Shimizu S-Pulse facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Shimizu S-Pulse
清水エスパルス

Full name	Shimizu S-Pulse
Nickname(s)	S-Pa
Founded	1991; 34 years ago (1991)
Ground	IAI Stadium Nihondaira Shimizu, Shizuoka
Ground Capacity	20,339
Chairman	Shigeo Hidaritomo
Manager	Tadahiro Akiba
League	J1 League
2024	J2 League, 1st of 20 (promoted)
Home colours Away colours

Shimizu S-Pulse (清水エスパルス, Shimizu Esuparusu) is a professional football club from Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. The team is often called S-Pa by its fans.

Shimizu S-Pulse was started in 1991. They were one of the first ten teams to join the J.League, Japan's top professional football league, which began in 1993. What made them special back then was that all their players came from Shizuoka Prefecture.

Even though they are a younger club compared to many others, S-Pulse has done very well in cup competitions. They have played in ten cup finals, winning the J.League Cup once, the Emperor's Cup once, and the Asian Cup Winners' Cup once. They also won the Japanese Super Cup twice.

The team has not yet won the main J.League title. Their closest chance was in 1999, when they lost the final match in a penalty shootout to their local rivals, Júbilo Iwata. After being in the top league for many years, S-Pulse was moved down to the J2 League in 2015 and again in 2022. But they quickly bounced back both times! In 2024, they won the J2 League and will play in the J1 League again for the 2025 season.

Club History

Football in Shizuoka

Shizuoka Prefecture is known as a "football kingdom" in Japan. Many great football players have come from this area, and high school teams here are very strong. The local police even have a football as their mascot! People in Shizuoka love football, so there was a good chance for a new team to succeed.

How the Club Started

Shimizu S-Pulse was formed in early 1991. It was unique because it was started by local businesses and people, not by a big company team like most other J.League clubs. A couple of months later, the club was officially named Shimizu S-Pulse. The "S" stands for Shizuoka, Shimizu, Supporter, and Soccer. "Pulse" means the spirit of everyone who supports the team.

The J.League approved S-Pulse to join the new professional league in February 1991. Their first game was against Gamba Osaka on July 4, 1992, which is celebrated as the club's birthday. Their first home game was a 2-1 win against Yokohama Marinos on September 9, 1992, at Nihondaira Stadium.

Playing Professionally

S-Pulse quickly became a strong team. They reached the final of the first-ever J.League Cup in 1992 but lost. They kept trying and finally won the J.League Cup in 1996, beating Verdy Kawasaki.

In 1999, S-Pulse almost won the J.League title but lost to their rivals, Júbilo Iwata, in a penalty shootout. The new 2000s brought more success. They won the Asian Cup Winners' Cup in 2000 and the Emperor's Cup in 2001. They also won the Japanese Super Cup in 2001 and 2002. This meant they won four cups in just three years!

S-Pulse fans travel to support their team in Tokyo, September 2007.

In 2005, S-Pulse reached the Emperor's Cup final again but lost. From 2006 to 2008, they played very well in the league, finishing in the top five. In 2008, they made it to the League Cup final but lost to Oita Trinita.

After being in the top league for 23 seasons, S-Pulse was moved down to the J2 League in 2015. However, they quickly earned their way back to the J1 League in 2016. In 2022, they were moved down again, but on October 27, 2024, they beat Tochigi SC 1-0 and secured their promotion back to the J1 League for 2025!

Club Supporters

S-Pulse has many loud and colorful fans who follow the team everywhere. At games, a band plays music to cheer on the team, often with Brazilian-style samba rhythms. The most vocal fans gather in a special area called "The Kop" at Nihondaira Stadium. This area is also home to fan clubs dedicated to specific players. These groups organize big displays and support the band. There's even a section called "The Dragon Zone" where the most energetic fans, called ultras, gather. It can get very lively there, especially after goals! The club's official fan club has branches across the country, and S-Pulse supporters are known as the team's "twelfth player."

Club Ownership

Shimizu S-Pulse started as a "citizen club," meaning it was supported by local businesses and people. This was different from other teams that were owned by big companies. Today, a local logistics company called Suzuyo & Co., Ltd. is the main owner. The club is now run by a company called S-Pulse, Inc.

S-Pulse in Pop Culture

Even though S-Pulse is a relatively young club, it has appeared in popular Japanese culture. Kenta Hasegawa, a former player and manager for S-Pulse, sometimes appears as a character in the famous manga and anime series Chibi Maruko-chan. The author of the manga, Momoko Sakura, created this character after Hasegawa because they went to the same primary school. You can even find special S-Pulse themed Chibi Maruko-chan items! Also, in the popular Captain Tsubasa manga, two characters join S-Pulse when they become professional footballers.

