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Albirex Niigata (アルビレックス新潟, Arubirekkusu Nīgata) is a professional football club based in Niigata, Japan. Formed in 1955 as Niigata Eleven SC, it was renamed Albireo Niigata FC in 1995, and Albirex Niigata in 1997. From 2023, Albirex will be playing on the J1 League, coming back to the first division after five seasons.

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Albirex Niigata

Full name	Albirex Niigata
Nickname(s)	Albi
Founded	1955; 67 years ago (1955)
Ground	Denka Big Swan Stadium, Niigata
Capacity	42,300
Chairman	Daisuke Korenaga
Manager	Rikizo Matsuhashi
League	J1 League
2022	J2 League, 1st of 22 (promoted)
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours
Current season

History

For many years it had been a local autonomous amateur club, Niigata 11, that could never hope to see the light of day in an old Japan Soccer League dominated almost entirely by company teams. The creation of the J. League spurred the club to rise, and in the 1990s it began climbing fast through the divisions.[1]

In 1998, Albirex Niigata joined the Japan Football League, and was merged into the J2 league after its creation in 1999. The team gradually became competitive and in 2001 and 2002 it came close to getting promoted to J1 and in 2003,[2] it became the champion of J2 and finally joined the top flight.

The team name is made from combining the star Albireo of the constellation Cygnus (the Swan) and the Latin word Rex meaning 'king'.[3] In 1997, due to copyright issues, the team name was changed from Albireo Niigata to the current Albirex Niigata.

In 2007, the uniform colour changed. Until 2006, the uniform was orange – blue – orange, but in 2007 the color became orange – orange – orange. This coordinate has not been adopted since 1996 when the team professionalized.

The success of Albirex Niigata had a big impact on the entire Japanese sporting world, including professional baseball. It showed people were more excited than expected for sports in local cities without the population of the metropolitan area in the past, and local citizens feelings influenced many other sports in the region.[4]

Team name transition

• Niigata Eleven SC (Soccer Club) (1955)
• Albireo Niigata FC (1995)
• Albirex Niigata (1997)

Stadium

Joining the J. League in 1999, its home towns are Niigata and Seiro. Until 2003, it used Niigata Perfectural Sport Ground as the home ground but since 2004, the team began using Niigata Stadium Big Swan as well and now plays most of its games there. In 2003,[5] it set a record for highest attendance in the J. League with the cumulative total of around 660,000.[4] Its practice grounds are Albirex's training facilities in Seiro Albillage and the Ijimino Sports Park (五十公野運動公園, Ijimino Undō Kōen) in Shibata.

The club plays its home games in the Niigata Stadium "Big Swan", which is currently called Denka Big Swan Stadium through a sponsorship deal. The stadium was opened in 2001, and has a capacity of 42,300. Prior to this the club had played its matches in the Niigata City Athletic Stadium constructed in 1938 with a capacity of 18,000.

The stadium was the site of two first round matches and one Round of 16 match in the past 2002 FIFA World Cup. It was also the venue for the 2009 National Sports Festival.

