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Kashiwa Reysol

Full name

Kashiwa Reysol

Nickname(s)

Taiyō-Ō (Sun King)
Aurinegro (gold-and-black)

Short name

REY

Founded

1940; 85 years ago as Hitachi S.C.

Stadium

Sankyo Frontier Kashiwa Stadium ("Hitachidai")
Kashiwa, Chiba

Stadium
capacity

15,900

Owner

Hitachi

Chairman

Ryuichiro Takikawa

Head coach

Masami Ihara

League

J1 League

2022

J1 League, 7th of 18

Home colours

Away colours

Reysol supporters at Sankyo Frontier Kashiwa Stadium

Kashiwa Reysol (柏レイソル, Kashiwa Reisoru) is a Japanese professional football club based in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Their home stadium is Sankyo Frontier Kashiwa Stadium, also known as "Hitachidai". Reysol is a portmanteau of the Spanish words Rey and Sol, meaning "Sun King". The name alludes to their parent company Hitachi, whose name means "rising sun" in Japanese.

The club was formed in 1940 and was a founding member ("Original Eight") of the Japan Soccer League (JSL) in 1965. Since the league's inception, they have spent the majority of their existence in the top tier of Japanese football. They have been Japanese League champions twice in 1972 and 2011, and have won three League Cups in 1976, 1999 and 2013, and three Emperor's Cups in 1972, 1975 and 2012.

History

Hitachi SC (1939–1992)

The club started in 1939 and was officially formed as the company team, Hitachi, Ltd. Soccer Club in 1940 in Kodaira, Tokyo. The club formed the Japan Soccer League (JSL) in 1965, along with today's Urawa Reds, JEF United Chiba, Cerezo Osaka, Sanfrecce Hiroshima and three other clubs ("Original Eight"). They had some successes during the mid-1970s, winning Emperor's Cups and JSL titles and contributing several players to the Japanese national team.

The club relocated from Kodaira to Kashiwa in 1986, but it took a while to adapt to the new town, as they were relegated to the JSL Division 2 at end of the 1986. They made it back to the top flight in 1989–90, but dropped back in 1990–91 and returned again in 1991–92. As the J.League was formed while they were not strong enough, the club abandoned any attempt to once again be a founding member of the newly formed professional league. Instead, the club joined the Japan Football League Division 1 in 1992, the second tier of the Japanese football hierarchy at the time, below the J.League.

Kashiwa Reysol (1993–)

The club changed its name to Kashiwa Reysol in 1993. Reysol added Careca of the Brazil national football team to their squad in the autumn of this year with the aim of winning the JFL champion and winning promotion to the J1 League. The club struggled in the 1993 season. However, with the help of Careca and Brazilian manager Zé Sérgio, they secured the 2nd place in the JFL in 1994, earning promotion to the top league.

Reysol debuted in the J1 League in 1995. In 1998 they welcomed Akira Nishino, the former manager of Japan's Olympic team as their new manager, along with player Hristo Stoichkov of the Bulgaria national football team. In 1999 Hong Myung-bo of the Korea national football team was added to the squad. The team won the J.League Cup in 1999, their first title as Kashiwa Reysol.

However, their next manager, Englishman Steve Perryman, unsettled the team and the club struggled over the next several seasons. After finishing at the 16th place out of 18 clubs in 2005, the club lost the promotion/relegation play-offs against Ventforet Kofu, the 3rd placed team in the J2 League that year, and was relegated to the J2 League.

A new manager, Nobuhiro Ishizaki, led an almost entirely new squad in 2006 and the club secured automatic promotion to the J1 League in the last game of the season.

The club was relegated again at the end of 2009. However, in 2010 they won the J2 League led by Nelsinho Baptista in and returned to the top flight. The club immediately won the J1 League in 2011 with talented footballers such as Hiroki Sakai, Junya Tanaka, Jorge Wagner and Leandro Domingues, and became the first Japanese club to win the second tier and the top tier back to back. The club qualified for the FIFA Club World Cup as the host nation's league champion and became a semifinalist after defeating Auckland City and Monterrey.