Stadium

S-Pulse's main home stadium is the Nihondaira Sports Stadium in Shimizu. It can hold 20,248 people. Sometimes, the team plays games at other stadiums, especially bigger matches against rival teams. The Shizuoka "Ecopa" Stadium is sometimes used for these big games. It was built for the 2002 FIFA World Cup and can hold 51,349 people. Even though it's in Shizuoka Prefecture, it's about an hour away from Shimizu.

Stadium Naming Rights

In 2008, the stadium's name was changed to Outsourcing Stadium Nihondaira as part of a sponsorship deal. Then, in 2013, a new deal with IAI Corporation, a company that makes robots, changed the name to IAI Stadium Nihondaira. Fans often call it "I Sta" for short. This sponsorship was extended in 2018.

Future Plans for the Stadium

Because Nihondaira Stadium is often full, the club wants to expand its capacity. They have also talked about building a brand new, larger stadium in the future, possibly near Higashi-Shizuoka Station or Shimizu Station.

Training Ground

S-Pulse's main training facilities are called Miho Ground, located near the famous Miho no Matsubara. Sometimes, fans can watch training sessions and get autographs there. The club offices have also been at Miho Ground since the club started.

Rivalries

S-Pulse has a big rivalry with Júbilo Iwata, another football club from Shizuoka Prefecture. This rivalry is called the Shizuoka Derby. It started because S-Pulse was chosen for the first J.League season before Júbilo, even though Júbilo's team had been around longer.

Both teams often try to sign the best young players from the region's high schools and universities. For a while, Júbilo Iwata was more successful, but recently, S-Pulse has been doing better in the league and cup competitions.

There are other football clubs in Shizuoka, like Fujieda MYFC, Azul Claro Numazu, and Honda FC. Fujieda MYFC currently plays in the same league as S-Pulse, but the other clubs are in lower leagues.

Colours, Crest, and Mascot

Team Colours and Sponsors

Shimizu S-Pulse shirts.

First-choice goalkeeper colours

Since the team began, their home shirts have always been orange. This color was chosen to represent the famous local fruit of Shizuoka Prefecture, the mikan (a type of orange). The current bright orange color is called S-Pulse Orange. S-Pulse was the only top-division team in Japan to wear orange for a long time.

Their kit manufacturer has been Puma since 1997. The main shirt sponsor is the local Suzuyo Group. Other sponsors include the confectionery company Glico and Japan Airlines.

Team Crest

The current team crest was first used in 1997. It is designed around a globe, showing the club's goal to be a world-class team. The top of the badge looks like Mount Fuji, a famous mountain in Japan, to show that the team represents Shizuoka. The blue color in the crest represents Shimizu's history as a port town and its closeness to the sea.

Club mascot Palchan and his siblings.

Team Mascot

S-Pulse's mascot is named Palchan. He has big, wing-like ears and entertains fans with dance routines before games. He often performs with his two younger siblings. Palchan's name comes from the English word "pal" and "pul" from S-Pulse. The ending "chan" is a friendly Japanese title. Palchan wears team number zero, and his merchandise is very popular. S-Pulse also has a cheerleading team called Orange Wave.

Club Brand and Shops

S-Pulse Dream Plaza in Shimizu.

There are eight official S-Pulse club shops in and around Shizuoka City. Six of these are called S-Pulse Dream House. They sell club merchandise and match tickets. The Shimizu Dream House even has a big screen to watch away games.

S-Pulse Dream Plaza is a shopping and entertainment center in Shimizu. It has restaurants, a ferris wheel, a cinema, and a football museum. The team's name is also used for futsal courts called S-Pulse Dream Fields.

Near the port in Shimizu, there's a road called S-Pulse Street. It has statues and artworks related to the city's strong connection with football. You can find footprints and handprints of famous former players there. The S-Pulse brand also extends to motorcycle racing, with the S-Pulse Dream Racing Team.

League and Cup Record

Key

League History

• Division 1 (J1 League) : 1993–2015
• Division 2 (J2 League) : 2016
• Division 1 (J1 League) : 2017–2022
• Division 2 (J2 League) : 2023–2024
• Division 1 (J1 League) : 2025–

Club Honours

The S-Pulse Dream House in Shizuoka.

