Kashima Antlers facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Kashima Antlers
鹿島アントラーズ

Full name	Kashima Antlers F.C. Co., Ltd.
Founded	1947; 78 years ago (1947) as Sumitomo Metal FC
Ground	Kashima Soccer Stadium
Ground Capacity	40,728
Owner	Mercari
Chairman	Fumiaki Koizumi
Manager	Toru Oniki
League	J1 League
2022	J1 League, 4th of 18
Home colours Away colours

The Kashima Antlers (鹿島アントラーズ, Kashima Antorāzu) are a professional football team from Kashima, Ibaraki, Japan. They play in the J1 League, which is the top football league in Japan. The club gets financial support from Mercari, a Japanese online shopping company.

Since the J.League started in 1993, Kashima has won more trophies than any other Japanese football club. They have won the J1 League title a record 8 times. They also won the J.League Cup 6 times, the Emperor's Cup 5 times, and the Japanese Super Cup 6 times. This adds up to an amazing nineteen major titles in Japan!

Kashima also became champions of Asia when they won the AFC Champions League in 2018. They also won the J.League Cup / Copa Sudamericana Championship twice, in 2012 and 2013.

The team has played in the FIFA Club World Cup twice. In 2016, they hosted the tournament and made it all the way to the final. They were the first club from Asia to reach the final. They played against Real Madrid, who had won the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League. Kashima lost 4–2 after extra time, with Gaku Shibasaki scoring both goals for them.

Kashima Antlers is one of only two clubs that have played in Japan's top professional football league every year since it began. The other club is Yokohama F. Marinos.

What Does "Antlers" Mean?

The name 'Antlers' comes from the city of Kashima. In Japanese, Kashima (鹿嶋) means "Deer Island."

The club's badge looks like deer antlers. It also looks like a rose thorn, because the rose is the official flower of Ibaraki, where the club is located. Deer are friendly animals and are seen as special messengers in some religions.

The Kashima Shrine, a very famous shrine near the club's headquarters, has kept and raised deer for over 1,300 years. These deer are a spiritual symbol for the area.

Club History

Leonardo Araújo played for Kashima from 1994 to 1996.

The club started in 1947 as the Sumitomo Metal Industries Factory Football Club in Osaka. In 1975, the team moved to Kashima, Ibaraki. They played in the semi-professional Japan Soccer League (JSL). They were promoted to the top division of the JSL in 1984 but went up and down between divisions a few times.

In October 1991, the Kashima Antlers FC Co., Ltd. was officially created. Many companies and local governments invested in the club.

When the J.League became fully professional in 1993, Sumitomo changed its name to Kashima Antlers. Kashima was promoted to the new top league. Many clubs from the old JSL First Division chose to go down to a lower league because they weren't ready for professional football.

Since the J.League began in 1993, Kashima has always been one of the strongest teams in Japan. They have set many records. In their early years, the team was led by Zico, a famous former player for the Brazil national team and later coach for the Japan national team.

Kashima was the first club to win a J.League stage in 1993. In 2000, Kashima became the first J.League club to win the "treble". This means they won all three major titles in the same year: the J.League, the J.League Cup, and the Emperor's Cup.

In 2007, Kashima won the J.League title. This made them the first and only club in Japan to win ten domestic titles in the professional era. They also became the first and only club to win the J.League title three times in a row (2007, 2008, 2009).

Kashima won the J.League Cup in 2011, 2012, and 2015. This extended their record of major domestic titles to seventeen.

Kashima Antlers celebrate after winning the 2018 AFC Champions League at the Azadi Stadium vs Persepolis

Kashima still has strong connections with the football community in Brazil. This is because of Zico's time with the club. Most of Kashima's foreign players and coaches have been from Brazil since the J.League started.

Kashima city has a population of only about 60,000 people. So, the club also includes the nearby cities of Itako, Kamisu, Namegata, and Hokota as its official hometowns. The total population of these five cities is about 280,000. The Antlers play their home games at Kashima Soccer Stadium, which was one of the venues for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. It can hold 40,000 fans.

During the 2016 FIFA Club World Cup, Kashima made history. They became the first Asian club to reach the FIFA Club World Cup final. They beat South American champions Atlético Nacional 3–0. In the final, they drew 2–2 with European champions Real Madrid after 90 minutes. Real Madrid then won 4–2 after extra time.

