Vegalta Sendai

Vegalta Sendai

Logo
Full name	Vegalta Sendai
Founded	1988 (1988)
Ground	Yurtec Stadium Sendai Izumi-ku, Sendai
Capacity	19,694
Chairman	Yoshihisa Nishikawa
Manager	Takashi Kiyama
League	J1 League
2019	J1 League, 11th of 18
Home colours Away colours

Vegalta Sendai (ベガルタ仙台, Begaruta Sendai) is a Japanese professional football club, currently playing in J1 League. The team is located in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. Their home stadium is Yurtec Stadium Sendai, in Izumi-ku, Sendai, although a few home games have also been played at nearby Miyagi Stadium.

History

Founded in 1988 as Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc. Soccer Club, Vegalta joined the J-League in 1999 after playing a few years in the JFL, with the nickname Brummell Sendai, to which they had been promoted in 1995 from the Tohoku Regional League. When joining the J-League, the name Vegalta was chosen as a homage to the famous Tanabata festival in Sendai. The names of the two celestial stars of the Tanabata legend, Vega and Altair were combined to form Vegalta.

They were first promoted to the top flight in 2002, but went back down the following season. They were promoted again for the 2010 season.

In 2011, despite the earthquake and tsunami, they achieved their highest position up to that time, 4th place in the top division. In 2012, despite leading the table for most of the season, Sanfrecce Hiroshima's challenge proved too strong, and losing the penultimate week game to relegation battler Albirex Niigata cost them the title, rendering them second-place winners, their highest position in history.

Honours

• Tohoku Football League Division 1: 1994 (as Brummell Sendai)
• Regional League Promotion Series: 1994 (as Brummell Sendai)
• J.League Division 2: 2009

Supporters and rivalries

Like most football clubs, Sendai's fans are to be heard singing and dancing throughout the match; but, most of the songs used by fans of other clubs are eschewed in favor of a more eclectic set. The club's theme, sung before every game, is Take Me Home, Country Roads, while during the game altered lyrics are sung to the tunes of The Lambrusco Kid by the Toy Dolls, Blitzkrieg Bop, and other songs by KISS and Twisted Sister.

Vegalta's traditional rivals are Montedio Yamagata from Yamagata Prefecture. The two have been rivals since meeting in the Tohoku Football League in 1991.

Uniforms

HOME
1999-2001	2002-2003	2004-2006	2007-2008	2009-2010
2011-2012	2013-2014	2015	2016	2017
2018	2019

AWAY
1999-2001	2002-2003	2004-2006	2007-2008	2009-2010
2011-2012	2013-2014	2015	2016	2017
2018	2019

OTHER
2009 15周年記念	2014 20周年記念	2016 SUMMER	2017 SUMMER	2018 SUMMER

Current players

As of 25 March 2020.

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

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
2	DF	BRA	Pará
3	MF	JPN	Ryutaro Iio
4	DF	JPN	Koji Hachisuka
5	MF	JPN	Keiya Shiihashi
6	MF	JPN	Shingo Hyodo
7	MF	JPN	Kunimitsu Sekiguchi
8	MF	JPN	Yoshiki Matsushita
9	MF	ESP	Isaac Cuenca
11	FW	JPN	Shuhei Akasaki
13	DF	JPN	Yasuhiro Hiraoka
14	MF	JPN	Takayoshi Ishihara
15	FW	JPN	Takuma Nishimura (on loan from CSKA Moscow)
16	DF	JPN	Kyohei Yoshino
17	MF	JPN	Shingo Tomita
18	MF	JPN	Ryohei Michibuchi
19	FW	JPN	Ryo Germain
20	FW	JPN	Shun Nagasawa
21	GK	JPN	Kentaro Seki

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
22	GK	JPN	Goro Kawanami
23	DF	MOZ	Simão Mate Junior
24	GK	JPN	Yuma Obata
26	DF	JPN	Takuma Hamasaki
27	GK	POL	Jakub Słowik
28	MF	JPN	Takumi Sasaki
29	FW	POR	Alexandre Guedes
30	MF	JPN	Wataru Tanaka
31	DF	JPN	Hayato Teruyama
33	DF	JPN	Masato Tokida
35	GK	KOR	Lee Yun-oh
36	DF	JPN	Takahiro Yanagi
37	MF	JPN	Shogo Nakahara
39	DF	KOR	Kim Jung-ya
42	FW	JPN	Hiroto Yamada (on loan from Cerezo Osaka)
—	MF	JPN	Fumiya Suzuki
—	FW	JPN	Naito Yoshida

