Sanfrecce Hiroshima

Sanfrecce Hiroshima
サンフレッチェ広島

Full name	Sanfrecce Hiroshima FC
Nickname(s)	Sanfrecce, Sanfre, Viola
Founded	1938[1] (as Toyo Industries SC)
Ground	Edion Stadium Hiroshima Asaminami-ku, Hiroshima
Capacity	36,894[2]
Owner	EDION Mazda
Chairman	Takuya Yamamoto
Manager	Hiroshi Jofuku
League	J1 League
2020	J1 League, 8th of 18
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

Sanfrecce Hiroshima (Japanese: サンフレッチェ広島, romanized: Sanfuretche Hiroshima) is a Japanese professional football club based in Asaminami-ku, Hiroshima. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country.

Club name

The club name is a portmanteau of the Japanese numeral for three, San and the Italian word frecce, which means 'arrows'. This is based on the story of the feudal lord Mōri Motonari who told his three sons that while a single arrow might be easily snapped, three arrows held together would not be broken and urged them to work for the good of the clan and its retainers.^[3] A similar event occurred in The Secret History of the Mongols; "One day in spring, while she was cooking some dried lamb, she had her five sons Belgünütei, Bügünütei, Buqu Qatagi, Buqatu Salji and Bodončar Mungqaq sit in a row. She gave an arrow-shaft to each of them and said, ‘Break it!’ One by one they immediately broke the single arrowshafts and threw them away. Then she tied five arrowshafts into a bundle and gave it to them saying, ‘Break it!’ The five sons each took the five bound arrow-shafts in turn, but they were unable to break them.^[4]

• 1938–70: Toyo Kogyo Syukyu Club (東洋工業蹴球部) {"Syukyu" means "football" in Japanese.}
  • 1943–46: Play was suspended during this period due to the Pacific War.
• 1971–80: Toyo Kogyo Soccer Club (東洋工業サッカー部)
• 1981–83: Mazda Sports Club Toyo Kogyo Soccer Club (マツダスポーツクラブ東洋工業サッカー部)
• 1984–85: Mazda Sports Club Soccer Club (マツダスポーツクラブサッカー部)
• 1986–92: Mazda Soccer Club (マツダサッカークラブ)
• 1992–present: Sanfrecce Hiroshima (サンフレッチェ広島)

Location

The club's home town is Hiroshima and the side plays at Hiroshima Big Arch and Hiroshima Prefectural Stadium. It holds training sessions at Yoshida Soccer Park in Akitakata, Hiroshima and Hiroshima 1st Ball Park.

History

As Mazda team

The club was a former company team of Toyo Kogyo Soccer Club (東洋工業サッカー部) in 1938 and played in the semi-professional Japan Soccer League.

The club was an original founder ("Original Eight"^[a]) of the now-disbanded Japan Soccer League (JSL) in 1965. They dominated the JSL's early years, winning the title 4 times in a row – a feat that was later equaled by Yomiuri SC/Verdy Kawasaki. The name change was made at Mazda SC (マツダSC) in 1981. When JSL disbanded and became the J.League in 1992, it dropped the company name and became "Sanfrecce Hiroshima". Alongside JEF United Ichihara Chiba and Urawa Red Diamonds they co-founded both leagues ("Original Ten"^[b]).

During the 1969 season they participated in the Asian Club Cup, forerunner to today's AFC Champions League; at the time, the tournament was done in a single locale (in that year it was Bangkok, Thailand), and they ended up in third place, the first participation of a Japanese club in the continental tournament. This also cost them the league title to Mitsubishi/Urawa, and although they won another title in 1970, since then the club has been out of the running for the title, with exceptional seasons such as 1994 when they won runner-up.

1965 Inaugural League Champion

The Toyo Industries that became the first JSL champions also completed the first double by taking the Emperor's Cup. They were also the first of three "Invincibles", undefeated champion clubs in Japan (the others were Mitsubishi in 1969 and Yamaha in 1987–88), although only Toyo completed a double.

