We would like to inform you that the J.League Board of Directors has approved our club's U-23 team's withdrawal from the 2020 Meiji Yasuda J3 League.
□Reason for Declining Participation
・Securing stadiums is difficult
There are limited stadiums available for use in the J3 League within Tokyo. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the entire sports community will resume activities in the future, but related to the Olympics and Paralympics, and in soccer competitions, the J-League will have to accommodate many matches in a short period, including the number of matches that could not be held for about four months. Additionally, other organizations outside the J-League, such as Nadeshiko, amateur, university, and high school soccer, will also have concentrated schedules, making it expected that the availability of stadiums will become tight.
In Tokyo, we are using AJINOMOTO FIELD NISHIGAOKA, Komazawa Olympic Park Stadium, and Yumenoshima Stadium, but it is anticipated that securing stadiums will become very difficult due to overlapping schedules with other sports organizations as well as the impact of the Olympics and Paralympics.
□ Comment from Naoki Okane, President and CEO
"Since the 2016 season, we have formed a U-23 team as a developmental club with the aim of accelerating development and bottom-up growth, and participated in the J3 League. This season was to be the final year, but due to the reasons mentioned above, we have decided to withdraw. Given the changes in schedules for various sports due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become difficult to secure stadiums, and although it is regrettable, we made this decision. We would like to continue to move forward without stopping as a developmental club. We sincerely apologize for the great inconvenience this may cause to all J3 clubs and related parties at this timing of our withdrawal.
Finally, although it was a short period of four years, I would like to express my gratitude to everyone involved in the J-League and to all the representatives of the J3 clubs who accepted our participation.
