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Vegalta Sendai

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Vegalta Sendai
ベガルタ仙台
Full nameVegalta Sendai
Founded1988; 36 years ago (1988)
GroundYurtec Stadium Sendai
Izumi-ku, Sendai
Capacity19,694
ChairmanHideki Itabashi
ManagerYoshiro Moriyama[1]
LeagueJ2 League
2023J2 League, 16th of 22
Websitevegalta.co.jp1
Current season

Vegalta Sendai (ベガルタ仙台, Begaruta Sendai) is a Japanese professional football club based in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. They currently play in J2 League, the Japanese second tier of professional football.

History

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Founded in 1988 as Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc. Soccer Club, Vegalta joined the J-League in 1999 after playing a few years in the JFL, with the nickname Brummell Sendai, to which they had been promoted in 1995 from the Tohoku Regional League. When joining the J-League, the name Vegalta was chosen as a homage to the famous Tanabata festival in Sendai. The names of the two celestial stars of the Tanabata legend, Vega and Altair were combined to form Vegalta.[2]

They were first promoted to the top flight in 2002, but the team went back down the following season. They were promoted again for the 2010 season.

In 2011, despite the earthquake and tsunami, they achieved their highest position up to that time, 4th place in the top division.

In 2012, despite leading the table for most of the season, Sanfrecce Hiroshima's challenge proved too strong, and losing the penultimate week game to relegation battler Albirex Niigata cost them the title, rendering them second-place winners, their highest position in history.

In 2018, the Vegalta reached vice place in the Emperor's Cup, losing the cup to the Urawa Reds.[3]

After twelve years spent at the J1 League, Vegalta returned to the J2 on 2022, after being relegated from the J1 on 2021. After finishing on 7th place at the 2022 J2 League, the club was not able to even play the promotion play-offs. Vegalta will play then, their 2nd consecutive season in the J2 on 2023. Ryang Yong-gi, a symbol of Sendai, retired at the end of the 2023 season.

From 2024, Yoshiro Moriyama, who has a track record of developing players in Sanfrecce Hiroshima's training age group and the U17 Japan National Team, will be appointed as Manager.

Stadium

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Yurtec Stadium Sendai
Miyagi Stadium

Their home stadium is Yurtec Stadium Sendai, in Izumi-ku, Sendai, although a few home games have also been played at nearby Miyagi Stadium.

Sendai Stadium ranks among the top stadiums in Japan for its presence, comfort, and accessibility, and was once ranked second in an evaluation by a famous Japanese football media. It was also used by the Italian national football team as their basecamp during the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Miyagi Stadium is famous for the Japan national team, and for hosting matches of the Argentine national team in the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Supporters and rivalries

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As with most football clubs, fans in Sendai sing and dance during matches. However, most of the songs used by fans from other clubs are avoided due to the more eclectic set. Club themes sung before each game are Take Me Home, Country Roads, and during the game. Toy Dolls, Blitzkrieg Bop and other KISS and Twisted Sister.

Since Sendai is the hometown of Hirohiko Araki, who wrote JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, fans often wave flags with the same motifs of characters portrayed in Araki's manga.

Michinoku Derby

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Vegalta's traditional rivals are Montedio Yamagata from Yamagata Prefecture. The two have been rivals since meeting in the Tohoku Football League in 1991. Among the Tohoku derbies, this match is famous as the Michinoku derby.

Tohoku Derby

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This is the derby played by the Tohoku region teams, currently the most important match is that of Vegalta Sendai and Montedio Yamagata. Other teams included in this classic include Blaublitz Akita, Iwate Grulla Morioka, Iwaki FC.