Matsumoto, Ogi, and Yasuyuki Kuwahara went on to win the 1968 Olympic bronze medal for the national team.

2000s

former logo

In 2002, Sanfrecce became the first former stage winner (first stage, 1994) to be relegated to the lower division, J2. But it only spent a year there, finishing second the very next season to regain promotion back to J1. The club finished 16th in the 2007 season and were relegated to J.League Division 2 after they were beaten by Kyoto Sanga in the promotion/relegation play-off. In 2008 they nevertheless won the J2 title at the first attempt, having 84 points (a difference of 25 points with the runner-up clubs) with six matches left.

By virtue of earning fourth place in the 2009 season and Gamba Osaka retaining the Emperor's Cup, Sanfrecce qualified for the Asian Champions League, where they were knocked out in the group phase.

On 24 November 2012, Sanfrecce defeated Cerezo Osaka 4–1 to seal their first ever J.League Division 1 title.^[5][6]

On 7 December 2013, Sanfrecce defeated Kashima Antlers 2–0, securing their second J.League Division 1 title following a thrilling finish to the season which saw first-place Yokohama F. Marinos losing their final league game, handing Sanfrecce the title. With their second consecutive title win, Sanfrecce became the second club to successfully defend their crown since Kashima Antlers in 2009.

Kit and colours

Colours

The main colour of Sanfrecce Hiroshima is purple.

Kit evolution

Home
1992 - 1995	1996 - 1999	2000 - 2002	2003 - 2004	2005 - 2006
2007 - 2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
2019

Away
1992 - 1995	1996 - 1999	2000 - 2002	2003 - 2004	2005 - 2006
2007 - 2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
2019

Others
2011 3rd	2012 3rd	2018 8.11 平和祈念	2019 3rd	2019 8.3 平和祈念

Record as J.League member

Key

• Tms. = Number of clubs
• Pos. = Position in league
• Attendance/G = Average home league attendance

League history

• Division 1 (Japan Soccer League Div. 1): 1965–1983 (as Toyo 1965–1980, as Mazda 1981–)
• Division 2 (Japan Soccer League Div. 2): 1984–1985
• Division 1 (Japan Soccer League Div. 1): 1986/87–1987/88
• Division 2 (Japan Soccer League Div. 2): 1988/89–1990/91
• Division 1 (Japan Soccer League Div. 1): 1991/92
• Division 1 (J.League Div. 1): 1993–2002 (as Sanfrecce Hiroshima)
• Division 2 (J.League Div. 2): 2003
• Division 1 (J.League Div. 1): 2004–2007
• Division 2 (J.League Div. 2): 2008
• Division 1 (J.League Div. 1): 2009–present

Total (as of 2016): 45 seasons in the top tier and 7 seasons in the second tier.

Honours

Continental record

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2010	AFC Champions League	Group H	Shandong Luneng	0–1	3–2	3rd
			Pohang Steelers	4–3	1–2
			Adelaide United	1–0	2–3
2013	AFC Champions League	Group G	Bunyodkor	0–2	0–0	4th
			Beijing Guoan	0–0	1–2
			Pohang Steelers	0–1	1–1
2014	AFC Champions League	Group F	Beijing Guoan	1–1	2–2	2nd
			Central Coast Mariners	1–0	1–2
			FC Seoul	2–1	2–2
		Round of 16	Western Sydney Wanderes	3–1	0–2	3–3 (a)
2016	AFC Champions League	Group F	Shandong Luneng	1–2	0–1	3rd
			FC Seoul	2–1	1–4
			Buriram United	3–0	2–0
2019	AFC Champions League	Play-off round	Chiangrai United	0–0 (a.e.t.) (4–3 p)
		Group F	Guangzhou Evergrande	1–0	0–2	1st
			Melbourne Victory	2–1	3–1
			Daegu FC	2–0	1–0
		Round of 16	Kashima Antlers	3–2	0–1	3–3 (a)

