Kashima Antlers

The name 'Antlers' is derived from the city of Kashima (鹿嶋), which literally translates to 'Deer Island'.^[8] The club crest not only resembles deer antlers but it also reflects the image of rose thorn as it is the official flower of Ibaraki, the home prefecture of the club. Deer are amiable animals and are viewed in some religions as spiritual messengers. In fact, Kashima Shrine, one of the most famous shrines in Japan and located in close proximity to the club headquarters, have kept and raised deer for more than 1,300 years as spiritual symbol.

 

Founded in 1947 as Sumitomo Metal Industries Factory Football Club in Osaka and moved to Kashima, Ibaraki in 1975. It played in the semi-professional Japan Soccer League (JSL). They were promoted to the JSL's top flight in 1984, but never made much of an impact, going down in 1985/86,^[9] returning in 1986/87 and going down again in 1988/89.^[10] Its last standing in the JSL was 2nd in the Second Division for 1991/92.^[11] In October 1991, Kashima Antlers FC Co., Ltd. was established with investment from 43 companies (at the time) from 5 local governments.

After the formation of the fully professional J.League, Sumitomo, like all other clubs, stripped the corporate brand from the club's name and reformed as the Kashima Antlers in April 1992. Kashima was essentially promoted to the new top flight, as many JSL First Division clubs decided to relegate themselves being unprepared for professionalism. (Of the original 10^[a] J.League founding member clubs, Kashima and Shimizu S-Pulse were newly promoted. Ironically, Kashima had defeated a forerunner of Shimizu's, Nippon Light Metal/Hagoromo Club, to earn its JSL Second Division place back in 1974).

Since the J.League's creation and introduction of professional Japanese football in 1993, Kashima have consistently been amongst the strongest clubs in the country, holding several distinctions and records. Led by former Brazil national team star and Japan national team coach Zico in the club's formative years, Kashima were the first club to win a J.League stage, claiming the 1st stage of the inaugural season in 1993. This laid a platform for continuous greatness and long after the Kashima icon had departed, in 2000 Kashima became the first J.League club to achieve the "treble", by winning all three major titles: J.League, J.League Cup, and Emperor's Cup in the same year.

In recent times, by clinching the 2007 J.League title they became the first and only club in Japan to have won ten domestic titles in the professional era. In 2008 they became the first and only club to successfully defend the J.League title on two occasions. In 2009 they became the first and only club to win three consecutive J.League titles. With victories in back to back J.League Cups in 2011, 2012 and most recently followed by their 2015 victory, Kashima extended their unmatched record of major domestic titles in the professional era to seventeen.

 

To this day, Kashima has maintained strong ties with the football community in Brazil, a fact borne out of Zico's past affiliation with the club. Kashima's Brazilian connection has manifested itself in both the club's player transfer and coaching policy resulting in only three non-Brazilian foreign players and predominantly Brazilian managers signing for Kashima since the inception of the J.League.

The population of Kashima city is a mere 60,000 and for that reason club has also adopted the surrounding cities of Itako, Kamisu, Namegata and Hokota as its official hometowns, all in Ibaraki Prefecture. The combined population of five cities is 280,000. Antlers home games are played at Kashima Soccer Stadium, one of the 2002 FIFA World Cup venues with capacity of 40,000.

During the 2016 FIFA Club World Cup, Kashima became the first Asian club to reach the FIFA Club World Cup final and notably became the only club to qualify from the first round until the final following a 3–0 victory over South American winners, Atlético Nacional.^[12] In the final, after a 2–2 draw against European champions Real Madrid after 90 minutes, they were beaten 4–2 after extra time.^[13]

In the Captain Tsubasa manga series, two characters were players of Kashima Antlers. The Brazilian midfielders Luciano Leo (himself loosely based on Leonardo) and Pepe were colleagues of Flamengo's Carlos Santana and São Paulo's Tsubasa Ozora.