Global Connections

In 2017, Kashima opened an office in New York. The main goal was to learn from the digital side of Major League Soccer (MLS). They also wanted to gather information about managing players and competition. Another reason was to build relationships with big European clubs like FC Barcelona and Bayern Munich. They have also held regular meetings with MLS to strengthen ties with the league and its clubs.

Team Kits and Colors

Kit Evolution

Home kits
1993–1994	1995–1996	1997	1998–1999	2000-2001
2002-2003	2004-2005	2006-2007	2008–2009	2010
2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
2021	2022	2023	2024	2025

Away kits
1993–1994	1995–1996	1997	1998–1999	2000–2001
2002–2003	2004–2005	2006–2007	2008–2009	2010
2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
2021	2022	2023	2024	2025

Alternative kits
1995 3rd	2008–2009 3rd 2009 ACL	2012 3rd	2017 3rd	2019 3rd
2021 3rd

Kashima Soccer Stadium

Kashima Soccer Stadium

Kashima Soccer Stadium has been the home of Kashima Antlers since March 26, 1993. The stadium is always being improved. The Kashima Soccer Museum, which opened in 2004, is being updated. The Wellness Plaza, built in 2006, is also getting upgrades, including a public bath. The club wants the stadium to be a community hub even on days when there are no matches.

Kashima Stadium is also becoming more important for international football. It was chosen to host games for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. This was the first time it hosted international competition since the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Before that, the stadium also hosted the Ibaraki National Sports Festival.

In 2008, a 500-meter LED advertising board was installed. It was the longest in Asia at the time. In 2017, new large electronic screens were added to both the north and south stands. These improvements help make the stadium a better place for fans to watch games.

Meet the Current Squad

No. Position Player 1 GK Tomoki Hayakawa 2 DF Koki Anzai 3 DF Kim Tae-hyeon 4 DF Kaito Chida 5 DF Ikuma Sekigawa (vice-captain) 6 MF Kento Misao 7 DF Ryoya Ogawa 9 FW Léo Ceará 10 MF Gaku Shibasaki (captain) 11 FW Kyosuke Tagawa 13 MF Kei Chinen (vice-captain) 14 MF Yuta Higuchi 17 MF Talles Brener (on loan from Rukh Lviv) 19 FW Shu Morooka 20 MF Yu Funabashi 21 GK Taiki Yamada 22 DF Kimito Nono 23 DF Keisuke Tsukui

No. Position Player 25 DF Ryuta Koike 27 MF Yuta Matsumura 28 DF Shuhei Mizoguchi 29 GK Yuji Kajikawa 32 DF Haruto Matsumoto 33 MF Yoshihiro Shimoda 34 FW Homare Tokuda 36 DF Mihiro Sato 37 MF Haruki Hayashi DSP 38 GK Park Eui-jeong 40 FW Yuma Suzuki (vice-captain) 44 DF Yugo Okawa Type 2 45 FW Minato Yoshida Type 2 46 FW Hayate Cho Type 2 47 DF Anthony Udemba Motosuna Type 2 55 DF Naomichi Ueda (vice-captain) 71 MF Ryotaro Araki 77 FW Aleksandar Čavrić

Players on Loan

No. Position Player MF Yusuke Ogawa (on loan at FC Ryukyu)

No. Position Player MF Naoki Sutoh (on loan at Kochi United)

Club Leaders

Role	Name
Technical advisor	Zico
Manager	Toru Oniki
Assistant manager	Masaki Chugo
Coaches	Atsushi Yanagisawa Makoto Tanaka
Goalkeeping coach	Hitoshi Sogahata
Technical staff	Suguru Arie Tomofumi Kuriyama
Physical coach	Ryosuke Ito
Conditioning coach	Hiroyuki Furuta
Physiotherapists	Yoshihiko Nakagawa Atsushi Inaba
Athletic trainers	Toshihiro Hashimoto Kenichi Nakata Tsukasa Ohashi
Interpreters	Kenta Kasai Kentaro Seki Masaya Kawakubo Kim Young-ha
Competent	Yuji Takada
Side affairs	Keisuke Okawa Shinpei Okiji
Dietitian	Aya Ishibashi
Team doctors	Hiroshi Jonouchi Jun Seki Ryo Matsunaga Takashi Sando Tomoo Ishii Toshiaki Nagamine Hiroshi Kimura

Club Trophies

Kashima Antlers has won many titles, both as Sumitomo Metal FC (before 1991) and as Kashima Antlers (since 1991).

