About Withdrawal from Participation in the 2020 J3 League Season
We would like to inform you that our club's U-23 team's withdrawal from the 2020 Meiji Yasuda J3 League has been approved by the J.League Board of Directors.
Reason for Declining Participation
・Stadium availability is difficult
There are limited stadiums available for use in the J3 League in Tokyo. Due to the impact of the novel coronavirus infection, sports activities will be resumed as a whole in the future. However, the J-League has been unable to hold a significant number of matches for approximately four months, including those affected by the Olympics and Paralympics. As a result, there is a need to play many matches in a short period of time. Additionally, there is a possibility that the schedule will be congested not only for the J-League but also for other organizations such as the Nadeshiko, social, university, and high school soccer. This may lead to a shortage of available stadiums.
In Tokyo, we use AJINOMOTO FIELD NISHIGAOKA, Komazawa Olympic Park Stadium, and Yumenoshima Stadium, but it is expected that securing stadiums will become extremely difficult in the future due to overlapping schedules not only with soccer competitions but also with other sports organizations, as well as the impact of the Olympics and Paralympics.
□ Comment from President and CEO Naoki Ogane
“Since the 2016 season, we have formed the U-23 team as a development-type club with the aim of accelerating player development and bottom-up growth, and have participated in the J3 League matches. Although this season was to be the final year, we have decided to withdraw for the reasons mentioned above. Due to the impact of the novel coronavirus infection, various sports schedules have been changed, and securing stadiums has become difficult. While it is regrettable, we have made this decision. We intend to continue moving forward without stopping as a development-type club. We sincerely apologize for the great inconvenience caused to all J3 clubs and related parties by our withdrawal at this timing.”
Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to all the officials of the J.League and the officials of each club in J3 who approved our participation, even though it was a short period of four years.
