NKK Soccer Club (NKKサッカー部, ''Enu Kei Kei Sakka Bu'', formerly Nippon Kokan Soccer Club (日本鋼管サッカー部, ''Nippon Kokan Sakka Bu'')) was a Japanese football club which operated from 1932 to 1994. It played in the old

Japan Soccer League , or JSL, was the top flight association football league in Japan between 1965 and 1992, and was the precursor to the current professional league, the J.League. JSL was the second national league of a team sport in Japan after the professional ...

since 1967 until its closing. It was affiliated with NKK, a steel company that today is part of the

JFE Holdings is a corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It was formed in 2002 by the merger of and and owns JFE Steel, JFE Engineering and Japan Marine United. JFE is from Japan, Fe (the chemical element symbol of iron) and Engineering. In 2020, it ...

conglomerate.

History

The club was formed in 1932 although it didn't start playing football until the mid-1930s. It played its matches at Todoroki Athletics Stadium in Kawasaki, Kanagawa and at

Mitsuzawa Stadium The is an association football stadium in Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama, Japan. It serves as a home ground of Yokohama FC and, on occasion, Yokohama F. Marinos. Until 1999 it had been the home of Yokohama FC's spiritual predecessor, Yokohama Flügels, ...

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...

. From 1985 to 1988 it was a regular contender for the JSL title, and was runners-up three times in a row. NKK was the first club to win both the Emperor's Cup and promotion as second tier champions, achieved this in 1981. Yamaha Motor, now known as Júbilo Iwata, would follow the next year, and FC Tokyo would accomplish that as well in 2011. When the J.League was formed in 1992, NKK decided not to turn professional and join the former Japan Football League. They were entered into the JFL's first division but were relegated at the end of the season. With the presence of

Verdy Kawasaki is a Japanese professional football club based in Inagi, Tokyo. The club plays in the J2 League, the second tier of football in the country. Founded as Yomiuri F.C. in 1969, Tokyo Verdy is one of the most decorated clubs in the J.League, wit ...

and the move of

Toshiba , commonly known as Toshiba and stylized as TOSHIBA, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure systems, ...

's club north to become

Consadole Sapporo is a Japanese professional football club, which plays in the J1 League. The team is based in Sapporo, on the island of Hokkaido. The club name of "Consadole" is made from ''consado'', a reverse of the Japanese word and the Spanish express ...

, plus the rise of Fujitsu (which would later become

Kawasaki Frontale is a Japanese professional football club based in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Their home stadium is Kawasaki Todoroki Stadium, in Nakahara ...

), NKK decided to call it a day.

League history

*1967: Promoted to the Japan Soccer League *1979: Relegated to JSL Division 2 *1981: JSL Division 2 champions *1982: Relegated to JSL Division 2 *1983: JSL Division 2 champions *1985: JSL Division 1 runners-up *1986–87: JSL Division 1 runners-up *1987–88: JSL Division 1 runners-up *1990–91: Relegated to JSL Division 2 *1992: League restructured. Joined Japan Football League Division 1. Relegated to JFL Division 2. *1993: JFL Division 2 third place. Folded.

Honours

* Shakaijin Cup: 1965 * Japan Soccer League Division 2: 1981, 1983 * Emperor's Cup:

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

JSL Cup was the original league cup for clubs in the top levels of Japanese soccer before the creation of the J. League and its cup. The cup was first played in 1973, but did not become an annual tournament until 1976. The JSL/JFL Cup included clubs fr ...

: 1980,

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

Other sports

Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

— men's club was Japan National League champions multiple times in the 1960s. *

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

— NKK Sea Hawks {{Japanese Club Football, group=clubs Defunct football clubs in Japan Japan Soccer League clubs Multi-sport clubs in Japan Association football clubs established in 1932 Association football clubs disestablished in 1994 Emperor's Cup winners Japanese League Cup winners Sport in Kawasaki, Kanagawa 1932 establishments in Japan 1994 disestablishments in Japan Japan Football League (1992–1998) clubs Works association football clubs in Japan