As we all know, whether a professional team can continue to operate normally is affected by many factors. Not long ago, Criacao Shinjuku, a small team in a low-level league, had just been upgraded to the 4th Division of Japan. Although they are full of ambitions, they have to fac

As we all know, whether a professional team can continue to operate normally is affected by many factors. In this case, the stadium is a very critical factor. In Asian football, due to various objective factors, most teams do not have their own stadium. Even in the most widely recognized and professional , Japan J League , few teams have their own stadiums. Not long ago, Criacao Shinjuku, a small team in a low-level league, had just been upgraded to the 4th Division of Japan. Although they are full of ambitions, they have to face a difficult problem in the future - they can't find a suitable stadium, and it's not as simple as renting a stadium. What is the current situation of the stadium of the

J League team?

Currently, in Japan's current third-level professional leagues (J1, J2, J3), the only team that owns the club's own stadium is , Bai Sun God . The team's home game Hitachi Ka Soccer Stadium is owned by the " Co., Ltd. Hitachi Ka Sun God" which operates the team and is responsible for the operation. In addition, the home stadium of Iwata Joy is owned and operated by Yamaha Motor, the club's parent company. The home stadium of Kashima Antlers and Osaka Gamba , and the home stadium of Ibaraki Prefecture Kashima Football Stadium and Suita City Football Stadium are all operated by the club's designated managers, but this is not strictly the club has its own home stadium. Most of the other teams rent stadiums to play.

The domestic stadiums in Japan are mainly divided into three types: professional football stadiums, combined stadiums, and track and field stadiums. For example, the home court of Urawa Red Diamond, Saitama 2002, is currently the largest professional football stadium in Japan. The stadium is divided into football, rugby , and football, baseball , most of which are used. For example, the home court of Kobe Victory Ship, Misaki Park Arena, and the home court of Nagoya Whale Toyota Stadium. In the professional league, there is only one stadium where football clubs are mixed - Sapporo Dome (pictured below). This stadium has advanced facilities and can quickly switch between football fields and baseball field . It is currently shared by J1's Sapporo Gonzado and the professional baseball Japanese Ham Fighter.

We will focus on the semi-professional leagues and lower-level regional leagues and prefecture leagues. In theory, these teams do not have their own fixed home court, but only the concept of "main venue". For example, a team will compete in three fields: A, B and C after a season, but most of the games are played in A, so A is the main venue. The more special one here is JFL overlord Honda FC. This team that won the JFL championship five times during the 6 seasons of 2014-2019 has strong strength in the semi-professional/amateur league. The team also has its own stadium - Honda Toda Football Stadium, which is owned and operated by Honda Technical Research Industry, and this team is the football department of this large machinery manufacturing company.

It can be seen that the stadium is a difficult problem for low-level teams, and it is not easy to find a fixed venue that can be used for competitions. After making so many preparations, let’s talk about our protagonist, Criacao Shinjuku.

How to get a share of the pie in Tokyo?

The author wrote an article not long ago - "How did the small team that is only 12 years old and aims to be the world's number one team took root in Tokyo? 》, introducing the process of Shinjuku creating this team and the goals they are eager to achieve in the future. In the upgrade play-offs held on December 18, Shinjuku created a 4-0 victory over FC Kariya, successfully entering the JFL League next season, completing the third upgrade in four years, which puts them one step closer to becoming a professional team's phased goal. However, next they need to think about a very difficult problem - the team does not have a fixed home court, and there is no fixed home court in Shinjuku, Tokyo.

Since its birth, this team has been committed to taking root in Shinjuku District , the most prosperous area in Tokyo's 23 districts. For this reason, the team's founder Maruyama Kazuya continues to contact various local organizations with his partners, and after the epidemic in 2020, he devoted himself to the revitalization of the tourism industry and shopping streets, and signed a comprehensive cooperation agreement with Shinjuku District in November 2020. It can be said that after the hard work of the past few years, Shinjuku Creation has become a little popular locally and has been very successful in localization. These specific contents are described in the author's previous articles. But now the team has been upgraded to the JFL. Since we want to become a professional club in the future, the issue of the court must be put on the agenda. In the admission qualifications of

J League teams, there are very detailed requirements for this aspect of the stadium, and the specific content will not be listed. The problem facing Shinjuku now is not that it cannot find such a venue that meets the requirements of the professional league, but that the team cannot find a very suitable area in Shinjuku District, which can be used as a venue for fixed home games.

Tokyo Metropolitan City has 23 districts, 26 cities, 5 towns and 8 villages, and is a super huge urban circle. Shinjuku District is located in the most prosperous area in Tokyo, and it can be said that every inch of land is valuable. At the same time, although there are many clubs in various sports in Tokyo, as one of the two most influential sports (baseball and football), the status of football clubs in Tokyo is much worse than that in baseball.

Tokyo is the only area in the Japanese professional baseball team (12 teams) where there are two teams, Tokyo Yakka Swallow and Yomiuri Giants, occupying Meiji Shrine Stadium in Shinjuku District, (above) and in Fujin District, . It can be said that history needs history and locations need locations. However, these two stadiums are special stadiums for baseball, and they cannot switch between football and baseball like the Sapporo Dome, and there are also many performances on weekdays.

Tokyo currently has 3 professional teams - FC Tokyo (J1), Tokyo Green Green HTML (J2), and FC Machida (J2). Among them, FC Tokyo and Tokyo Green Green Blue all use the entire Tokyo capital as their service objects, while FC Machida only takes Machida City under the jurisdiction of Tokyo as its base camp. The home courts of the first two are all set up at Ainosu Stadium (above) located in Tsingfu City. In other words, there is currently no professional football team in the city center of Tokyo.

So, there are still many fans in Japan who have expectations for Shinjuku Creation, hoping that they can become the first professional football team in Tokyo 23 District. But Shinjuku District is not as good as Machida City, and the available land is very limited. Only the National Arena can be used to host football matches in the area, but it is too extravagant to rent the Olympic main stadium.

This season, Shinjuku Creation mainly competes in Ainosu Sichu and AGF. These venues are very far from their base camp, which is obviously not a long-term solution. As for how this small team with the goal of becoming the "world's number one" in the future, it will take time to give us the answers. If the team can finally find a very good solution, it may also provide a reference for many Asian teams to develop in the future.

text/Bumps-Zhang Yangyuan