During the period from 2010 through 2014, Reysol won six different titles in five consecutive seasons; the J2 League in 2010, the J1 League in 2011, the Emperor's Cup and the Super Cup in 2012, the J.League Cup in 2013 and the Suruga Bank Championship in 2014.

Rivalries

Marunouchi Gosanke

Historically, Kashiwa Reysol's fiercest rivals have been JEF United Chiba and the Urawa Reds, both close neighbors. The three were co-founders of the Japan Soccer League (JSL) in 1965, and spent most seasons in the top tier through the JSL era. Because of their former parent companies' headquarters all being based in Marunouchi, Tokyo, the three clubs were known as the Marunouchi Gosanke (丸の内御三家, "Marunouchi Big Three") and fixtures among them were known as the Marunouchi derbies.

Chiba derby

Reysol and JEF United Chiba first met in 1941 in the ancient Kanto regional football league. The two clubs are both now based in Chiba Prefecture, and their rivalry is known as the Chiba derby. They play a pre-season friendly match every year, popularly known as the Chibagin Cup (i.e., Chiba Bank Cup) since 1995.

Others

Reysol also has a rivalry with Kashima Antlers (commonly called Tonegawa clásico), FC Tokyo (commonly called Kanamachi derby) and Omiya Ardija (commonly called Nodasen derby).

Anthem

Kashiwa Reysol's anthem is We Are Reysol, which is sung by anime singer Hironobu Kageyama. The song released in 1994, the same year Reysol got promoted to J1.

Record as J.League member

Champions	Runners-up	Third place	Promoted	Relegated

Season	Div.	Teams	Pos.	P	W (OTW / PKW)	D	L (OTL / PKL)	F	A	GD	Pts	Attendance/G	J.League Cup	Emperor's Cup	AFC	FIFA CWC
1995	J1	14	12th	52	21 (0 / 0)	–	29 (0 / 1)	18	30	–12	22	16,102	–	2nd round	–	–
1996		16	5th	30	20	–	10	67	52	15	60	13,033	Semi-finals	Round of 16
1997		17	7th	32	16 (2 / 0)	–	11 (1 / 2)	63	49	14	52	8,664	Quarter-finals	Quarter-finals
1998		18	8th	34	14 (1 / 3)	–	13 (2 / 1)	56	61	–5	47	9,932	Group stage	Round of 16
1999		16	3rd	30	17 (3 / -)	1	8 (1 / -)	49	36	13	58	10,122	Winners	Semi-finals
2000		16	3rd	30	15 (6 / -)	1	7 (1 / -)	48	32	16	58	10,037	2nd round	Round of 16
2001		16	6th	30	12 (2 / -)	3	11 (2 / -)	58	46	12	43	12,477	2nd round	3rd round
2002		16	12th	30	9 (1 / -)	3	17	38	48	–10	32	11,314	Quarter-finals	3rd round
2003		16	12th	30	9	10	11	35	39	–4	37	10,873	Group stage	Round of 16
2004		16	16th	30	5	10	15	29	49	–20	25	10,513	Group stage	4th round
2005		18	16th	34	8	11	15	39	54	–15	35	12,492	Group stage	5th round
2006	J2	13	2nd	48	27	7	14	84	60	24	88	8,328	Not eligible	4th round
2007	J1	18	8th	34	14	8	12	43	36	7	50	12,967	Group stage	4th round
2008		18	11th	34	13	7	14	48	45	3	46	12,308	Group stage	Runners-up
2009		18	16th	34	7	13	14	41	57	–16	34	11,738	Group stage	3rd round
2010	J2	19	1st	36	23	11	2	71	24	47	80	8,098	Not eligible	Round of 16
2011	J1	18	1st	34	23	3	8	65	42	23	72	11,917	1st round	Round of 16		4th place
2012		18	6th	34	15	7	12	57	52	5	52	13,768	Semi-finals	Winners	Round of 16	–
2013		18	10th	34	13	9	12	56	59	–3	48	12,553	Winners	Round of 16	Semi-finals
2014		18	4th	34	17	9	8	48	40	8	60	10,715	Semi-finals	3rd round	–
2015		18	10th	34	12	9	13	46	43	3	45	10,918	Quarter-finals	Semi-finals	Quarter-finals
2016		18	8th	34	15	9	10	52	44	8	54	10,728	Group stage	Round of 16	–
2017		18	4th	34	18	8	8	49	33	16	62	11,820	Group stage	Semi-finals	–
2018		18	17th	34	12	3	19	47	54	–7	39	11,298	Semi-finals	3rd round	Group stage
2019	J2	22	1st	42	25	9	8	85	33	52	84	9,471	Group stage	3rd round	–
2020 †	J1	18	7th	34	15	7	12	60	46	14	52	3,484	Runners-up	Did not qualify
2021 †		20	15th	38	12	5	21	37	56	–19	41	4,444	Group stage	3rd round
2022		18	7th	34	13	8	13	43	44	–1	47	8,499	Group stage	Round of 16
2023		18	17th	34	6	15	13	33	47	−14	33	11,130	Group stage	Runners-up
2024		20	TBA	38

