Vissel Kobe

Vissel Kobe
ヴィッセル神戸
	Logo
Full name	Vissel Kobe
Nickname(s)	-
Founded	1966
Ground	Kobe Wing Stadium,; Hyōgo-ku, Kobe & ; Kobe Universiade Memorial Stadium
Capacity	34,000 (Kobe Wing Stadium); 45,000 (Kobe Universiade Memorial Stadium)
Chairman	Hiroshi Mikitani
Manager	Hiroshi Matsuda (Dec. 2006-)
League	J. League Div.1
2007	10th Place
Home colours	Away colours

File:VisselKobe.gif

old logo

Vissel Kobe (ヴィッセル神戸, Visseru Kōbe) is a Japanese professional football (soccer) club, currently playing in the J. League Division 1. The team is located in Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture. The home stadium is Kobe Wing Stadium, in Hyōgo-ku, though some home matches are played at Kobe Universiade Memorial Stadium in Suma-ku.

History

The club was founded in 1966 as the semi-professional Kawasaki Steel Soccer Club in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture. In 1994, the city of Kobe reached an agreement with Kawasaki Steel, the parent company, to move the club to Kobe and compete for a spot in the professional J. League as Vissel Kobe. Vissel is a combination of the words "victory" and "vessel", a nod to Kobe's history as a port city.

Vissel Kobe began play in 1995 in the Japan Football League, a league below J.League and the supermarket chain Daiei was slated to the club's primary investor. However, the economic downturn following Great Hanshin earthquake forced Daiei to pull out and the city of Kobe would be responsible for operating the club.

After finishing 2nd in JFL in 1996, Vissel was promoted to the J. League and began play in the top division of soccer in 1997. However, due to mismanagement, including the inability to secure investors and sponsors, Vissel has never been a contender for the league title. In December, 2003, mounting financial losses forced the club to file for bankruptcy protection.

In January, 2004, Vissel was sold to Crimson Group, parent company of online merchant Rakuten, whose president is Kobe native Hiroshi Mikitani. So far, Mikitani's attempts to strengthen the team have met little success. Vissel's first signing under the Mikitani regime, İlhan Mansız, who was acquired partly to capitalize on his popularity during the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan, was a massive failure - the Turkish forward played just three matches before leaving the team because of a knee injury. Mikitani also alienated supporters by changing the team uniform colors from black and white stripes to crimson, after his Crimson Group and the color of his alma mater, Harvard Business School.

Vissel finished 13th in the league in 2004, the same position as the previous year, and finished 18th and last place, resulting in automatic relegation from J. League Division 1, or J1, to J2. During the two-year span, Vissel has had five different head coaches. 2006 will be Vissel's first season in J2 after nine years in the top division of soccer in Japan. They finished 3rd in the 2006 season and are promoted to J1 after beating Avispa Fukuoka in the promotion/relegation play-offs.

Team Record

J.League

Season	League	Place	GP	Pts	Win	Draw	Lose	Average Crowd
1997	J1 1st stage	14 / 17	16	17	6	-	10	6,567
	J1 2nd stage	17 / 17	16	7	3	-	13
	J1 Total	16 / 17	32	24	9	-	23
1998	J1 1st stage	17 / 18	17	9	3	-	14	7,686
	J1 2nd stage	14 / 18	17	16	6	-	11
	J1 Total	17 / 18	34	25	9	-	25
1999	J1 1st stage	12 / 16	15	15	5	1	9	7,691
	J1 2nd stage	7 / 16	15	22	7	3	5
	J1 Total	10 / 16	30	37	12	4	14
2000	J1 1st stage	7 / 16	15	22	7	1	7	7,512
	J1 2nd stage	14 / 16	15	11	4	0	11
	J1 Total	13 / 16	30	33	11	1	18
2001	J1 1st stage	10 / 16	15	19	6	2	7	13,872
	J1 2nd stage	13 / 16	15	14	3	5	7
	J1 Total	12 / 16	30	33	9	7	14
2002	J1 1st stage	13 / 16	15	12	4	1	10	10,467
	J1 2nd stage	10 / 16	15	19	6	2	7
	J1 Total	14 / 16	30	31	10	3	17
2003	J1 1st stage	13 / 16	15	16	5	1	9	11,195
	J1 2nd stage	13 / 16	15	14	3	5	7
	J1 Total	13 / 16	30	30	8	6	16
2004	J1 1st stage	12 / 16	15	15	3	6	6	15,735
	J1 2nd stage	8 / 16	15	21	6	3	6
	J1 Total	11 / 16	30	36	9	9	12
2005	J1	18 / 18	34	21	4	9	21	14,913
2006	J2	3 / 13	48	86	25	11	12	6,910
2007	J1	10 / 18	34	47	13	8	13	12,460

