Albirex Niigata

For many years it had been a local autonomous amateur club, Niigata 11, that could never hope to see the light of day in an old Japan Soccer League dominated almost entirely by company teams. The creation of the J. League spurred the club to rise, and in the 1990s it began climbing fast through the divisions.[1]

In 1998, Albirex Niigata joined the Japan Football League, and was merged into the J2 league after its creation in 1999. The team gradually became competitive and in 2001 and 2002 it came close to getting promoted to J1 and in 2003,[2] it became the champion of J2 and finally joined the top flight.

The team name is made from combining the star Albireo of the constellation Cygnus (the Swan) and the Latin word Rex meaning 'king'.[3] In 1997, due to copyright issues, the team name was changed from Albireo Niigata to the current Albirex Niigata.

In 2007, the uniform colour changed. Until 2006, the uniform was orange – blue – orange, but in 2007 the color became orange – orange – orange. This coordinate has not been adopted since 1996 when the team professionalized.

The success of Albirex Niigata had a big impact on the entire Japanese sporting world, including professional baseball. It showed people were more excited than expected for sports in local cities without the population of the metropolitan area in the past, and local citizens feelings influenced many other sports in the region.[4]

The Big Swan

Joining the J. League in 1999, its home towns are Niigata and Seiro. Until 2003, it used Niigata Perfectural Sport Ground as the home ground but since 2004, the team began using Niigata Stadium Big Swan as well and now plays most of its games there. In 2003,[5] it set a record for highest attendance in the J. League with the cumulative total of around 660,000.[4] Its practice grounds are Albirex's training facilities in Seiro Albillage and the Ijimino Sports Park (五十公野運動公園, Ijimino Undō Kōen) in Shibata.

The club plays its home games in the Niigata Stadium "Big Swan", which is currently called Denka Big Swan Stadium through a sponsorship deal. The stadium was opened in 2001, and has a capacity of 42,300. Prior to this the club had played its matches in the Niigata City Athletic Stadium constructed in 1938 with a capacity of 18,000.

The stadium was the site of two first round matches and one Round of 16 match in the past 2002 FIFA World Cup. It was also the venue for the 2009 National Sports Festival.

As of 4 March 2022.[6] 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  JPN Ryosuke Kojima 3 DF  AUS Thomas Deng 5 DF  JPN Michael Fitzgerald 6 MF  JPN Hiroki Akiyama 7 FW  JPN Kaito Taniguchi 8 MF  JPN Takahiro Ko 9 FW  JPN Koji Suzuki 10 MF  JPN Shion Homma 11 FW  POR Alexandre Guedes 13 MF  JPN Ryotaro Ito 14 MF  JPN Shunsuke Mito 15 DF  JPN Taiki Watanabe 17 MF  JPN Ippei Shinozuka (on loan from Kashiwa Reysol) 18 DF  JPN Fumiya Hayakawa 19 MF  JPN Yuji Hoshi 20 MF  JPN Yuzuru Shimada

No. Pos. Nation Player 21 GK  JPN Koto Abe 22 MF  JPN Eitaro Matsuda 23 FW  JPN Yota Komi 24 GK  JPN Takuya Seguchi 25 MF  JPN Soya Fujiwara 26 DF  JPN Ryo Endo 28 FW  JPN Ken Yamura 29 MF  PER Kazuyoshi Shimabuku 31 DF  JPN Yuto Horigome (captain) 32 DF  JPN Takumi Hasegawa 33 MF  JPN Yoshiaki Takagi 35 DF  JPN Kazuhiko Chiba 39 GK  JPN Haruki Nishimura 47 MF  JPN Jinpei Yoshida 50 DF  JPN Daichi Tagami

Out on loan

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  JPN Shosei Okamoto (to Kagoshima United) — GK  JPN Kazuki Fujita (to Tochigi SC)