Key

* 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

OTW / PKW = Overtime wins / Penalty kicks wins 1997 & 1998 seasons - 1999, 2000, 2001 & 2002 Overtime wins only
OTL / PKL = Overtime losses / Penalty kicks losses 1997 and 1998 seasons - 1999, 2000 & 2001 Overtime losses only
Attendance/G = Average home league attendance
† 2020 & 2021 seasons attendances reduced by COVID-19 worldwide pandemic
Source: J.League Data Site

Honours

Kashiwa Reysol honours
Honour	No.	Years
All Japan Works Football Championship (1948–1964)	2	1958, 1960
All Japan Inter-City Football Championship 1955–1964)	1	1963
JSL Division 1 (1965–1992)	1	1972
Emperor's Cup	3	1972, 1975, 2012
JSL Cup (1976–1991)	1	1976
JSL Division 2 (1972–1992)	1	1990–91
J.League Cup (1992–present)	2	1999, 2013
J2 League (1999–present)	2	2010, 2019
J1 League (1993–present)	1	2011
Japanese Super Cup	1	2012
Suruga Bank Championship	1	2014

League history

Division 1 (JSL): 1965–1971 (as Hitachi SC)
Division 1 (JSL Div. 1): 1972 to 1986–87
Division 2 (JSL Div. 2): 1987–88 to 1988–89
Division 1 (JSL Div. 1): 1989–90
Division 2 (JSL Div. 2): 1990–91
Division 1 (JSL Div. 1): 1991–92
Division 2 (former JFL Div. 1): 1992–1993
Division 2 (former JFL): 1994 (as Kashiwa Reysol)
Division 1 (J.League): 1995–1998
Division 1 (J1): 1999–2005
Division 2 (J2): 2006
Division 1 (J1): 2007–2009
Division 2 (J2): 2010
Division 1 (J1): 2011–2018
Division 2 (J2): 2019
Division 1 (J1): 2020–present

Current squad

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Haruki Saruta
2	DF	Hiromu Mitsumaru
3	DF	Diego
4	DF	Taiyo Koga (captain)
6	MF	Yuto Yamada
10	MF	Matheus Sávio
13	DF	Tomoya Inukai
14	MF	Tomoya Koyamatsu
15	FW	Kosuke Kinoshita
16	DF	Eiichi Katayama
17	FW	Jay-Roy Grot
18	FW	Yuki Kakita
19	FW	Mao Hosoya
21	GK	Masato Sasaki
22	DF	Hiroki Noda
23	DF	Wataru Iwashita
24	DF	Naoki Kawaguchi
25	MF	Fumiya Unoki
27	MF	Koki Kumasaka