Personnel awards

Domestic

• J.League Player of the Year
  • Hisato Satō (2012)
  • Toshihiro Aoyama (2015)
• J.League Top Scorer
  • Hisato Satō (2012)
• J.League Best Eleven
  • Takuya Takagi (1994)
  • Hisato Satō (2005, 2012)
  • Tomoaki Makino (2010)
  • Hiroki Mizumoto (2012)
  • Shusaku Nishikawa (2012, 2013)
  • Toshihiro Aoyama (2012, 2013, 2015)
  • Yojiro Takahagi (2012)
  • Tsukasa Shiotani (2014, 2015)
  • Douglas (2015)
• J.League Rookie of the Year
  • Kazuyuki Morisaki (2000)
  • Takuma Asano (2015)
• J.League Cup New Hero Award
  • Yojiro Takahagi (2010)
• J.League Manager of the Year
  • Hajime Moriyasu (2012, 2013, 2015)

International

• FIFA Club World Cup Top Scorer
  • Hisato Satō (2012)
• FIFA Puskás Award nominee
  • Hisato Satō (2014)

Players

Current squad

As of 13 February 2021^[7]

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 Takuto Hayashi 2 DF JPN Yuki Nogami 3 DF JPN Akira Ibayashi 4 DF JPN Hayato Araki 6 MF JPN Toshihiro Aoyama 8 MF JPN Hayao Kawabe 9 FW BRA Douglas Vieira 10 MF JPN Tsukasa Morishima 14 MF BRA Ezequiel 15 MF JPN Tomoya Fujii 16 MF JPN Kohei Shimizu 18 MF JPN Yoshifumi Kashiwa 19 DF JPN Sho Sasaki

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 FW JPN Ryo Nagai 22 GK JPN Goro Kawanami 23 FW JPN Shun Ayukawa 24 MF JPN Shunki Higashi 25 MF JPN Yusuke Chajima 26 MF JPN Kodai Dohi 27 MF BRA Rhayner (on loan from Tombense) 29 MF JPN Yuya Asano 30 MF JPN Kosei Shibasaki 33 DF JPN Yuta Imazu 37 FW BRA Júnior Santos 38 GK JPN Keisuke Osako 41 MF JPN Yoichi Naganuma

Managers

Manager	Nationality	Tenure	Club	Assistant coach
Yoshiki Yamazaki	Japan	1938–42, 1947–50	Toyo Kogyo	N/A
Minoru Obata	Japan	1951–63
Yukio Shimomura	Japan	1964–71
Kenzo Ohashi	Japan	1972–75
Ikuo Matsumoto	Japan	1976
Aritatsu Ogi	Japan	1977–80
Teruo Nimura	Japan	1981–83	MAZDA Sports	Eckhard Krautzun (August – September 1983)
Kazuo Imanishi	Japan	1984–87		Hans Ooft (1984–87) Dido Havenaar (1986–87)
Hans Ooft	Netherlands	1987–88		Dido Havenaar (1987–88)
Kazuo Imanishi	Japan	1988–92		Bill Foulkes (1988–91)
Stuart Baxter	Scotland	July 1992 – December 1994	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Jan Jönsson (1993–94)
Wim Jansen	Netherlands	January 1995 – Dececember 1996		N/A
Eddie Thomson	Scotland	January 1997 – December 2000		Tom Sermanni (1997–98)
Valeri Nepomniachi	Russia	1 January 2001 – 31 December 2001		N/A
Gadzhi Gadzhiev	Russia	1 January 2002 – June 2002
Takahiro Kimura	Japan	June 2002 – December 2002
Takeshi Ono	Japan	1 December 2002 – 1 April 2006
Kazuyori Mochizuki (interim)	Japan	2 April 2006 – 9 June 2006
Mihailo Petrović	Serbia	10 June 2006 – 31 December 2011		Ranko Popović (2006–07)
Hajime Moriyasu	Japan	1 January 2012 – 4 July 2017		N/A
Jan Jönsson	Sweden	10 July 2017 – 7 December 2017
Hiroshi Jofuku	Japan	7 December 2017 – present

Notes

References

External links

• Official website (in Japanese and English)