Asian League

Founded : 1954 as Guangzhou Football Team
Ground : Yuexiushan Stadium, Guangzhou (Capacity: 30,000)
Manager :Shen Xiangfu
League : Chinese Super League

Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Football Club (Chinese: 广州医药足球俱乐部) is a football club based in Guangzhou, China currently playing in the Chinese Super League. The club was founded in June, 1954 as Guangzhou Football Team. It became the first professional football club in China after Apollo Group took over the club in January, 1993 and played in Jia-A League as Guangzhou Apollo Football Club. Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Company Limited (GPC) took over the club before the 2006 season and renamed it to Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Football Club. It commonly referred to as Guangzhou GPC (广州广药) and Guangzhou Team (广州队) by the media and fans.

Full name : Shimizu S-Pulse
Nickname(s) : S-Pa
Founded : 1991
Ground : Nihondaira Sports Stadium Shimizu, Shizuoka (Capacity: 20,339) & Shizuoka Stadium Fukuroi, Shizuoka (Capacity: 51,349)
Chairman : Hayao Iwakawa
League : J. League Div.1

Shimizu S-Pulse (清水エスパルス, Shimizu Esuparusu) is a professional Japanese football club. Located in Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, S-Pulse currently competes in the J. League Division 1 (J1). Formed as recently as 1991, S-Pulse are one of the youngest professional teams in Japan, but are among only six to have competed in Japan's top flight of football every year since its inception in 1993. S-Pulse have recorded an average end of season placing of 6.8, which places them fourth behind Kashima Antlers, Yokohama F. Marinos and prefectural rivals, Júbilo Iwata. The club was formed at the advent of the J. League in 1991, and originally consisted of players drawn exclusively from Shizuoka Prefecture; a unique distinction at the time.

Given the club's youth when compared to many of their J1 peers, S-Pulse have had a relatively large impact on Japanese football. Since the game turned professional in 1992, they are one of the most prolific and consistent performers in cup competitions, having made no less than eight final appearances: four times in the Emperor's Cup and four times in the League Cup. Only Japan's most successful professional team, Kashima Antlers, have made more final appearances. They have won both of these competitions once, and have also won Japanese Super Cup twice and the Asian Cup Winners Cup once. The club's most recent cup final was in 2008's League Cup which ended in defeat to Oita Trinita.

Despite the club's cup competition prowess, the J. League Division 1 title has so far eluded them. The closest S-Pulse came was in 1999 when, after winning the league's second stage, they lost out on the title in a penalty shootout. When scores remained level after both legs of the title deciding match, Júbilo Iwata, S-Pulse's local rivals, prevailed. Former S-Pulse and national team player Kenta Hasegawa, who made a substitute appearance in the second leg of this title decider, became club manager in 2005. He has gone on to become the longest serving manager since the clubs foundation, a status reaffirmed at the end of the 2008 season when his contract was extended until 2010.

Nickname(s) : Chunma (Pegasus)
Founded : 1989 (Original), 2000 (Seongnam Ilhwa)
Ground : Tancheon Sports Complex Seongnam, Gyeonggi (Capacity: 16,000)
Chairman : Park Kyu-Nam
League : K-League

The Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma club, founded in 1989, is a professional football team in South Korea. With seven league crowns, it is the most successful K-League club in terms of Championship victories. Controversy has followed the club, however, because of ownership by one of Sun Myung Moon's organizations.

The club is the most successful in Korean football history, having won K-League Championship 7 times with 2 times of third consecutive wins.

Nickname(s) : Gas, "The Gas Men"
Founded : 1935 as Tokyo Gas F.C. 1998 as F.C. Tokyo
Ground : Ajinomoto Stadium Chōfu, Tokyo (Capacity: 50,100)
Chairman : Masahiro Tsubahara
League : J. League Div.1

F.C. Tokyo (FC東京, Efushī Tōkyō?) is a Japanese football (soccer) club playing in J. League Division 1. Its hometown is Tokyo prefecture. The team is one of only four in the J. League to be simply called Football Club without an extended name.

History

The team started as a company team, Tokyo Gas Football Club (東京ガスFC) in 1935. Their first appearance in the national leagues was in 1991, the last season of the old Japan Soccer League. With addition of the Brazilian football player Amaral and the manager Kiyoshi Okuma at the helm, the team gradually became competitive and in 1997, the team placed second, winning the JFL championship the next year. However, at the time the team lacked the necessary qualifications for a promotion to the J1 league and so stayed in J2.

Following this, on October 1, 1998, companies like Tokyo Gas, TEPCO, ampm, TV Tokyo, and Culture Convenience Club, set up a joint company Tokyo Football Club Company with the aim of making the team eligible for joining the J. League. In 1999, the same year the team became eligible, it won the J2 championship and joined the J1 league beginning in the 2000 season. Despite a widespread belief that the team would barely win enough to stay in the J1, the team won four games in a row since its opening game and managed to finish at the 7th spot.

Helped by its winning record, the attendance shot up and it is still above that of well-known Tokyo Verdy 1969 that moved its home town from Kawasaki, Kanagawa in 2001. Since 2002, the team welcomed Hiromi Hara as its manager and aimed for a championship with a strong offense. The 2003 season had the team finish in 4th, its highest ever. In August of the same year, it held a friendly match against one of the greatest football clubs, Real Madrid losing three–nil but gaining valuable experiences both on and off the field for what it takes to be a great football club.

Long-time leader Amaral, nicknamed The King of Tokyo by his fans, departed the team to join Shonan Bellmare in 2004. He was replaced by Athens Olympics national football team player Yasuyuki Konno from Consadole Sapporo. In November of the same year, it won the J. League Yamazaki Nabisco Cup for its first major title since joining the J. League.

Today the main sponsorship is done by ENEOS, another fuel company.

After 10 years of participation in the J. League without a mascot character, the team adopted Tokyo Dorompa, a tanuki-like figure, as its mascot in January, 2009.