No.	Position	Player
28	MF	Sachiro Toshima
29	MF	Takuya Shimamura
31	GK	Tatsuya Morita
32	DF	Hiroki Sekine
33	MF	Eiji Shirai
34	MF	Takumi Tsuchiya
35	FW	Hidetaka Maie
37	MF	Kohei Tezuka
38	MF	Yugo Masukake
39	MF	Nobuteru Nakagawa ^DSP
41	MF	Yusei Yamanouchi ^DSP
43	MF	Farzan Sana Mohammad
44	DF	Taisei Kuwata ^DSP
46	GK	Kenta Matsumoto
47	FW	William Owie
48	MF	Kazuki Kumasawa
49	GK	Daishi Kurisu ^{Type 2}
50	DF	Yugo Tatsuta

Out on loan

No.	Position	Player
5	MF	Tomoki Takamine (at Kortrijk)
45	FW	Ota Yamamoto (at Tochigi SC)
	DF	Hayato Tanaka (at V-Varen Nagasaki)

No.		Position	Player
		DF	Wataru Iwashita (at Roasso Kumamoto)
		MF	Riku Ochiai (at Mito Hollyhock)
		MF	Takuto Kato (at Fukushima United)

Kashiwa Reysol U-18

The main U-18 team of Kashiwa Reysol currently plays in the Prince Takamado U-18 Premier League.

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Daishi Kurisu
2	DF	Kensei Kobayashi
3	DF	Tetta Ikari
4	MF	Taiga Fukushima
5	MF	Eita Hirooka
6	MF	Atsuto Fujitani
7	MF	Shido Kurosawa
8	MF	Yuito Kamo
9	FW	Mohamad Sadiki Wade
10	FW	Akito Toda
11	FW	Futo Yoshihara
12	DF	Kazuki Ishizu
13	FW	Ken Ichimura
14	MF	Sogo Masukake
15	DF	Ryoji Okamoto
17	MF	Koki Oikawa
18	FW	Kento Kajita
19	FW	Futo Yoshihara
20	MF	Daizen Kawamoto
21	GK	Amato Noguchi Pinto
22	MF	Haoto Tokuda
24	DF	Kaname Mimura

No.	Position	Player
25	MF	Ao Kurosawa
26	DF	Kazuki Sakai
27	MF	Hayato Numahata
28	FW	Retsu Sawai
29	FW	Takuto Kazumi
31	GK	Genki Nishikawa
32	DF	Sota Kurishima
33	MF	Chiaki Abe
34	FW	Shoya Koshikawa
35	DF	Zen Nagasawa
36	DF	Reo Uehara
37	DF	Haruto Yoshikawa
38	MF	Koa Adegawa
39	DF	Jukito Maruyama
40	DF	Raku Sato
41	GK	Haruma Kaneko
42	MF	Shunnosuke Sugiyama
43	MF	Hikaru Yoneda
44	MF	Tatsuki Miyano
45	FW	Kian Ueno
46	FW	Hyogo Makibuchi
47	FW	Haruto Kishino

Club captains

Captain	Nationality	Tenure
Takahiro Shimotaira	Japan	–1998
Hong Myung-bo	Korea	1999
Tomokazu Myojin	Japan	2000–2005
Yuta Minami	Japan	2006–2007
Hidekazu Otani	Japan	2008–2022
Taiyo Koga	Japan	2023–present

Club officials

Club staff 2024

Position	Name
Manager	Masami Ihara
Coaches	Ryoichi Kurisawa Hidekazu Otani Yuta Someya
Coaches & Physical coach	Naoya Matsubara
Goalkeeping coach	Keita Inoue
Technical	Yasushi Okamura
Doctor	Kojiro Hyodo
Medical	Kaoru Arakawa Hiroyuki Akai Toshiya Itagaki Hisao Iwaki Fabiano
Interpreter	Isao Yakita Masayoshi Edson Hayakawa Michinori Katsuta
Scout and support coach	Lee Chang-won
Equipment	Masafumi Kimura
Competent	Takumi Miyamoto

