in Fukushima, the prefectural capital set among the mountains and orchards of the Tohoku region. The club trace their roots to 2002 and the merger of local sides, adopting the Fukushima United name in 2008. They play at the Toho Stadium, a breezy athletics ground opened in 1994, and carry a warm civic identity: this is peach country, honoured each year with a special peach-pink shirt, and a club that became a proud symbol of recovery after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.

The 2019 campaign, when this bold home shirt was worn, was run by manager Takeo Matsuda in his first season at the helm. Fukushima finished 11th of 18 clubs in J3 on 43 points, winning 13, drawing four and losing 17, scoring a healthy 45 goals but shipping 53. It was a mid-table return in a division from which, lacking a J2 licence at the time, they could not yet be promoted whatever their results.

Matsuda's side were box-office when they clicked. The pick of their results was a thrilling 5-2 romp away at YS Yokohama and a 4-2 win at Azul Claro Numazu, with battling away victories at Toyama and Hachinohe along the way. The defence could creak badly, though, nowhere more so than in a chastening 0-6 thumping at Gamba Osaka's Under-23 side.

Up top, Hayate Take was the star turn, firing in 15 of Fukushima's 45 league goals to finish comfortably their leading marksman. Midfielder Ryosuke Tamura weighed in with seven and Hiroki Higuchi five, while Fukushima's attacking instincts were plain for all to see. A spirited keepsake from the orchards of Tohoku, worn by a club that plays for its whole region.

Follow the club on X: @fufc_staff