Kashima Antlers

Kashima Antlers
鹿島アントラーズ

Full name	Kashima Antlers F.C.
Founded	1947
Ground	Kashima Soccer Stadium Kashima, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan (Capacity: 40,728 [1])
Chairman	Hiroshi Ushijima
Manager	Oswaldo de Oliveira
League	J. League Division 1
2009	J. League, Champions
Home colours Away colours

Kashima Antlers (鹿島アントラーズ, Kashima Antorāzu^?) are a professional football team playing in the Japanese J. League Division 1. Antlers is derived from the city name, Kashima, which literally means "deer island".

Since the J-League's creation in 1993, Kashima have proved by far Japan's most successful club team, having won the league title seven times, the J. League Cup three times and the Emperor's Cup three times. Indeed, Antlers have finished in the top five of J1 for over 70% of all seasons played to date and since 1993 have an average end of season league placing of 3rd.

By clinching the 2007 J. League title they became the first team in Japan to have won 10 domestic titles, and later the same year they completed their second league and cup double after claiming the Emperor's Cup title. In 2008 they became the first club to successfully defend their league title on two separate occasions.

Antlers are also one of only five teams to have competed in Japan's top flight of football every year since its inception.

Overview

Founded in 1947 as Sumitomo Metal Industries, Ltd. in Osaka. It played in the semi-professional Japan Soccer League and moved to Kashima, Ibaraki Prefecture in 1975. They were promoted to the JSL's top flight in 1984, but never made much of an impact, going down in 1985/86, returning in 1986/87 and going down again in 1988/89. Its last standing in the JSL was 2nd in the Second Division for 1991/92.

After the formation of the fully professional J. League, Sumitomo, like all other clubs, stripped the corporate brand from the team name and reformed as the Kashima Antlers. Kashima was essentially promoted to the new top flight, as many JSL First Division teams decided to relegate themselves being unprepared for professionalism. (Of the original 10 J. League founding member clubs, Kashima and Shimizu S-Pulse were newly promoted. Ironically, Kashima had defeated a forerunner of Shimizu's, Nippon Light Metal/Hagoromo Club, to earn its JSL Second Division place back in 1974).

Since the J. League's creation in 1993, Kashima Antlers have consistently been amongst the strongest teams in the country, holding several distinctions and records. Led by former Brazilian star and Japanese national team coach Zico, Kashima were the first team to win a J. League stage, claiming the 1st stage of the inaugural season in 1993, and in 2000 became the first J. League team to achieve the "treble", winning all three major titles: J. League, J. League Cup, and Emperor's Cup. This followed a near miss in 1997 when, after being the first team to win both cup competitions, they finished second in the league. In 2007 Antlers became only the second team to win a second league and cup double, and in doing so took their domestic trophy total to eleven; the highest in Japan during the professional era (but not overall - the record is still held by Tokyo Verdy), and the first team to reach double figures.

To this day, Kashima have maintained strong ties with the football community in Brazil, a fact borne out of Zico's past affiliation with the club. Kashima's Brazilian connection had been manifesting itself in the club's transfer policy: few non-Brazilian foreign player signed for Kashima since the inception of the J. League.

Its hometowns are Kashima, Itako, Hasaki and Kamisu, all in Ibaraki Prefecture. The team plays at Kashima Stadium.

Kashima is no longer primarily sponsored by Sumitomo, currently bearing the logo of Tostem, a glass window maker.

Players

Current squad

As of July 17, 2010 Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Tetsu Sugiyama 3 DF Daiki Iwamasa 4 DF Go Oiwa 5 DF Gilton 6 MF Koji Nakata 7 DF Toru Araiba 8 MF Takuya Nozawa 9 FW Yuya Osako 10 MF Masashi Motoyama 11 MF Fellype Gabriel 13 FW Shinzo Koroki 15 MF Takeshi Aoki 16 MF Yuji Funayama 17 FW Ryuta Sasaki

No. Position Player 18 FW Marquinhos 19 DF Masahiko Inoha 20 MF Shuto Suzuki 21 GK Hitoshi Sogahata 24 DF Takefumi Toma 25 MF Yasushi Endo 26 MF Kenji Koyano 27 DF Kenta Kasai 28 GK Shinichiro Kawamata 29 GK Akihiro Sato 30 MF Hiroyuki Omichi 31 GK Naoki Yagi 32 DF Tomohiko Miyazaki 33 MF Daichi Kawashima 40 MF Mitsuo Ogasawara

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player MF Chikashi Masuda (to Montedio Yamagata) FW Yuzo Tashiro (to Montedio Yamagata)

International Players

Managers

Manager	Nat.	Tenure
Masakatsu Miyamoto	Japan	1993–1994
Edu	Brazil	1995
João Carlos	Brazil	1996–1998
Takashi Sekizuka	Japan	1998
Zé Mario	Brazil	1998–1999
Zico	Brazil	1999
Takashi Sekizuka	Japan	1999
Toninho Cerezo	Brazil	2000–2005
Paulo Autuori	Brazil	2006
Oswaldo de Oliveira	Brazil	2007-

Record as J. League member

Key

• Tms. = Number of teams
• Pos. = Position in league
• Attendance/G = Average league attendance

Honours

• All Japan Vase
  • Winners (1): 1972
• Japan Soccer League Division 2
  • Champions (2): 1984, 1986/87
• J. League:
  • Champions (7): 1996, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2007, 2008, 2009
  • Runners-up (2): 1993, 1997
• Emperor's Cup:
  • Winners (3): 1997, 2000, 2007
• J. League Cup:
  • Winners (3): 1997, 2000, 2002
  • Runners Up (3): 1999, 2003, 2006,
• Xerox Super Cup:
  • Winners (5): 1997, 1998, 1999, 2009, 2010
  • Runners Up (3): 2001, 2002, 2008
• A3 Mazda Champions Cup:
  • Winners (1): 2003

References

External links

• (Japanese) Official Site
• (English) Official Site

Japanese football champions 7 titles Tokyo Verdy 1969 (1983, 1984, 1986/87, 1990/91, 1991/92, 1993, 1994) Kashima Antlers (1996, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2007, 2008, 2009) 5 titles Urawa Reds (1969, 1973, 1978, 1982, 2006) Yokohama F. Marinos (1988/89, 1989/90, 1995, 2003, 2004) Sanfrecce Hiroshima (1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1970) 4 titles Cerezo Osaka (1971, 1974, 1975, 1980) Júbilo Iwata (1987/88, 1997, 1999, 2002) 3 titles Shonan Bellmare (1977, 1979, 1981) 2 titles JEF United Chiba (1976, 1985/86) 1 title Kashiwa Reysol (1972) Gamba Osaka (2005) Nagoya Grampus (2010)