Japan Stadiums: Todoroki Athletics Stadium, Kanagawa Prefecture
Todoroki Athletics Stadium (The Uvance Todoroki Stadium by Fujitsu) for sponsorship reasons in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture is the home ground of J.League side Kawasaki Frontale.
History & Capacity
The 26,232 capacity stadium was built in 1962 and was previously known as Kawasaki Todoroki Stadium.
The ground has also hosted other J.League teams including Verdy Kawasaki (Tokyo Verdy), Toshiba (Consadole Sapporo) and the now defunct NKK S.C.
Kawasaki Frontale
The club has its roots in the Fujitsu Soccer Club which dates from 1955. The club entered the J.League's second division in 1999 as Kawasaki Frontale and won the championship that year. However, the following season saw them relegated from the top flight. Frontale wouldn't return to the top tier until 2000, when they earned promotion to the newly renamed J1. They were relegated back to J2 again at the end of that season, too.
The club returned to J1 in 2004 and were runners up in 2006 which gained the club a place in the AFC Champions League, losing in the quarter finals on penalties against Iranian club, Sepahan.
Frontale won their first title in 2017 and followed that up with titles in 2018, 2020 and again in 2021. They have also won the Emperor's Cup twice in 2020 and 2023.
The club play the Tamagawa Clásico with rivals FC Tokyo.
Previous managers have included the very successful Toru Oniki (2017-2024), former player Naoki Soma and Kazuo Saito. The current coach is Shigetoshi Hasebe.
Some players known to a wider audience include midfielder Kengo Nakamura, a 17-year, one-club man and Leandro Damião, the Brazilian striker who won the MVP award in 2021 and scored 53 goals for the club. Other notable former players include Japan internationals like Shogo Taniguchi, Yu Kobayashi who has made over 400 appearances, and prospects who have moved to Europe such as Kaoru Mitoma (at Brighton), Ao Tanaka (Leeds United), and Hidemasa Morita (Sporting Lisbon). Bafetimbi Gomis spent his final season at the club 2023-2024 before retiring. Thai midfielder Chanathip Songkrasin also had one season (2022-2023) with Frontale. His move from Consadole for $3.8 million broke the J.League record for the highest domestic transfer at the time.
Access - Getting There
The ground is a 20-minute walk from Shin Maruko Station.
Though by train from Tokyo Station it is more straight-forward to take a Yokozuka Line train to Musashi-Kosugi Station, then walk 20 minutes or take a bus. Total journey time is about 50 minutes.
Address: 1-1 Todoroki, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa 211-0052
Nearby Hotels
The industrial city of Kawasaki is sandwiched between Tokyo and Yokohama. The latter is nearer and offers a range of hotels and other accommodation options to suit most budgets.
Some recommendations in Kawasaki itself include APA Hotel TKP Keikyu-Kawasaki Ekimae, a budget hotel right at the station as is the KEIKYU EX INN Keikyu Kawasaki-Station a 3-star business hotel.
More J.League Stadiums
Sanga Stadium by Kyocera Kyoto
Tosu Stadium (Ekimae Real Estate Stadium)
Toyota Stadium Aichi Prefecture
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