Soccer's roots in Japan go back to 1873, when a Lieutenant Commander Douglas of the British navy introduced soccer to the Japanese Naval Academy in Tokyo's Tsukiji district. But it is said that soccer was being played in Yokohama even before then.

When the Yokohama Cricket Club was formed in 1868 in the city's foreign quarter, club members from overseas began organizing cricket and other games in Friendly Park. We can assume that soccer must have been one of the games played there. (The park is now called Yokohama Park, and the club has evolved into the Yokohama Country and Athletic Club, or YCAC.)

YCAC records tell us that the Club won a soccer game against students at the Tokyo University of Education in 1904. The score was 9-0. Fujiki Takaaki, the president of the Yokohama Soccer Association, suggests that the game was the first international sports event in Japan.

During Tokyo's Olympic Games in 1964, Mitsuzawa Stadium in Yokohama was a venue for soccer matches. Since then, a number of international soccer extravaganzas have been held in Yokohama, including the 1979 World Youth matches. Fujiki is proud of this record, which he says makes Yokohama the obvious place for the championship match of the 2002 World Cup.

Seating 72,370 people, the International Stadium Yokohama is Japan's largest stadium, and will be the venue for the final match of the 2002 World Cup.

The front row seats are unusual--they are on the same level as the field, to bring spectators closer to the action. Another innovation is Japan's first automatic traveling camera that speeds above the stands, continually following the rapid play and transmitting images to two giant screens at both ends of the stadium. The camera takes only 7 seconds to travel 100 meters.

The turf is kept in excellent condition. A heavy rainstorm struck on June 7, 2001, creating worries for the Confederations Cup semifinal, but the field was puddle-free throughout the downpour.