As of February 2022

Position	Name
Head coach	Rikizo Matsuhashi
Assistant head coach	Toru Irie
Assistant head coach	Motoharu Watanabe
First Team coach	Yusuke Ogura
First Team coach	Tatsuya Tanaka
Goalkeeping Coach	Ryuji Ishizue
Technical Coach	Yoshiro Akano Namito Ikesawa
Physical Coach	Tsutomu Yasuno
Chief Doctor	Satoshi Watanabe
Chief Trainer	Seiichi Narahara
Trainer	Tetsuo Hasegawa
Physiotherapist	Takeshi Iokawa
Interpreter	Yu Kusayanagi
Chief Team Coordinator	Shuhei Ikekame
Team Coordinator	Ryo Doi
Equipment Manager	Kota Tamakawa

Correct as 30 January 2022

Manager	Nationality	Tenure		Managerial Record League
		Start	Finish	P	W	D	L	W %
Frans van Balkom	Netherlands	1 February 1995	31 January 1998 [7]	36	28	3	5	077.78
Yoshikazu Nagai	Japan	1 February 1998	31 December 2000 [7]	76	35	7	34	046.05
Yasuharu Sorimachi	Japan	1 February 2001	31 January 2006 [7]	196	97	40	59	049.49
Jun Suzuki	Japan	1 February 2006	31 January 2010 [7][8][9][10]	136	51	32	53	037.50
Hisashi Kurosaki	Japan	1 February 2010	21 May 2012 [11][12][13][14]	80	24	25	31	030.00
Nobuhiro Ueno caretaker	Japan	22 May 2012	10 June 2012 [14][15]	1	0	0	1	000.00
Masaaki Yanagishita	Japan	11 June 2012	31 January 2016 [13][14][16]	68	20	18	30	029.41
Tatsuma Yoshida	Japan	1 February 2016	27 September 2016 [17]	30	7	6	17	023.33
Koichiro Katafuchi caretaker	Japan	27 September 2016	31 January 2017 [17]	4	1	0	3	025.00
Fumitake Miura	Japan	1 February 2017	7 May 2017	10	1	2	7	010.00
Koichiro Katafuchi caretaker	Japan	8 May 2017	10 May 2017	0	0	0	0	!—
Wagner Lopes caretaker	Japan	11 May 2017	31 December 2017	23	6	5	12	026.09
Masakazu Suzuki	Japan	1 February 2018	7 August 2018	27	8	5	14	029.63
Koichiro Katafuchi	Japan	8 August 2018	13 April 2019	24	10	6	8	041.67
Kazuaki Yoshinaga	Japan	14 April 2019	31 January 2020	33	14	7	12	042.42
Albert Puig Ortoneda	Spain	1 February 2020	31 January 2022	84	32	29	23	038.10
Rikizo Matsuhashi	Japan	1 February 2022	Current	0	0	0	0	!—

• J. League Division 2
  • Champions (1): 2003[3]
• Hokushinetsu Football League
  • Champions (3): 1986, 1996, 1997
  • Runners-up (1): 1992
• Shakaijin Cup
  • Runners-up (1): 1995

Active departments of Albirex
Football (Men's) Football (Women's) Football (Singapore) Basketball (Men's) Basketball (Women's) Cheerleading Skiing Athletics Baseball Racing Snowboarding Football (Affiliate)

Since 2004, Albirex Niigata has selected a number of players for its satellite team in the Singapore Premier League. Albirex also has a women's team and joined L2 league (an equivalent of J2) in 2004. Albirex Ladies won the L2 title in 2006,[18] and went on to join L1 in 2007.

The following clubs are affiliated with Albirex Niigata:

• Albirex Niigata Ladies (Japan Women's Football League)
• Japan Soccer College (Hokushinetsu Football League)
• Albirex Niigata Singapore FC (Singapore Premier League)

In addition to the J-1 Albirex Niigata football team, there is a Niigata Albirex basketball club in the B.League, as well as a ski, snowboard, baseball, and track and field team. Though the teams share the same name, management and finances are completely separate for each team.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Albirex Niigata.

• Official website