Key to colors
	Played in 1st division league
	Played in 2nd division league

Other domestic competitions

Emperor's Cup

Season	Result
1997	4th Round
1998	3rd Round
1999	3rd Round
2000	Semi-finals
2001	4th Round
2002	3rd Round
2003	Quarter-finals
2004	4th Round
2005	4th Round
2006	3rd Round
2007	5th Round

J. League Cup

Season	Result
1997	Group Stage
1998	Group Stage
1999	1st Round
2000	2nd Round
2001	2nd Round
2002	Group Stage
2003	Group Stage
2004	Group Stage
2005	Group Stage
2006	Didn't qualify
2007	Group Stage

Players

Current squad

As of July 6, 2008 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	Tatsuya Enomoto
2	DF	JPN	Teruaki Kobayashi
4	DF	JPN	Kunie Kitamoto
5	DF	JPN	Hiroyuki Komoto
6	MF	KOR	Kim Nam-Il
7	MF	KOR	Park Kang-Jo
8	FW	JPN	Keisuke Kurihara
9	FW	BRA	Leandro
10	MF	BRA	Botti
11	FW	JPN	Shota Matsuhashi
13	FW	JPN	Yoshito Okubo
14	MF	JPN	Tomoyuki Sakai
15	DF	JPN	Toshihiko Uchiyama
16	MF	JPN	Seiji Koga
17	MF	JPN	Takayuki Yoshida
18	MF	JPN	Hideo Tanaka
19	FW	JPN	Daisuke Sudo


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
20	MF	JPN	Norio Suzuki
21	DF	JPN	Hiroto Mogi
22	MF	JPN	Kenji Baba
23	FW	JPN	Gakuto Kondo
24	MF	JPN	Masatoshi Mihara
25	DF	JPN	Yosuke Ishibitsu
26	MF	JPN	Ryosuke Matsuoka
27	FW	JPN	Hiroki Kishida
28	MF	JPN	Takayuki Toyomitsu
29	GK	JPN	Takahide Kishi
30	GK	JPN	Kenta Tokushige
32	DF	JPN	Masaki Yanagawa
33	GK	JPN	Kohei Doi
34	MF	JPN	Keita Sogabe
35	FW	JPN	Masahiro Ito
36	DF	JPN	Keiichi Misawa
37	FW	JPN	Nobuhiro Uetani

Notable players

World Cup players

World Cup 1998

Kim Do-Hoon

Managers

Manager	Nat.	Tenure
Stuart Baxter	England	1997
Hiroshi Kato	Japan	1997
Benito Floro Sanz	Spain	1998
Ryoichi Kawakatsu	Japan	1999-2002
Hiroshi Matsuda	Japan	2002
Hiroshi Soejima	Japan	2003
Ivan Hašek	Czech Republic	2004
Hiroshi Kato	Japan	2004
Hideki Matsunaga	Japan	2005
Émerson Leão	Brazil	2005
Pavel Řehák	Czech Republic	2005
Stuart Baxter	England	2006
Hiroshi Matsuda	Japan	2006-