Criacao Shinjuku (クリアソン新宿, Kuriason Shinjuku) is a Japanese semi-professional football club based in Shinjuku, Tokyo.[2] They currently play in the Japan Football League, Japanese fourth tier football league, since 2022.
History
The club was founded by the current chairman Kazutomo Maruyama as a leisure club under the name Criacao in 2005 to create an opportunity to play football even after completing his studies at Rikkyō University. After Maruyama's professional return to Tokyo, he first registered for the Japan Football Association in 2009.
Club name
Criacao is from the Portuguese criação and means translated as much as "creation", "production". In doing so, the club alludes to the club's philosophy, which states it aims to achieve "continuous generation of enthusiasm in the world through football".[3]
Road to the JFL
From 2010 to 2018, the club only played in the Tokyo Leagues, not going further than it until the club saw promotion on 2018, after finishing as runners-up in Tokyo's 1st division. After nine seasons the club finally got to debut at regional level, in the 2nd division of the Kantō Soccer League.
Immediately after being promoted to it, the club earned the division's title after winning 43 out of 51 possible points, and then, were promoted to the 1st division. Debuting on it in 2020, the club only earned a 5th-place finish.
In 2022, Criacao Shinjuku finished in the 15th place of the competition, out of the 16 participating teams for the season. The club, however, was not relegated back to the Kantō League, as JFL's top 2 teams were promoted to the J3. Under the league system, Criacao would only be relegated as the 15th-placed team if no team earned promotion to the J3 during the season, which was not the case. The club also currently holds the Japan Football League attendance record, made on 9 October 2022. A crowd of 16,218 people watched the match between Suzuka Point Getters and Criacao Shinjuku at the Japan National Stadium, in Shinjuku, being the record heavily influenced by the presence of Japan former international Kazuyoshi Miura. The match ended in a 1–0 loss for Criacao.[4][5]
On 26 September 2023, Criacao Shinjuku officially obtained a J3 League license.[6]
The 2023 season is Criacao's second consecutive season in JFL.
Pos. = Position in league; P = Games played; W = Games won; D = Games drawn; L = Games lost; F = Goals for; A = Goal against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points gained
^Criacao was scheduled to play the tournament, from the 1st round, where they would be playing Tadotsu FC. The 2020 competition was deemed cancelled before its start, in response to COVID-19-related issues, that only allowed the competition to be played again the year after.
