Vegalta Sendai

History

Founded in 1988 as Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc. Soccer Club, the works team of Tohoku Electric Power, Vegalta Sendai joined the J-League in 1999 after playing a few seasons in the JFL, with the nickname Brummell Sendai, to which they had been promoted in 1994 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 the team 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.

In 2018, the Vegalta reached the final of the Emperor's Cup, losing 1-0 to Urawa Reds.

After twelve years spent in the J1 League, Vegalta returned to the J2 in 2022, after being relegated from the J1 at the end of 2021. After finishing in seventh place in the 2022 J2 League, thus failing to reach the promotion play-offs. Ryang Yong-gi, a symbol of Sendai, retired at the end of the 2023 season.

For the 2024 season, Yoshiro Moriyama, who has a track record of developing players at Sanfrecce Hiroshima's training age group and the U17 Japan National Team, was appointed as Manager.

Stadium

Their home stadium is Yurtec Stadium Sendai, in Izumi-ku, Sendai, although a few home games have also been played at nearby Miyagi Stadium.

Sendai Stadium ranks among the top stadiums in Japan for its presence, comfort, and accessibility, and was once ranked second in an evaluation by a famous Japanese football media. It was also used by the Italian national football team as their basecamp during the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Miyagi Stadium is famous for the Japan national team, and for hosting matches of the Argentine national team in the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Supporters and rivalries

As with most football clubs, fans in Sendai sing and dance during matches. However, most of the songs used by fans from other clubs are avoided due to the more eclectic set. Club themes sung before each game are Take Me Home, Country Roads, and during the game. Toy Dolls, Blitzkrieg Bop and other Kiss and Twisted Sister songs.

Since Sendai is the hometown of Hirohiko Araki, who wrote JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, fans often wave flags with the same motifs of characters portrayed in Araki's manga.

Michinoku Derby

Vegalta's traditional rivals are Montedio Yamagata from Yamagata Prefecture. The two have been rivals since meeting in the Tohoku Football League in 1991. Among the Tohoku derbies, this match is famous as the Michinoku derby.

[[Tohoku derby|Tohoku Derby]]

This is the derby played by the Tohoku region teams, currently the most important match is that of Vegalta Sendai and Montedio Yamagata. Other teams included in this classic include Blaublitz Akita, Iwate Grulla Morioka, Iwaki FC.

League & cup record

• Pos. = Position in league; P = Games played; W = Games won; D = Games drawn; L = Games lost; F = Goals scored; A = Goals conceded; GD = Goals difference; Pts = Points gained
• Attendance = Average home league attendance
• † 2020 & 2021 seasons attendances reduced by COVID-19 worldwide pandemic
• Source: J.League Data Site

Honours

Individual awards

• J. League Best Eleven
  • BRA Wilson: 2012
• Valuable Player Award
  • JPN Takuto Hayashi JPN Makoto Kakuda JPN Jiro Kamata: 2011
  • JPN Takuto Hayashi JPN Taikai Uemoto JPN Makoto Kakuda JPN Jiro Kamata JPN Naoki Sugai PRK Ryang Yong-gi JPN Shingo Akamine: 2012
  • MOZ Simão Mate: 2019
• Individual Fair-Play award
  • JPN Yuichi Nemoto: 2003
  • PRK Ryang Yong-gi: 2011
• J.League Monthly MVP
  • JPN Shingo Akamine: 2014 (May)
  • MOZ Simão Mate: 2019 (June)
  • JPN Ryoma Kida: 2022 (May)
• Monthly Best Manager
  • JPN Susumu Watanabe: 2019 (June)
  • JPN Masato Harasaki: 2022 (May)
• Monthly Best Goal
  • PRK Ryang Yong-gi: 2015
  • BRA Crislan: 2017
• J.League Cup Award
  • JPN Takuma Nishimura: 2017
• TAG Heuer YOUNG GUNS Award
  • JPN Takuma Nishimura: 2017
  • JPN Ko Itakura: 2018
• J.League Cup Top Scorer
  • BRA Crislan: 2017
• J2 League Top Scorer
  • BRA Marcos: 2001
  • BRA Borges: 2006
• Meritorious Player Award
  • JPN Norio Omura: 2009
  • JPN Atsushi Yanagisawa: 2015
  • JPN Hisato Satō: 2021
  • JPN Makoto Kakuda, JPN Naoki Ishihara, JPN Yoshiki Takahashi: 2022
  • JPN Shingo Tomita, JPN Shingo Akamine: 2023

Players

Current squad

Out on loan

Notable players and coaches

• BRA Edmar 1995–1997
• GER Pierre Littbarski 1996–1997
• GER Frank Ordenewitz 1996
• SLO Branko Elsner 1997
• JPN Teruo Iwamoto 2001–2003
• JPN Hajime Moriyasu 2002–2003
• SLO Zdenko Verdenik 2003–2004
• PRK Ryang Yong-gi 2004–2019, 2022–2023
• MKD Goce Sedloski 2004
• BRA Joel Santana 2006
• BRA Thiago Neves 2006
• BRA Humberlito Borges 2006
• JPN Makoto Teguramori 2008–2013, 2021
• JPN Atsushi Yanagisawa 2011–2014
• AUS Graham Arnold 2014
• AUSSRB Danny Vukovic 2014
• NZLSCO Michael McGlinchey 2014
• JPN Daniel Schmidt 2014–2019
• JPN Takuma Nishimura 2015–2018, 2020–2021
• JPN Ko Itakura 2018
• MOZ Simão Mate Junior 2019–2021