Managers

Manager	Nat.	Tenure
Takekazu Suzuki	Japan	1995
Choei Sato	Japan	1996
Branko Elsner	Slovenia	Feb 1, 1997 – Dec 31, 1997
Miloš Rus	Slovenia	1997
Toshiya Miura	Japan	Feb 1, 1997 – Dec 31, 1997
Takekazu Suzuki	Japan	1998–99
Hidehiko Shimizu	Japan	1999–03
Hajime Ishii	Japan	2003
Zdenko Verdenik	Slovenia	Sept 21, 2003 – Dec 31, 2004
Satoshi Tsunami	Japan	Jan 1, 2005 – Dec 31, 2005
Joel Santana	Brazil	Dec 1, 2005 – Dec 31, 2006
Tatsuya Mochizuki	Japan	Jan 1, 2007 – Dec 31, 2007
Makoto Teguramori	Japan	Feb 1, 2008 – Nov 14, 2013
Graham Arnold	Australia	Nov 14, 2013 – April 9, 2014
Susumu Watanabe	Japan	April 10, 2014–

Record

Season	League	Standing	Points	Wins	Losses	Ties	Attendance
1995	JFL	15/16	27	9	21	0
1996	JFL	6/16	56	18	12	0
1997	JFL	8/16	40	15	15	0
1998	JFL	7(16)	43	18	12	0
1999	J2	9(10)	31	10	22	4	134,462
2000	J2	5(11)	55	19	19	2	177,967
2001	J2	2(12)	83	27	12	5	308,243
2002	J1 (1° stage)	9(16)	20	7	8	0	327,925
	J1 (2° stage)	15(16)	12	4	10	1
	J1 (season)	13(16)	32	11	18	1
2003	J1 (1° stage)	15(16)	12	3	9	3	325,621
	J1 (2° stage)	15(16)	12	2	6	7
	J1 (season)	15(16)	24	5	15	10
2004	J2	6(12)	59	15	15	14	356,359
2005	J2	4(12)	68	19	14	11	350,544
2006	J2	5(13)	77	21	13	14	346,868
2007	J2	4(13)	83	24	11	13	352,432
2008	J2	3(15)	70	18	16	8	295,679
2009	J2	1(18)	106	32	9	10	336,719
2010	J1	14(18)	39	10	9	15	294,644
2011	J1	4/18	56	14	6	14	266,144
2012	J1	2/18	57	15	7	12	282,200
2013	J1	13/18	45	11	12	11	252,725
2014	J1	14/18	38	9	11	14	257,949
2015	J1	14/18	35	9	8	17	234,442
2016	J1	12/18	43	13	4	17	262,937
2017	J1	12/18	41	11	8	15	250,677
2018	J1	11/18	45	13	6	15	242,791

Contiental record

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2013	AFC Champions League	Group E	Buriram United	1–1	1–1	4th
			Jiangsu Sainty	1–2	0–0
			FC Seoul	1–1	2–1

Finances

Despite leading J2 in attendance for the past three years, the club has struggled financially since being relegated from J1. In 2005, the team ran a deficit of 163 million yen, the only year since joining the J.League that they failed to turn a profit. Up until the closing date of the 2006 season (January 31, 2007), the team was projecting a 150 million yen deficit. However, the transfer fee for Borges was enough to drive them into the black for the season. The total profit in 2006 was 27 million yen.

Season	Income	Expenses
1999	599	578
2000	763	751
2001	1021	998
2002	2152	1950
2003	2348	2211
2004	2110	2103
2005	1787	1950
2006	TBD	TBD
in million yen

Asian clubs ranking

As of 14 October 2018.

Current Rank	Country	Team	Points
66		Al-Ahed SC	1379
67		Al-Nasr Dubai SC	1377
68		Vegalta Sendai	1375
69		Salgaocar F.C.	1372
70		Sagan Tosu	1372

External links

• (in Japanese) Vegalta Sendai Official Website