Sagan Tosu
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| Full name | Sagan Tosu Football Club | ||
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| Nickname(s) | Sagan | ||
| Founded | 1997 | ||
| Ground | Tosu Stadium Tosu, Saga | ||
| Capacity | 24,000 | ||
| Chairman | Yukihiro Igawa | ||
| Manager |  Yoon Jung-Hwan(2011 - ) | ||
| League | J. League Division 1 | ||
| 2011 | J. League Division 2 2nd (Promoted) | ||
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Sagan Tosu (サガン鳥栖, Sagan Tosu) is a Japanese professional football (soccer) club, currently playing in the J. League Division 1. The team is located in Tosu, Saga Prefecture.
Sagan is a coined word with a couple of meanings behind it. One of its homophones is sandstone (砂岩, sagan) in Japanese. This symbolises many small elements uniting to form one formidable object. Also, Sagan Tosu can be interpreted as "Tosu of Saga (Prefecture)" (佐賀ん鳥栖, Saga-n Tosu) in the area's dialect. In addition, it is widely believed that the word is meant to be a pun with Italian giants Juventus although the club hasn't confirmed it.
History
In February 1997, Sagan was established as a new club which virtually takes over Tosu Futures, which became insolvent in the previous month, and admitted to participate Japan Football League from 1997 to 1998, as well as J. League Cup in 1997 as a preferential measure, although J. League Associate Membership status is not awarded to Sagan. In 1999 they were admitted to the new J. League Division 2 (J2), where they remained until their promotion to J1 at the end of the 2011 season.
Record as J. League member
| Season | Div. | Tms. | Pos. | Attendance/G | J. League Cup | Emperor's Cup |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | J2 | 10 | 8 | 3,385 | 1st Round | 3rd Round |
| 2000 | J2 | 11 | 6 | 3,714 | 1st Round | 3rd Round |
| 2001 | J2 | 12 | 10 | 3,479 | 1st Round | 4th Round |
| 2002 | J2 | 12 | 9 | 3,890 | - | 3rd Round |
| 2003 | J2 | 12 | 12 | 3,172 | - | 1st Round |
| 2004 | J2 | 12 | 11 | 3,610 | - | 4th Round |
| 2005 | J2 | 12 | 8 | 7,855 | - | 4th Round |
| 2006 | J2 | 13 | 4 | 7,465 | - | 4th Round |
| 2007 | J2 | 13 | 8 | 6,114 | - | 5th Round |
| 2008 | J2 | 15 | 6 | 7,261 | - | Quarter-final |
| 2009 | J2 | 18 | 5 | 5,939 | - | 4th Round |
| 2010 | J2 | 19 | 9 | 6,633 | - | 3rd Round |
| 2011 | J2 | 20 | 2 | 7,731 | - | 2nd Round |
- Key
- Tms. = Number of teams
- Pos. = Position in league
- Attendance/G = Average league attendance
Players
Current squad
As of May 1, 2012 Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Notable players
David Bisconti
Pericles
Mike Havenaar- Yugo Ichiyanagi
- Hirotsugu Nakabayashi
- Naoki Naruo
- Erikson Noguchipinto
- Junnosuke Schneider
Park Jung-Hye
Managers
- Ikuo Matsumoto (2004–06)
- Yasuyuki Kishino (2007–09)
- Ikuo Matsumoto (2010–??)
- Yoon Jung-Hwan (2011–)