Current Players

No. Position Player 1 GK Yuya Oki 3 DF Yuji Takahashi 4 DF Sodai Hasukawa 5 DF Kengo Kitazume 9 FW Abdul-Aziz Yakubu 10 FW Carlinhos Júnior 11 FW Lucas Braga (on loan from Santos) 13 MF Kota Miyamoto 14 DF Reon Yamahara 16 MF Kenta Nishizawa 18 FW Takumi Kato 19 MF Kai Matsuzaki 20 GK Ryoya Abe 21 MF Shinya Yajima 22 DF Takumu Kenmotsu 23 FW Koya Kitagawa 25 MF Hikaru Naruoka 27 FW Riku Gunji

No. Position Player 28 DF Yutaka Yoshida 31 GK Togo Umeda 32 DF Sen Takagi 33 MF Takashi Inui 36 MF Zento Uno (on loan from Machida Zelvia) 37 FW Yosuke Morishige 39 MF Nagi Kawatani 43 FW Aoi Ando 44 MF Motoki Nishihara 45 MF Ryunosuke Yada Type 2 46 MF Sean Kotake Type 2 51 GK Yui Inokoshi 57 GK Shūichi Gonda 66 DF Jelani Reshaun Sumiyoshi (on loan from Sanfrecce Hiroshima) 70 MF Teruki Hara 71 MF Ryotaro Nakamura (on loan from Kashima Antlers) 99 FW Douglas Tanque

Players on Loan

No. Position Player 17 FW Riyo Kawamoto (at Thespa Gunma) 30 FW Kanta Chiba (at Fujieda MYFC) 41 MF Ryohei Shirasaki (at Machida Zelvia) 83 DF Shuta Kikuchi (at Montedio Yamagata) GK Kengo Nagai (at Yokohama FC)

No. Position Player DF Taketo Ochiai (at Okinawa SV) MF Yasufumi Nishimura (at AC Nagano Parceiro) FW Oh Se-hun (at Machida Zelvia) FW Sena Saito (at Thespa Gunma)

Famous Players

Here are some notable players who have played for Shimizu S-Pulse:

World Cup Players

Several S-Pulse players have represented their countries in the FIFA World Cup: World Cup 1994

• Ronaldão

World Cup 1998

• Teruyoshi Ito
• Toshihide Saito

World Cup 2002

• Daisuke Ichikawa
• Ryuzo Morioka
• Alex
• Kazuyuki Toda

World Cup 2006

• Cho Jae-Jin

World Cup 2010

• Shinji Okazaki

Club Officials

For the 2024 season.

Role	Name
Manager	Tadahiro Akiba
Assistant manager	Mitsumasa Yoda Daisuke Ichikawa Ichizo Nakata
Goalkeeper coach	Masaaki Furukawa
Conditioning coach	Ryo Nitta
Analyst	Tomofumi Kuriyama
Chief doctor	Mitsuhito Doi
Chief trainer	Takayuki Nakayama
Physiologist	Felipe Olive
Physiotherapist	Keisuke Ishihara
Trainer	Ryuichiro Maezawa Tomotaka Kato
Athletic trainer	Ryohei Shimura
Interpreter (English / Portuguese)	Daigo Terasaki Kota Kurosu
Interpreter (Korean)	Kang In-yeop
Interpreter (Portuguese)	Luiz Uehara
Chief secretary	Satoru Matsunaga
Secretary	Takahiro Nishiyama Kazuma Ishihara

Managers

Manager	Nationality	Time with Club
Émerson Leão	Brazil	Jan 1, 1992 – Dec 31, 1994
Rivellino	Brazil	Jan 1, 1994 – Dec 31, 1994
Masakatsu Miyamoto	Japan	1995–96
Osvaldo Ardiles	Argentina	Jan 1, 1996 – Dec 31, 1998
Steve Perryman	England	1999–2000
Zdravko Zemunović	Yugoslavia	Dec 15, 2000 – Dec 31, 2002
Takeshi Oki	Japan	2002–03
Koji Gyotoku	Japan	2003
Antoninho	Brazil	2003–04
Nobuhiro Ishizaki	Japan	June 26, 2004;– Nov 28, 2004
Kenta Hasegawa	Japan	Jan 1, 2005 – Dec 31, 2010
Afshin Ghotbi	Iran  United States	Feb 1, 2011 – July 30, 2014
Katsumi Oenoki	Japan	July 30, 2014 – Aug 1,2015
Kazuaki Tasaka	Japan	Aug 1,2015 – Dec 31, 2015
Shinji Kobayashi	Japan	Jan 1, 2016 – Dec 31, 2017
Jan Jönsson	Sweden	Jan 1, 2018 – June 11, 2019
Yoshiyuki Shinoda	Japan	May 14, 2019 – December 13, 2019
Peter Cklamovski	Australia	December 14, 2019 – November 2020
Miguel Ángel Lotina	Spain	February 1, 2021 – November 3rd 2021
Hiroaki Hiraoka	Japan	November 4, 2021 – May 30, 2022
Yoshiyuki Shinoda (caretaker)	Japan	May 31, 2022 – June 6, 2022
Zé Ricardo	Brazil	June 7, 2022 – April 3, 2023
Tadahiro Akiba	Japan	April 3, 2023 –

Images for kids

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  Mount Fuji as seen from Nihondaira Stadium.

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  The home end at IAI Stadium Nihondaira before a game in 2013.

See also

In Spanish: Shimizu S-Pulse para niños