Record as J.League member

Champions

Runners-up

Third place

Promoted

Relegated

League													J.League Cup	Emperor's Cup
Season	Div.	Teams	Pos.	P	W (OTW)	D	L (OTL)	F	A	GD	Pts	Attendance/G
1999	J2	10	4th	36	16 (4)	2	13 (1)	46	40	6	58	4,211	1st round	3rd round
2000		11	7th	40	11 (4)	5	18 (2)	54	63	9	46	4,007	1st round	Round of 16
2001		12	4th	44	22 (4)	4	7 (7)	79	47	32	78	16,659	1st round	4th round
2002		12	7th	44	23	13	8	75	47	28	82	21,478	Not eligible	3rd round
2003		12	1st	44	27	7	10	80	40	40	88	30,339		Round of 16
2004	J1	16	10th	30	10	7	13	47	58	-11	37	37,689	Group stage	4th round
2005		18	12nd	34	11	9	14	47	62	-15	42	40,114	Group stage	Round of 16
2006		18	14th	34	12	6	16	46	65	-19	42	38,709	Group stage	Round of 16
2007		18	6th	34	15	6	13	48	47	1	51	38,276	Group stage	4th round
2008		18	13th	34	11	9	14	32	46	-14	37	34,490	Group stage	Round of 16
2009		18	8th	34	13	11	10	42	31	11	50	33,446	Group stage	Quarter-finals
2010		18	9th	34	12	13	9	48	45	3	49	30,542	Group stage	Round of 16
2011		18	14th	34	10	9	15	38	46	-8	39	26,049	Quarter-finals	3rd round
2012		18	15th	34	10	10	14	29	34	-5	40	25,018	Group stage	3rd round
2013		18	7th	34	17	4	13	48	42	6	55	26,112	Group stage	3rd round
2014		18	12nd	34	12	8	14	30	36	-6	44	22,979	Group stage	3rd round
2015		18	15th	34	8	10	16	41	58	-17	34	21,936	Semi-finals	3rd round
2016		18	15th	34	8	6	20	33	49	-16	30	21,181	Group stage	Round of 16
2017		18	17th	34	7	7	20	28	60	-32	28	22,034	Group stage	3rd round
2018	J2	22	16th	42	15	8	19	48	56	-8	53	14,913	Group stage	3rd round
2019		22	10th	42	17	11	14	71	52	-19	62	14,497	Not eligible	2nd round
2020 †		22	11st	42	14	15	13	55	55	0	57	5,361		Did not qualify
2021 †		22	6th	42	18	14	10	61	40	21	68	10,879		3rd round
2022		22	1st	42	25	9	8	73	35	38	84	14,954		2nd round

Key

Current squad

As of 9 July 2022[6]

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 Ryosuke Kojima 3 DF  AUS Thomas Deng 5 DF  JPN Michael Fitzgerald 6 MF  JPN Hiroki Akiyama 7 FW  JPN Kaito Taniguchi 8 MF  JPN Takahiro Ko 9 FW  JPN Koji Suzuki 11 FW  POR Alexandre Guedes 13 MF  JPN Ryotaro Ito 14 MF  JPN Shunsuke Mito 15 DF  JPN Taiki Watanabe 17 MF  RUS Ippei Shinozuka (on loan from Kashiwa Reysol) 18 DF  JPN Fumiya Hayakawa 19 MF  JPN Yuji Hoshi 20 MF  JPN Yuzuru Shimada

No. Pos. Nation Player 21 GK  JPN Koto Abe 22 MF  JPN Eitaro Matsuda 23 FW  JPN Yota Komi 24 GK  JPN Takuya Seguchi 25 MF  JPN Soya Fujiwara 28 FW  JPN Ken Yamura 29 MF  PER Kazuyoshi Shimabuku 31 DF  JPN Yuto Horigome (captain) 32 DF  JPN Takumi Hasegawa 33 MF  JPN Yoshiaki Takagi 35 DF  JPN Kazuhiko Chiba 39 GK  JPN Haruki Nishimura 47 MF  JPN Jinpei Yoshida 50 DF  JPN Daichi Tagami

Out on loan

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  JPN Kazuki Fujita (to Tochigi SC) — DF  JPN Shosei Okamoto (to Kagoshima United) 26 DF  JPN Ryo Endo (to Iwaki FC)

Notable players

Technical staff

As of February 2022

Position	Name
Manager	Rikizo Matsuhashi
Assistant manager	Toru Irie Motoharu Watanabe
First Team coach	Yusuke Ogura Tatsuya Tanaka
Goalkeeping coach	Ryuji Ishizue
Technical coach	Yoshiro Akano Namito Ikesawa
Physical coach	Tsutomu Yasuno
Chief doctor	Satoshi Watanabe
Chief trainer	Seiichi Narahara
Trainer	Tetsuo Hasegawa
Physiotherapist	Takeshi Iokawa
Interpreter	Yu Kusayanagi
Chief team coordinator	Shuhei Ikekame
Team coordinator	Ryo Doi
Equipment manager	Kota Tamakawa

