Tochigi SC

Teachers in Tochigi Prefecture founded the club in 1953. They were initially called Tochigi Teachers' Soccer Club (栃木教員サッカー部 Tochigi Kyōin Sakkā Bu). They started to welcome players with other professions in 1994 and renamed themselves as Tochigi Soccer Club. In 1999, Tochigi won the Kanto Regional League and were promoted to the Japan Football League after finishing runners-up in the Regional League play-off. In March 2005, they announced that they would set up a task force to give a serious consideration to turn professional and try to gain J.League status. In January 2007, they achieved J.League Associate Membership status and in the 2008 season they secured qualification for promotion to professional status on 16 November 2008. On 1 December 2008, promotion was made official by the J.League and Tochigi had competed in J.League Division 2 from 2009. In 2015, Tochigi finished bottom and were relegated to the J3 League for the first time in their history, the third and lowest professional level in the league system. After two seasons, they returned to J2 League from 2018 season who finished as runner-up in 2017. On 27 October 2024, Tochigi officially relegated to the J3 League for the second time after defeat from Shimizu S-Pulse 0-1 at home, ending seven-year stint in the second tier.