League & cup record

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Champions Runners-up Third place Promoted Relegated
League J.League Cup Emperor's Cup
Season League Tier Teams Pos. P W (OTW / PKW) D L (OTL) F A GD Pts Attendance
Brummell Sendai
1995 Former JFL 2 16 15th 30 9 - 21 40 79 -39 27
1996 16 6th 30 18 - 12 67 52 15 56
1997 16 8th 30 12 (1 / 2) - 15 37 43 -6 40 Group stage 2nd round
1998 16 7th 30 1 (5 / 3) - 12 55 53 2 43 Group stage 4th round
Vegalta Sendai
1999 J2 2 10 9th 36 7 (3) 4 18 (4) 30 58 -28 31 1st round 2nd round
2000 11 5th 40 15 (4) 2 15 (4) 60 69 -9 55 1st round 1st round
2001 12 2nd 44 24 (3) 5 9 (3) 78 56 22 83 1st round 3rd round
2002 J1 1 16 13th 30 9 (2) 1 18 40 57 -17 32 Group stage 4th round
2003 16 15th 30 5 9 16 31 56 -25 24 Group stage 3rd round
2004 J2 2 12 6th 44 15 14 15 62 66 -4 59 Not eligible 4th round
2005 12 4th 44 19 11 14 66 47 19 68 4th round
2006 13 5th 48 21 14 13 75 43 32 77 4th round
2007 13 4th 48 24 13 11 72 54 18 83 3rd round
2008 15 3rd 42 18 16 8 62 47 15 70 4th round
2009 18 1st 51 32 10 9 87 39 48 106 Semi final
2010 J1 1 18 14th 34 10 9 15 40 46 -6 39 Quarter final 2nd round
2011 18 4th 34 14 14 6 39 25 14 56 2nd round 4th round
2012 18 2nd 34 15 12 7 59 43 16 57 Quarter final 3rd round
2013 18 13th 34 11 12 11 41 38 3 45 Quarter final Quarter final
2014 18 14th 34 9 11 14 35 50 -15 38 Group stage 2nd round
2015 18 14th 34 9 8 17 44 48 -4 35 Group stage Quarter final
2016 18 12th 34 13 4 17 39 48 -9 43 15,050 Group stage 2nd round
2017 18 12th 34 11 8 15 44 53 -9 41 14,746 Semi final 2nd round
2018 18 11th 34 13 6 15 44 54 -10 45 15,408 Round of 16 Runners up
2019 18 11th 34 12 5 17 38 45 -7 41 14,971 Play-off stage 4th round
2020 † 18 17th 34 6 10 18 36 61 -25 28 4,163 Group stage Not eligible
2021 20 19th 38 5 13 20 31 62 -31 28 5,926 Group stage 2nd round
2022 J2 2 22 7th 42 18 9 15 67 59 8 63 8,991 Not eligible 3rd round
2023 22 16th 42 12 12 18 48 61 -13 48 11,215 3rd round
2024 20 6th 38 18 10 10 50 44 6 64 13,331 1st round 2nd round
2025 20 TBD 38 TBD TBD
  • Pos. = Position in league; P = Games played; W = Games won; D = Games drawn; L = Games lost; F = Goals scored; A = Goals conceded; GD = Goals difference; Pts = Points gained
  • Attendance = Average home league attendance
  • † 2020 & 2021 seasons attendances reduced by COVID-19 worldwide pandemic
  • Source: J.League Data Site

Honours

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Vegalta Sendai honours
Honour No. Years Notes
Tohoku Soccer League 1 1994 Tohoku Electric Power
Japanese Regional Football League Competition 1 1994 Tohoku Electric Power
J.League Division 2 1 2009

Individual awards

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Players

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Current squad

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As of 9 August 2024.[4]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK Japan JPN Yuma Obata
2 DF Japan JPN Ryota Takada
5 DF Japan JPN Masahiro Sugata
6 MF Japan JPN Renji Matsui (on loan from Kawasaki Frontale)
7 FW Japan JPN Motohiko Nakajima (on loan from Cerezo Osaka)
8 MF Japan JPN Yoshiki Matsushita
9 FW Japan JPN Masato Nakayama
10 MF Japan JPN Hiromu Kamada
11 MF Japan JPN Yuta Goke
13 DF Japan JPN Yuki Saneto (on loan from Yokohama F. Marinos)
14 MF Japan JPN Ryunosuke Sagara
15 FW Japan JPN Tsubasa Umeki
17 MF Japan JPN Aoi Kudo
19 DF Brazil BRA Mateus Moraes
21 GK Japan JPN Riku Umeda
22 DF Japan JPN Yuta Koide
23 MF Japan JPN Keito Arita
No. Pos. Nation Player
24 MF Japan JPN Toya Myogan (on loan from Kawasaki Frontale)
25 DF Japan JPN Takumi Mase
27 MF Japan JPN George Onaiwu
28 FW Japan JPN Ryunosuke Sugawara
29 GK Japan JPN Koki Matsuzawa
30 FW Japan JPN Minto Nishimaru
31 MF Japan JPN Manato Kudo
33 GK Japan JPN Akihiro Hayashi
37 MF Japan JPN Kazuki Nagasawa
39 DF Japan JPN Rikuto Ishio
41 DF Japan JPN Yuto Uchida
43 MF Japan JPN Sota Yokoyama Type 2
47 DF Japan JPN Ryuji Isshiki Type 2
48 DF Japan JPN Sorato Yoshida Type 2
50 MF Japan JPN Yasushi Endo (captain)
98 FW Brazil BRA Eron