Managerial history

Manager	Nationality	Tenure
Manager	Nationality	Start	Finish
Tokue Suzuki	Japan	1 February 1965	31 January 1966
Masayoshi Miyazaki	Japan	1 February 1966	31 January 1967
Kotaro Hattori	Japan	1 February 1967	31 January 1970
Hidetoki Takahashi	Japan	1 February 1970	31 January 1977
Takato Ebisu	Japan	1 February 1977	31 January 1979
Mutsuhiko Nomura	Japan	1 February 1979	31 January 1982
Yoshiki Nakamura	Japan	1 February 1982	31 January 1985
Yoshikazu Nagaoka	Japan	1 February 1985	30 June 1989
Hiroyuki Usui	Japan	1 July 1989	31 January 1993
Zé Sérgio	Brazil	1 February 1993	10 August 1995
Antoninho	Brazil	10 August 1995	31 January 1996
Nicanor	Brazil	1 February 1996	31 January 1998
Akira Nishino	Japan	1 February 1998	30 July 2001
Steve Perryman	England	1 August 2001	8 August 2002
Tomoyoshi Ikeya (caretaker)	Japan	9 August 2002	30 August 2002
Marco Aurelio	Brazil	31 August 2002	31 January 2004
Tomoyoshi Ikeya (caretaker)	Japan	1 February 2004	31 July 2004
Hiroshi Hayano	Japan	1 August 2004	31 January 2006
Nobuhiro Ishizaki	Japan	1 February 2006	31 January 2009
Shinichiro Takahashi	Japan	1 February 2009	14 July 2009
Masami Ihara (caretaker)	Japan	15 July 2009	30 July 2009
Nelsinho Baptista	Brazil	1 August 2009	31 January 2015
Tatsuma Yoshida	Japan	1 February 2015	31 January 2016
Milton Mendes	Brazil	1 February 2016	12 March 2016
Takahiro Shimotaira	Japan	12 March 2016	13 May 2018
Nozomu Katō	Japan	14 May 2018	10 November 2018
Ken Iwase	Japan	10 November 2018	31 January 2019
Nelsinho Baptista	Brazil	1 February 2019	17 May 2023
Masami Ihara	Japan	17 May 2023	present

Kit and colours

Colours

Kashiwa Reysol's main colour is yellow, like sunshine that is based on the club's name "Sun King". The uniform is yellow-black (called Aurinegro in Spanish) reminiscent of Peñarol or Borussia Dortmund. Reysol is the only top division club in the country to wear yellow-black.

Kit evolution

Home Kits - 1st
1992 - 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 -

Away Kit - 2nd
1992 - 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 -

Other Kits - 3rd
2013 ACL 1st	2013 ACL 2nd	2015 ACL 1st	2015 ACL 2nd	2018 ACL 1st
2018 ACL 2nd	2022 30th Anniversary

Continental record

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2012	AFC Champions League	Group H	Buriram United	1–0	3–2	2nd
			Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	5–1	0–2
			Guangzhou Evergrande	0–0	3–1
		Round of 16	Ulsan Hyundai	3–2
2013	AFC Champions League	Group H	Guizhou Renhe	1–1	0–1	1st
			Central Coast Mariners	3–1	0–3
			Suwon Samsung Bluewings	0–0	2–6
		Round of 16	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	2–5
		Quarter-finals	Al-Shabab	1–1	2–2	3–3 (a)
		Semi-finals	Guangzhou Evergrande	1–4	4–0	1–8
2015	AFC Champions League	Play-off round	Chonburi	3–2 (aet)
		Group E	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	3–2	0–0	1st
			Becamex Bình Dương	5–1	1–0
			Shandong Luneng	2–1	4–4
		Round of 16	Suwon Samsung Bluewings	1–2	2–3	4–4 (a)
		Quarter-finals	Guangzhou Evergrande	1–3	1–1	2–4
2018	AFC Champions League	Play-off round	Muangthong United	3–0
		Group E	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	0–2	3–2	3rd
			Tianjin Quanjian	1–1	3–2
			Kitchee	1–0	1–0