In 2017, Kashima established a base in New York where the club main objective is to investigate and apply advanced cases from the digital domain of the Major League Soccer while there are also opportunities to gather information in terms of player management and competition factors. Another reason comes in the form of establishing relationships to learn international strategy directly from the likes of FC Barcelona and Bayern Munich. The relationship building hasn't solely been with European clubs, and for the past two years regular meetings have been held at the head offices of MLS in order to deepen ties with the league and its clubs.

 

Kashima Soccer Stadium has been the home ground of Kashima since 26 March 1993. The Kashima Soccer Museum, opened in 2004 is set for wide-scale renewal, while the Wellness Plaza, established in 2006, is also in line for similar improvements, including the installation of a public bath. There is a real awareness of furthering stadium use on non-matchdays to ensure Kashima Stadium is a hub for the local region. On the other hand, the importance of Kashima Stadium as a sacred football ground will also increase. The stadium has been selected as a host venue for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, meaning it will international competition for the first time since the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Ahead of that, the stadium will also host the Ibaraki National Sports Festival this year, at which athletes will gather from all over the country.

In 2008 a 500-metre LED wraparound advertising board, the longest in Asia, was installed at the front of the second tier. In 2017, the latest large electronic screens were added to both the north and south stands as part of the commitment to improving the viewing environment for visitors.

As of 15 August 2024.^[14]

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 Tomoki Hayakawa 2 DF   JPN Koki Anzai 4 MF   SRB Radomir Milosavljević 5 DF   JPN Ikuma Sekigawa 6 MF   JPN Kento Misao 7 FW   SVK Aleksandar Čavrić (On loan from Slovan Bratislava) 10 MF   JPN Gaku Shibasaki (captain) 11 FW   JPN Kyosuke Tagawa 13 FW   JPN Kei Chinen 14 MF   JPN Yuta Higuchi 15 MF   JPN Tomoya Fujii 16 DF   JPN Hidehiro Sugai 17 MF   BRA Talles Brener (On loan from Rukh Lviv) 26 MF   JPN Naoki Sutoh 28 DF   JPN Shuhei Mizoguchi 29 GK   JPN Yuji Kajikawa

No. Pos. Nation Player 30 MF   JPN Shintaro Nago 31 GK   JPN Taiki Yamada 32 DF   JPN Kimito Nono 33 MF   JPN Hayato Nakama 34 MF   JPN Yu Funabashi 36 FW   JPN Shu Morooka 38 GK   KOR Park Eui-jeong 39 DF   JPN Keisuke Tsukui 40 FW   JPN Yuma Suzuki 41 FW   JPN Homare Tokuda Type 2 42 DF   JPN Haruto Matsumoto Type 2 43 DF   JPN Mihiro Sato Type 2 44 DF   JPN Yugo Okawa Type 2 45 FW   JPN Minato Yoshida Type 2 55 DF   JPN Naomichi Ueda (vice-captain) 77 MF   BRA Guilherme Parede (On loan from Talleres)

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 27 MF   JPN Yuta Matsumura (on loan at Tokyo Verdy) — DF   JPN Naoki Hayashi (on loan at Tokyo Verdy) — MF   JPN Ryotaro Araki (on loan at FC Tokyo) — MF   JPN Ryotaro Nakamura (on loan at Shimizu S-Pulse)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF   JPN Yoshihiro Shimoda (on loan at Iwaki FC) — MF   JPN Yusuke Ogawa (on loan at FC Ryukyu) — FW   JPN Itsuki Someno (on loan at Tokyo Verdy)

As of 15 April 2024.