Out on loan

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
20 DF Japan JPN Tetsuya Chinen (at Omiya Ardija)

Notable players and coaches

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International convention

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National Team
FIFA Confederations Cup
EAFF E-1 Football Championship
Under National Team
AFC U-23 Asian Cup
  • 2016
    • Japan Makoto Teguramori
      ※Winner
  • 2020
    • Australia Graham Arnold
      ※3rd place
Toulon Tournament (U-22)
FIFA U-20 World Cup (Manager)

Club staff

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For the 2024 season.[5]

Position Staff
Manager Japan Yoshiro Moriyama
First-team coach Japan Koichiro Katafuchi
Japan Akira Konno
Japan Yōsuke Nishi
Goalkeeper coach Japan Motoki Ueda
Physical coach Japan Makoto Muraoka
Analyst & coach Japan Takuma Deguchi
Chief trainer Japan Yakuya Matsuda
Trainer Japan Tomoki Takeda
Japan Taisuke Ikoma
Physiotherapist Japan Masaaki Taira
Interpreter Brazil Rodrigo Simões
Competent Japan Shinya Naganuma
Deputy officer Japan Yutaro Miura
Japan Hiroki Ito

Managerial history

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Manager Nationality Tenure
Start date Finish date
Takekazu Suzuki  Japan 1 July 1990 31 December 1995
Choei Sato  Japan 1996
Branko Elsner  Slovenia 1 February 1997 31 December 1997
Toshiya Miura  Japan 1 January 1998 31 January 1998
Takekazu Suzuki  Japan 1 February 1998 24 July 1999
Hidehiko Shimizu  Japan 27 July 1999 14 September 2003
Hajime Ishii  Japan 15 September 2003 20 September 2003
Zdenko Verdenik  Slovenia 21 September 2003 31 December 2004
Satoshi Tsunami  Japan 1 January 2005 30 November 2005
Joel Santana  Brazil 1 December 2005 31 December 2006
Tatsuya Mochizuki  Japan 1 January 2007 31 December 2007
Makoto Teguramori  Japan 1 February 2008 14 November 2013
Graham Arnold  Australia 14 November 2013 9 April 2014
Susumu Watanabe  Japan 10 April 2014 31 January 2020
Takashi Kiyama  Japan 1 February 2020 31 January 2021
Makoto Teguramori  Japan 1 February 2021 22 November 2021
Masato Harasaki  Japan 23 November 2021 5 September 2022
Akira Ito  Japan 6 September 2022 12 July 2023
Takafumi Hori  Japan 13 July 2023 13 November 2023
Yoshiro Moriyama  Japan 1 January 2024 Current

Mascot and cheerleaders

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Mascot

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  • VEGATTA (Brother)
    • He has won "the J League mascot general election" many times and is quite popular.
    • The eagle, which is also used in the club emblem as a symbol of victory in Greek mythology, is associated with the Aquila constellation, to which Hikoboshi (Altair) belongs, which is the origin of the club's name. The name was decided by public submission. Vegatta's SNS (BLOG, Twitter), which is updated daily, is loved and popular among soccer fans in Japan, as the mascot loves mischief, and is by some fans, hard to believe it is a mascot.
  • LTAANA (Sister)
    • From the Sendai summer tradition "Sendai Tanabata", which is the origin of the team name, "Luta" for Vega (Orihime) and Altair (Hikoboshi), and "Tana" for Tanabata, it was named as a girlish name by combining "na", on a 7 August, which is the date of the event and the birthday. Sometimes she tweet with [#ルターナ] (LTAANA written phonetically on Katakana) on Sendai's official Twitter.
    • When Vegalta wins any match, she expresses her joy on Twitter.

Cheerleaders

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  • The Vegalta Cheerleaders mainly support "Vegalta Sendai", participate in many events, and continue to work as a cheering group for people who are doing their best in the area. She has the longest history as a cheerleader for a professional sports team in Sendai, and has been active since 2003.

