F-Marinos VS FC Tokyo Japan League Championship

by Brianin Japan, Kanagawaon Posted on

This was a bit of a surprise day.  Marie’s parents had been given free tickets to watch the last soccer game of the season with Yokohama F-Marinos playing FC Tokyo at Nissan Stadium.  Yokohama was currently sitting in 1st place for the regular season and FC Tokyo was 2nd so it was to be a good match.  This was my first professional match ever and also first soccer game in Japan.  The weather was a little rainy at first but it stopped just before half time.  We didn’t have much choice for seating in the free section but really can’t complain with free tickets and the view was closer to the field than I thought it would be.  

The final score was Yokohama F-Marinos 3 – 0 FC Tokyo

Yokohama also secured the J-League championship with the win… the first time in some 15 years!

Following the crowd from Shin-Yokohama Station to Nissan Stadium
Less than 15 minutes walking from Shin-Yokohama Stadium
There's also a function online where you can pick a time block to enter the stadium so they can kind of spread out the surge of people entering the stadium and avoid waiting in too long of a line
All those people on the stairs at that balcony by the dome are in line for the official goods store... crazy! We just went after the game and there was no line at all eheh
Entrance is right in the front. Marie did the tickets online so we just had to scan a QR code on the phone to get in
Lines move relatively fast
Ticket takers/scanners
You can bring your own food and drinks but have to transfer liquids from cans/bottles into the cups
Food lines are a bit long... I was hoping for some good stadium food but unlike in the US, it's not really a thing here in Japan... just standard fast food things. In hindsight, I definitely would've brought my own food/drinks
More snack stands upstairs
We managed to get seats! It's first come first serve in the free section but many people hold seats for others (some more than they need)...
They use the free section as sort of a buffer zone between the home team fans and the visiting fans. They're pretty strict about keeping the fans separate from each other. That's the FC Tokyo fans section in front.
Pretty good seats to me!
Yokohama cheer section during warm-ups
They have beer girls here too, just like at baseball games
Pretty spacious seating, complete with cup holders (other sections may differ)
Free cheering banners
Player introductions
Final score... it was a closer match than the score would suggest. I think FC Tokyo needed to win by 5 in order to clench the league championship from Yokohama
FC Tokyo players thanking their fans
Champions!
Back outside the stadium
Some food trucks outside the stadium
Official goods store, much less crowded than before the match
Walking back to Shin-Yokohama Station

Here are just some bonus videos below:

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