Managerial history

Correct as of 23 October 2022

Manager	Nationality	Tenure		Managerial Record League
		Start	Finish	P	W	D	L	W %
Frans van Balkom	Netherlands	1 February 1995	31 January 1998 [7]	36	28	3	5	077.78
Yoshikazu Nagai	Japan	1 February 1998	31 December 2000 [7]	76	35	7	34	046.05
Yasuharu Sorimachi	Japan	1 February 2001	31 January 2006 [7]	196	97	40	59	049.49
Jun Suzuki	Japan	1 February 2006	31 January 2010 [7][8][9][10]	136	51	32	53	037.50
Hisashi Kurosaki	Japan	1 February 2010	21 May 2012 [11][12][13][14]	80	24	25	31	030.00
Nobuhiro Ueno (caretaker)	Japan	22 May 2012	10 June 2012 [14][15]	1	0	0	1	000.00
Masaaki Yanagishita	Japan	11 June 2012	31 January 2016 [13][14][16]	68	20	18	30	029.41
Tatsuma Yoshida	Japan	1 February 2016	27 September 2016 [17]	30	7	6	17	023.33
Koichiro Katafuchi (caretaker)	Japan	27 September 2016	31 January 2017 [17]	4	1	0	3	025.00
Fumitake Miura	Japan	1 February 2017	7 May 2017	10	1	2	7	010.00
Koichiro Katafuchi (caretaker)	Japan	8 May 2017	10 May 2017	0	0	0	0	!—
Wagner Lopes (caretaker)	Japan	11 May 2017	31 December 2017	23	6	5	12	026.09
Masakazu Suzuki	Japan	1 February 2018	7 August 2018	27	8	5	14	029.63
Koichiro Katafuchi	Japan	8 August 2018	13 April 2019	24	10	6	8	041.67
Kazuaki Yoshinaga	Japan	14 April 2019	31 January 2020	33	14	7	12	042.42
Albert Puig Ortoneda	Spain	1 February 2020	31 January 2022	84	32	29	23	038.10
Rikizo Matsuhashi	Japan	1 February 2022	Current	43	25	9	9	058.14

Honours

• J2 League
  • Champions (2): 2003,[3] 2022
• Hokushinetsu Football League
  • Champions (3): 1986, 1996, 1997
  • Runners-up (1): 1992
• All Japan Senior Football Championship
  • Runners-up (1): 1995

Kit evolution

Home kits - 1st
1999 - 2000	2001 - 2002	2003 - 2004	2005 - 2006	2007
2008 - 2009	2010 - 2011	2012 - 2013	2014 - 2015	2016
2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
2022 -

Away kits - 2nd
1999 - 2000	2001 - 2002	2003 - 2004	2005 - 2007	2008 - 2009
2010 - 2011	2012 - 2013	2014 - 2015	2016	2017
2018	2019	2020	2021	2022 -

3rd kits - Other
2015 Cup	2016 3rd	2016 Cup	2017 3rd	2017 Summer
2018 Isao Honma retirement match	2020 ONE NIIGATA Memorial Blue

Affiliated clubs

Active departments of Albirex
Football (Men's) Football (Women's) Football (Singapore) Basketball (Men's) Basketball (Women's) Cheerleading Skiing Athletics Baseball Racing Snowboarding Football (Affiliate)

Since 2004, Albirex Niigata has selected a number of players for its satellite team in the Singapore Premier League. Albirex also has a women's team and joined L2 league (an equivalent of J2) in 2004. Albirex Ladies won the L2 title in 2006,[18] and went on to join L1 in 2007.

The following clubs are affiliated with Albirex Niigata:

• Albirex Niigata Ladies (Japan Women's Football League)
• Japan Soccer College (Hokushinetsu Football League)
• Albirex Niigata Singapore FC (Singapore Premier League)

In addition to the J-1 Albirex Niigata football team, there is a Niigata Albirex basketball club in the B.League, as well as a ski, snowboard, baseball, and track and field team. Though the teams share the same name, management and finances are completely separate for each team.

References

External links

• Official website

На других языках

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[de] Albirex Niigata

Albirex Niigata (jap. アルビレックス新潟, Arubirekkusu Niigata) ist ein japanischer Fußballverein und spielt ab 2023 in der J1 League, der höchsten Profiliga des Landes.

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- [en] Albirex Niigata

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[es] Albirex Niigata

El Albirex Niigata (アルビレックス新潟, Arubirekkusu Nīgata?) es un club de fútbol de Japón situado la ciudad de Niigata. Actualmente juega en la J2 League. En 2003, aún jugando en J2, el Albirex logró la mejor asistencia media de Japón, con más de 30.000 aficionados.

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[ru] Альбирекс Ниигата

«Альбирекс Ниигата» (яп. アルビレックス新潟 Арубирэккусу Ниигата, англ. Albirex Niigata) — японский футбольный клуб из города Ниигата одноимённой префектуры.

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