Yokohama F-Marinos

As Nissan Motor (1972–1991)

The team traces its origins to 1972 as the Nissan Motor Football Club, based in Yokohama. Nissan Motor won promotion to Division 2 Football League in 1976. Under coach Shu Kamo, the team won Japan Soccer League in 1988 and 1989, as well as the JSL Cup in 1988, 1989 and 1990 and the Emperor's Cup in 1983, 1985, 1988, 1989 and 1991. The 1989 team won the "Triple Crown" - all three major tournaments in Japan - with famous players such as Takashi Mizunuma, Kazushi Kimura and Masami Ihara. At the end of the 1991–92 season, the team won the 1991–92 Asian Cup Winners' Cup.

As Yokohama Marinos (1992–1998)

Nissan Motors obtained registration in the newly formed J.League to acquire professional club status and changed the club's name to Yokohama Marinos, a reference to Yokohama's status as a major port city. In their first seasons as a professional team, Yokohama Marinos continued to win competitions: triumphant in the 1992 Emperor's Cup , a second consecutive 1992–93 Asian Cup Winners' Cup, and their first J.League title in 1995. Matches between Yokohama Marinos and Verdy Kawasaki were known as the National Derby.

As Yokohama F. Marinos (1999–present)

In 1999, the club was renamed Yokohama F. Marinos after the technical and financial merger with Yokohama Flügels which had declared bankruptcy. Since then, an F has been added to the name to represent the Flügels half of the club. Because of that, many Flügels fans have rejected the new team. Flügels fans felt that their team was dissolved into the F.Marinos, rather than being merged with. As a result, they refused to follow F. Marinos and instead created Yokohama FC, the new city-wide rival of F. Marinos, with the help of public donations and an affiliation with IMG, a talent agency company.

In 2000, Marinos was runner-up in the 2000 J1 League where Shunsuke Nakamura was named the best player of the season.

On 27 October 2001, Marinos won the J.League Cup facing Júbilo Iwata in a 0–0 match that leads to penalty shootout. Marinos than won the penalty shootout 3–1 thus going on to win the cup.

In the 2002 season, Marinos end up as the league runners-up just behind Júbilo Iwata.

Back-to-back league champions

In 2003 and 2004, Marinos became back-to-back league champions with the stars of the team being South Koreans Ahn Jung-hwan, Yoo sang-chul and Japanese players Daisuke Oku, Tatsuhiko Kubo and Yuji Nakazawa (who was the best player of the year in 2004). Their coach was the Japanese Takeshi Okada, who was named the 'Best Coach of the Year' in 2003 and 2004.

From 2005 to 2008, with notable players Hayuma Tanaka, Hideo Ōshima, Daisuke Sakata and Koji Yamase, Marinos didn't achieve any single honours. The highest they reached during this period was the 2008 Emperor's Cup semi-final where they were knockout by Gamba Osaka in extra time.

In 2010, club legend Shunsuke Nakamura returned to Yokohama F. Marinos after 8 years and stayed until the end of the 2017 J1 League season.

On August 4, 2011, a year after leaving the club, former Marinos player Naoki Matsuda collapsed during training with Matsumoto Yamaga due to cardiac arrest and died at the age of 34. As a result, his former number 3 has been retired.

And after two semi-final defeats in 2011 and 2012, Marinos won the 2013 Emperor's Cup on 1 January 2014, the first after 21 years and in 2013, they were runner-up in the J.League for the second time in their history.

Owned by City Football Group

On 20 May 2014, it was announced that the City Football Group, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi United Group, had invested in a minority stake in Yokohama F. Marinos, creating a partnership with the football club and the automaker Nissan.

And after consecutive defeats, such as a loss in the 2017 Emperor's Cup Final and in the 2018 J.League Cup Final, the team managed to get a good shape thanks to the direction of the Australian coach Ange Postecoglou, which ended 15 years of drought by winning the 2019 J1 League title, with emphasis on the participation of Teruhito Nakagawa being the 'Best Player of the Season' and top scorer with 15 goals together with Brazilian Marcos Júnior.

In 2020, Marinos made it out of the 2020 AFC Champions League group stage for the first time since the AFC Champions League switched to the current format. The club were drawn in Group H alongside Chinese Shanghai SIPG, South Korean Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors and Australian Sydney FC. Marinos qualified to the knockout stages as group leaders with 4 wins, 1 draw and 1 losses. However the club was bowed out from the tournament in the Round of 16 losing 3–2 to South Korean Suwon Samsung Bluewings.

In 2021, Marinos finished in second place 13 points behind league champions, Kawasaki Frontale where on 18 July 2021, Head coach Ange Postecoglou was signed by Scottish club, Celtic while Hideki Matsunaga will be the caretaker for the club until 18 July 2021, Marinos signed another Australian head coach, Kevin Muscat.

In 2022, Kevin Muscat steered the club to win their fifth J1 League title. The club also finished as group leaders in the 2022 AFC Champions League group stage being placed in Group H alongside South Korean Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, Vietnamese Hoang Anh Gia Lai and Australian Sydney FC. Marinos qualified to the knockout stages with 4 wins, 1 draw and 1 losses where they faced another Japanese side Vissel Kobe in the Round of 16, however, the club suffered a 3–2 defeat to Vissel Kobe thus crashing out from the competition.

In 2023, Marinos than finished as league runners up with 64 points behind Vissel Kobe who got 71 points. Kevin Muscat than guided the club in the 2023–24 AFC Champions League group stage being drawn in Group G with Chinese Shandong Taishan, South Korean Incheon United and Filipino Kaya–Iloilo. Marinos finished the group tied with 12 points along with Shandong Taishan and Incheon United but qualified to the round of 16 as group leaders.

On 6 December 2023, Kevin Muscat resigned as the head coach in which Harry Kewell were appointed as the new head coach of the club on 31 December 2023 becoming the third consecutive Australian manager in the club history. Harry Kewell than guided the club in the round of 16 fixture against Thai Bangkok United, winning the match 3–2 on aggregate with Anderson Lopes scoring an injury time penalty in the 120th minute of extra time during the second leg sending the team to the quarter-finals. Marinos then faced off against Shandong Taishan again in which Marinos won 3–1 on aggregate thus seeing them to the semi-finals against South Korean Ulsan Hyundai. Marinos suffered a 1–0 defeat away in which the club bounced back in the second leg at home winning the match 3–2 thus seeing both club tied with 3–3 on aggregate sending the match into extra time and than penalties shootout. Marinos went on to win the penalties shootout 5–4 where vice-captain Eduardo scored the winning penalty to send the team to their first-ever Champions League final against Emirati Al Ain.