Player Awards

2018 AFC Champions League champions

• J.League Player of the Year

• Jorginho (1996)
• Marquinhos (2008)
• Mitsuo Ogasawara (2009)

• J.League Top Scorer

• Marquinhos (2008)

• J.League Best Eleven

• Santos (1993)
• Shunzo Ono (1993)
• Yasuto Honda (1993)
• Naoki Soma (1995, 1996, 1997, 1998)
• Jorginho (1996)
• Bismarck (1997)
• Yutaka Akita (1997, 1998, 2000)
• Atsushi Yanagisawa (1998, 2001)
• Daijiro Takakuwa (2000)
• Akira Narahashi (2001)
• Mitsuo Ogasawara (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2009)
• Kōji Nakata (2001)
• Hitoshi Sogahata (2002)
• Daiki Iwamasa (2007, 2008, 2009)
• Marquinhos (2008)
• Atsuto Uchida (2008, 2009)
• Yuya Osako (2013)
• Gaku Shibasaki (2014)
• Mu Kanazaki (2015)
• Gen Shoji (2016, 2017)
• Daigo Nishi (2017, 2018)
• Everaldo (2020)

• J.League Rookie of the Year

• Atsushi Yanagisawa (1997)
• Gaku Shibasaki (2012)
• Caio (2014)
• Ryotaro Araki (2021)

• J.League Manager of the Year

• João Carlos (1997)
• Oswaldo de Oliveira (2007, 2008, 2009)
• Masatada Ishii (2016)

World Cup Players

These players were chosen to play for their country in the World Cup while they were playing for Kashima Antlers:

• Akira Narahashi (1998)
• Naoki Soma (1998)
• Yutaka Akita (1998, 2002)
• Atsushi Yanagisawa (2002, 2006)
• Hitoshi Sogahata (2002)
• Kōji Nakata (2002)
• Mitsuo Ogasawara (2002, 2006)
• Takayuki Suzuki (2002)
• Atsuto Uchida (2010)
• Daiki Iwamasa (2010)
• Lee Jung-soo (2010)
• Gen Shoji (2018)
• Naomichi Ueda (2018)

Olympic Players

These players represented their country at the Summer Olympic Games while playing for Kashima Antlers:

• Atsushi Yanagisawa (2000)
• Kōji Nakata (2000)
• Masashi Motoyama (2000)
• Tomoyuki Hirase (2000)
• Hitoshi Sogahata (2004)
• Atsuto Uchida (2008)
• Kazuya Yamamura (2012)
• Naomichi Ueda (2016)
• Ayase Ueda (2020)
• Koki Machida (2020)

Manager History

Manager	Nationality	Tenure
		Start	Finish
Masakatsu Miyamoto	Japan	January 1992	June 1994
Edu	Brazil	June 1994	December 1995
João Carlos	Brazil	January 1996	July 1998
Takashi Sekizuka (interim)	Japan	July 1998
Zé Mário	Brazil	July 1998	August 1999
Takashi Sekizuka (interim)	Japan	August 1999
Zico (interim)	Brazil	20 August 1999	31 December 1999
Toninho Cerezo	Brazil	1 January 2000	30 December 2005
Paulo Autuori	Brazil	31 December 2005	29 November 2006
Oswaldo de Oliveira	Brazil	1 January 2007	31 December 2011
Jorginho	Brazil	1 January 2012	31 December 2012
Toninho Cerezo	Brazil	1 January 2013	22 July 2015
Masatada Ishii	Japan	23 July 2015	31 May 2017
Go Oiwa	Japan	31 May 2017	1 January 2020
Antônio Carlos Zago	Brazil	2 January 2020	3 April 2021
Naoki Soma (interim)	Japan	7 April 2021	5 December 2021
René Weiler	Switzerland	10 December 2021	7 August 2022
Daiki Iwamasa	Japan	8 August 2022	4 December 2023
Ranko Popović	Serbia	21 December 2023	6 October 2024
Masaki Chugo	Japan	9 October 2024	8 December 2024
Toru Oniki	Japan	12 December 2024	Present

Team Slogans

Images for kids

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  2018 AFC Champions League champions

See also

In Spanish: Kashima Antlers para niños