Best Match

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① and ② were selected as "that game I want to see again" on the J League official YouTube channel, and 2 was also selected as "10 Best Matches" by J Chronicle Best. ② was also selected as the "Best Match" of the J30 Best Awards.

J Chronicle Best

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This is a project to select the J.League "Best Eleven", "Best Goal" and "Best Match" over the past 20 years. A project held in 2013 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Japan Professional Soccer League. The mentioned two game is often featured as a legendary game in each media.

J30 BEST AWARDS

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A project to select the "MVP", "Best Eleven", "Best Goal", "Best Match", and "Best Scene" of the J League over the past 30 years. An award hosted by the J.League to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the J.League in 2023.

Even in "Soccer Digest" (Japan's famous football media),the two were selected as "the best 3 selected J.League matches" by the reporter in charge of Sendai. Sendai's Yoshiaki Ota, who scored the equalizing goal against Kawasaki, said, "I think it was a goal that everyone worked together, including the thoughts of my teammates."

*The notation of the match card and the stadium where the match was held is at the time of the match.

Game Date/Stadium Overview Match data
① 2001 J League Division 2 Round 44

Kyoto Purple Sanga FC 0-1 Vegalta Sendai

November 18, 2001

Takebishi Stadium Kyoto

The long-awaited J1 first promotion match.

Head-to-head competition between leader Kyoto and 3rd place Sendai in the final round.

The first promotion to J1 as a club in the Tohoku region is decided.

Official record
② 2011 J League Division 1 Round 7

Kawasaki Frontale 1-2 Vegalta Sendai

April 23, 2011

Kawasaki Todoroki Stadium

The first match after the suspension of the league match due to the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Sendai, who suffered severe damage to the club itself, came from behind to win. Recorded the club's first victory with Todoroki Stadium.

Official record

Continental record

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ACL

Sendai also participated in the ACL for the first time in 2013.

It was a tournament with many challenges other than matches, such as long-distance travel, overcrowded schedule with the J League, and local climate, but they did not lose in the extreme cold of Nanjing and the intense heat of Thailand, and the final match was a draw or better in the qualifying.

It was a good point to leave the possibility of breaking through.

Season Competition Round Club Home Away Aggregate
2013 AFC Champions League Group E Thailand Buriram United 1–1 1–1 4th
China Jiangsu Sainty 1–2 0–0
South Korea FC Seoul 1–0 2–1

Kit evolution

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Asian clubs ranking

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As of 16 May 2024.[6]
Current Rank Country Team Points
175 Lebanon Nantong Zhiyun FC 1290
176 China Qingdao Jonoon 1290
177 Hong Kong Kitchee 1290
178 Iran Pas Hamedan 1288
179 Japan Vegalta Sendai 1288
180 Japan V-Varen Nagasaki 1288

Vegalta House

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"Shichigashuku Town's Empty House Revitalization Project: Let's Build a Vegalta House" will start in July 2021 with the support of 143 crowdfunding people and a total of 78 local workers.[7] It is involved in a social collaboration activity, in line with Goal 11 "Sustainable cities and communities" and Goal 17 "Partnership for the goals" of the SDGs basic guidelines.[8][9][10]

References

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  1. ^ "森山佳郎監督就任のお知らせ". www.vegalta.co.jp (in Japanese). Vegalta Sendai. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  2. ^ "GET TO KNOW J.LEAGUE: Vegalta Sendai". YouTube.
  3. ^ "仙台、天皇杯準優勝は新時代の幕開け。渡邉体制6年目はサポーターの望むタイトル獲得へ". フットボールチャンネル (in Japanese). 10 December 2018. Archived from the original on 2018-12-10. Retrieved 2021-03-15.
  4. ^ "Team" (in Japanese). Vegalta Sendai. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  5. ^ "Team staff for 2024". vegalta.co.jp. Retrieved 30 March 2024.
  6. ^ "Asia Football / Soccer Clubs Ranking 2024". footballdatabase.com. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
  7. ^ "Vegalta House Recent Report". 2022-11-07.
  8. ^ "みなさん、おばんです。" (in Japanese). 3 November 2022. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  9. ^ "Introducing clubs that received a lot of RT response". 2022-11-07.
  10. ^ "You can stay at Vegalta House!". 2022-11-07.
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