Avispa Fukuoka
For the record label, see Avispa.
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| Full name | Avispa Fukuoka | ||
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| Nickname(s) | Avi, Hachi(Hornet, in Japanese) | ||
| Founded | 1982 (moved in Fukuoka 1995) | ||
| Ground | Level-5 stadium Hakata-ku, Fukuoka | ||
| Capacity | 22,563 | ||
| Chairman |  Tadashi Otsuka | ||
| Manager | Yoshiyuki Shinoda | ||
| League | J. League Division 1 | ||
| 2010 | Div. 2 - 3rd Place (Promoted) | ||
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Avispa Fukuoka (アビスパ福岡, Abisupa Fukuoka) is a Japanese professional football club, currently playing in the J. League Division 1 having been promoted from J. League Division 2 in the 2010 season. The team is located in Hakata, Fukuoka. "Avispa" means "wasp" in Spanish.
History
In Fujieda
The club was founded as Chūō Bōhan F.C. in 1982 by the workers of security company Chuo Bohan in Fujieda, Shizuoka. They were promoted to the Japan Soccer League Division 2 in 1991. They participated in the newly founded former Japan Football League Division 2 in 1992 and were promoted to Division 1 in 1993. They changed their name to Chūō Bōhan F.C. Fujieda Blux with intention to be a J. League member. However, with difficulties to have a stadium that met J. League requirements, and with local competition from Júbilo Iwata and Shimizu S-Pulse, the football fan base in Shizuoka prefecture was already considered saturated. As a result, in 1994 they decided to move to Fukuoka where the community was eager to have a J. League club. They adopted new name Fukuoka Blux and became a J. League associate member. [1]
Note: Amateur club Chūō Bōhan F.C. was active in Fujieda until 2006.
1995 (JFL)
The first season in Fukuoka saw them win the JFL championship with help from Argentine Hugo Maradona and they were promoted to J. League.
1996 - 1998 (J. League)
They decided to change their name to Avispa Fukuoka to avoid a potential trademark dispute with men's clothier Brooks Brothers. The club acquired experienced players such as former Japanese international Satoshi Tsunami and defender Hideaki Mori but they finished lowly 15th in the 1996 season. They finished bottom of the league two seasons in a row from 1997 to 1998. At the end of the 1998 season, Avispa were involved in the play-offs but they narrowly escaped a relegation. Around this time, forward Yoshiteru Yamashita and midfielder Chikara Fujimoto were chosen for the Japanese national team.
Note: No team was relegated from J. League until 1998. With a view to the foundation of J. League Division 2 in 1999, the relegation/promotion play-offs were held in 1998 for the first time.
1999 - 2001 (J1)
In 1999, they again reinforced the squad by acquiring experienced players such as former internationals Nobuyuki Kojima and Yasutoshi Miura as well as Yugoslavian Nenad Maslovar. They won a fierce relegation battle and eventually stayed up. In 2000, Argentine David Bisconti and Romanian Pavel Badea were transferred to Fukuoka and they finished club record 6th in the second stage. In 2001, the club acquired former Korean international Noh Jung-Yoon and Yoshika Matsubara but they finished 15th and were relegated to J2.
2002 - 2005 (J2)
In 2002, they kept experienced players and released younger players such as Daisuke Nakaharai and Yoshiteru Yamashita but they finished 8th out of 10. In 2002, with new manager Hiroshi Matsuda, they decided to recruit and nurture young players who graduated from local high schools instead of acquiring experienced footballers from other clubs. They initially struggled but came back well and finished 4th. In 2004, they finished 3rd and qualified for the play-offs but Kashiwa Reysol dashed their promotion hope by beating them home and away (the scoreline was both 2-0). In 2005, they finished 2nd and gained an automatic promotion to J1. Avispa players Hokuto Nakamura and Tomokazu Nagira represented Japan for the 2005 World Youth Championship in Holland.
2006 (J1)
They had been involved in a relegation battle from the beginning of the season. They finished 16th and were relegated to J2 after the promotion/relegation play-offs against Vissel Kobe, which they tied twice, 0-0 in Kobe, then 1-1 at their home game. Like many J2 teams this has led to financial issues. The Daily Yomiuri reported that in 2006 Avispa needed 535 million yen in loans from the local prefectural and municipal governments.
2007 - 2008 (J2)
With relegation came another new manager, the former German international Pierre Littbarski. "Litti" arrived from the Australian A-League, bringing with him several experienced players such as Mark Rudan, Joel Griffiths and Ufuk Talay, but he was unable to steer Avispa to any notable success. Having finished 7th in 2007, an inability to compete near the top of the league led to Littbarski's sacking in mid-2008. He was replaced by former Avispa player Yoshiyuki Shinoda.
2009 (J2)
The departure of Littbarski coincided with the departure of the club's Australian players, who were largely replaced with youngsters from a number of Kyushu-based universities. After a reasonable start, Avispa's form has tailed off sharply, with a recent five-game losing streak including 6-0 and 5-0 thrashings away at Ventforet Kofu and Mito Hollyhock respectively. The club finished in the lower half of the J2 table with promotion hopes dashed for another year.
2010 (J2)
Yoshiyuki Shinoda bolstered his squad for the 2010 season by adding more players from local University teams, and picked up midfielders Kosuke Nakamachi and Genki Nagasato who had previously played together at Shonan Bellmare. The season started slowly with the team picking up only 1 point out of a possible 15 in March, but then saw a dramatic improvement in performance as they went on to win 17 of the next 25 games including a come from behind victory against promotion rivals JEF United. As JEF United went on to drop more points Avispa secured promotion back to J1 with 2 games of the season left to play.
Popular striker Tetsuya Okubo was released at the end of the season, along with 4 other players as the squad was prepared for J1.
Current players
As of June 29, 2011 Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Former players
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Record as J. League member
| Season | Div. | Tms. | Pos. | Attendance/G | J. League Cup | Emperor's Cup |
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| 1996 | J1 | 16 | 15 | 9,737 | Group Stage | 4th Round |
| 1997 | J1 | 17 | 17 | 8,653 | Group Stage | 4th Round |
| 1998 | J1 | 18 | 18 | 10,035 | Group Stage | 4th Round |
| 1999 | J1 | 16 | 14 | 11,467 | 2nd Round | 4th Round |
| 2000 | J1 | 16 | 12 | 13,612 | 2nd Round | 4th Round |
| 2001 | J1 | 16 | 15 | 13,822 | 2nd Round | 3rd Round |
| 2002 | J2 | 12 | 8 | 6,491 | - | 4th Round |
| 2003 | J2 | 12 | 4 | 7,417 | - | 3rd Round |
| 2004 | J2 | 12 | 3 | 8,743 | - | 4th Round |
| 2005 | J2 | 12 | 2 | 10,786 | - | 4th Round |
| 2006 | J1 | 18 | 16 | 14,900 | Group Stage | 5th Round |
| 2007 | J2 | 13 | 7 | 9,529 | - | 4th Round |
| 2008 | J2 | 15 | 8 | 10,079 | - | 3rd Round |
| 2009 | J2 | 18 | 11 | 7,763 | - | 3rd Round |
| 2010 | J2 | 19 | 3 | 8,821 | - | Qtr. Final |
- Key
- Tms. = Number of teams
- Pos. = Position in league
- Attendance/G = Average league attendance