International convention

;World Cup

• 2018
  • AUS Danny Vukovic (2014)
• 2022
  • JPN Daniel Schmidt (2014–2019)
  • JPN Ko Itakura (2018)
  • AUS Danny Vukovic ;World Cup (Manager)
• 2022
  • JPN Hajime Moriyasu (2002–2003)
  • AUS Graham Arnold (2014) ;FIFA Confederations Cup
• 2017
  • AUS Danny Vukovic
  • NZL Michael McGlinchey (2014) ;AFC Asian Cup
• 2011/2015
  • PRK Ryang Yong-gi (2004–2019, 2022-)
• 2019
  • JPN Daniel Schmidt ※Runner up
  • AUS Danny Vukovic ;AFC Asian Cup (Manager)
• 2019
  • JPN Hajime Moriyasu
  • AUS Graham Arnold ;Copa América
• 2019
  • JPN Ko Itakura ;OFC Nations Cup
• 2016
  • NZL Michael McGlinchey ※Winner ;EAFF E-1 Football Championship
• 2015
  • JPN Yuji Rokutan (2015–2016)
• 2022
  • JPN Takuma Nishimura (2015–2018, 2020–2021)
  • JPN Hajime Moriyasu ※Winner ;Summer Olympics (U-23)
• 2020
  • JPN Ko Itakura ;Summer Olympics (U-23 Manager)
• 2016
  • JPN Makoto Teguramori (Manager)
• 2020
  • AUS Graham Arnold ;AFC U-23 Asian Cup
• 2016
  • JPN Makoto Teguramori ※Winner
• 2020
  • AUS Graham Arnold ※3rd place ;Asian Games (U-23)
• 2018
  • JPN Ko Itakura ※Runner up ;Asian Games (U-23 Manager)
• 2014
  • JPN Makoto Teguramori ;Toulon Tournament (U-22)
• 2019
  • JPN Keiya Shiihashi (2016–2020) ※Runner up,Best XI ;FIFA U-20 World Cup (Manager)
• 2023
  • KOR Kim Eun-jung (2003)

Club Officials

For the 2024 season.

Managerial history

Mascot and cheerleaders

Mascot

• VEGATTA (Brother)
  • He has won "the J League mascot general election" many times and is quite popular.
  • The eagle, which is also used in the club emblem as a symbol of victory in Greek mythology, is associated with the Aquila constellation, to which Hikoboshi (Altair) belongs, which is the origin of the club's name. The name was decided by public submission. Vegatta's SNS (BLOG, Twitter), which is updated daily, is loved and popular among soccer fans in Japan, as the mascot loves mischief, and is by some fans, hard to believe it is a mascot.
• LTAANA (Sister)
  • From the Sendai summer tradition "Sendai Tanabata", which is the origin of the team name, "Luta" for Vega (Orihime) and Altair (Hikoboshi), and "Tana" for Tanabata, it was named as a girlish name by combining "na", on a 7 August, which is the date of the event and the birthday. Sometimes she tweet with [#ルターナ] (LTAANA written phonetically on Katakana) on Sendai's official Twitter.
  • When Vegalta wins any match, she expresses her joy on Twitter.

Cheerleaders

• The Vegalta Cheerleaders mainly support "Vegalta Sendai", participate in many events, and continue to work as a cheering group for people who are doing their best in the area. She has the longest history as a cheerleader for a professional sports team in Sendai, and has been active since 2003.

Best Match

① and ② were selected as "that game I want to see again" on the J League official YouTube channel, and 2 was also selected as "10 Best Matches" by J Chronicle Best. ② was also selected as the "Best Match" of the J30 Best Awards.

[[:ja:Jクロニクルベスト|J Chronicle Best]]

This is a project to select the J.League "Best Eleven", "Best Goal" and "Best Match" over the past 20 years. A project held in 2013 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Japan Professional Soccer League. The mentioned two game is often featured as a legendary game in each media.

[[:ja:J30ベストアウォーズ|J30 BEST AWARDS]]

A project to select the "MVP", "Best Eleven", "Best Goal", "Best Match", and "Best Scene" of the J League over the past 30 years. An award hosted by the J.League to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the J.League in 2023.

Even in "Soccer Digest" (Japan's famous football media),the two were selected as "the best 3 selected J.League matches" by the reporter in charge of Sendai. Sendai's Yoshiaki Ota, who scored the equalizing goal against Kawasaki, said, "I think it was a goal that everyone worked together, including the thoughts of my teammates."

*The notation of the match card and the stadium where the match was held is at the time of the match.

Continental record

Sendai also participated in the ACL for the first time in 2013.

It was a tournament with many challenges other than matches, such as long-distance travel, overcrowded schedule with the J.League and local climate, but they did not lose in the extreme cold of Nanjing and the intense heat of Thailand and the final match was a draw or better in the qualifying.

It was a good point to leave the possibility of breaking through.

Kit evolution

Asian clubs ranking

References

1. "森山佳郎監督就任のお知らせ". Vegalta Sendai.
2. "GET TO KNOW J.LEAGUE: Vegalta Sendai".
3. (10 December 2018). "仙台、天皇杯準優勝は新時代の幕開け。渡邉体制6年目はサポーターの望むタイトル獲得へ".
4. "トップチーム選手・スタッフ". Vegalta Sendai.
5. "Team staff for 2024".
6. "Asia Football / Soccer Clubs Ranking 2024".
7. (2022-11-07). "Vegalta House Recent Report".
8. (3 November 2022). "みなさん、おばんです。".
9. (2022-11-07). "Introducing clubs that received a lot of RT response.".
10. (2022-11-07). "You can stay at Vegalta House!".