The main U-18 team of Kashima Antlers currently plays in the Prince Takamado U-18 Premier League, the top-flight league for U-18 team of professional soccer clubs and high school soccer team in the country.^[15][16]

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 Shuto Kikuta 2 DF   JPN Haruto Matsumoto 3 DF   JPN Ryunosuke Dobashi 4 DF   JPN Yugo Okawa 5 MF   JPN Rikuto Shiba 6 MF   JPN Yoshiki Iwanaga 7 DF   JPN Mihiro Sato 8 MF   JPN Yuto Sato 9 FW   JPN Hiroto Masaki 10 MF   JPN Shoma Ogasawara 11 FW   JPN Hayate Cho 13 FW   JPN Homare Tokuda 14 MF   JPN Sora Nakagawa 15 DF   JPN Daisuke Kondo 16 DF   JPN Ryua Oshima

No. Pos. Nation Player 18 FW   JPN Jigen Monoi 19 MF   JPN Yuwa Fukuoka 20 FW   JPN Victor Yuzo Shimada 21 GK   JPN Eita Kishino 22 DF   JPN Towa Asahina 26 DF   JPN Amon Tamaki 27 MF   JPN Ryota Tonooka 28 MF   JPN Rui Onuki 29 GK   JPN Taisei Matsumoto 31 GK   JPN Shoei Kurosawa 32 MF   JPN Daigo Hirashima 34 MF   JPN Haruto Takagi 35 MF   JPN Eita Ueno 40 FW   JPN Minato Yoshida 43 MF   JPN Genma Koeda

As both Sumitomo Metal FC (1947–1991) and Kashima Antlers (1991–present)

 

• J.League Player of the Year

•   Jorginho (1996)
•   Marquinhos (2008)
•   Mitsuo Ogasawara (2009)

• J.League Top Scorer

•   Marquinhos (2008)

• J.League Best Eleven

•   Santos (1993)
•   Shunzo Ono (1993)
•   Yasuto Honda (1993)
•   Naoki Soma (1995, 1996, 1997, 1998)
•   Jorginho (1996)
•   Bismarck (1997)
•   Yutaka Akita (1997, 1998, 2000)
•   Atsushi Yanagisawa (1998, 2001)
•   Daijiro Takakuwa (2000)
•   Akira Narahashi (2001)
•   Mitsuo Ogasawara (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2009)
•   Kōji Nakata (2001)
•   Hitoshi Sogahata (2002)
•   Daiki Iwamasa (2007, 2008, 2009)
•   Marquinhos (2008)
•   Atsuto Uchida (2008, 2009)
•   Yuya Osako (2013)
•   Gaku Shibasaki (2014)
•   Mu Kanazaki (2015)
•   Gen Shoji (2016, 2017)
•   Daigo Nishi (2017, 2018)
•   Everaldo (2020)

• J.League Rookie of the Year

•   Atsushi Yanagisawa (1997)
•   Gaku Shibasaki (2012)
•   Caio (2014)
•   Ryotaro Araki (2021)

• J.League Manager of the Year

•   João Carlos (1997)
•   Oswaldo de Oliveira (2007, 2008, 2009)
•   Masatada Ishii (2016)

The following players have been selected by their country in the World Cup, while playing for Kashima Antlers:

•   Akira Narahashi (1998)
•   Naoki Soma (1998)
•   Yutaka Akita (1998, 2002)
•   Atsushi Yanagisawa (2002, 2006)
•   Hitoshi Sogahata (2002)
•   Kōji Nakata (2002)
•   Mitsuo Ogasawara (2002, 2006)
•   Takayuki Suzuki (2002)
•   Atsuto Uchida (2010)
•   Daiki Iwamasa (2010)
•   Lee Jung-soo (2010)
•   Gen Shoji (2018)
•   Naomichi Ueda (2018)

The following players have represented their country at the Summer Olympic Games whilst playing for Kashima Antlers:

•   Atsushi Yanagisawa (2000)
•   Kōji Nakata (2000)
•   Masashi Motoyama (2000)
•   Tomoyuki Hirase (2000)
•   Hitoshi Sogahata (2004)
•   Atsuto Uchida (2008)
•   Kazuya Yamamura (2012)
•   Naomichi Ueda (2016)
•   Ayase Ueda (2020)
•   Koki Machida (2020)

• List of world champion football clubs and vice-world champions in football

• Official Website (in Japanese)
• Official Website (in English)