Vegalta Sendai

Vegalta Sendai (ベガルタ仙台, Begaruta Sendai) is a Japanese professional football club based in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. They currently play in J2 League, the Japanese second tier of professional football.

Vegalta Sendai
ベガルタ仙台

Full name	Vegalta Sendai
Founded	1988; 37 years ago (1988)
Ground	Yurtec Stadium Sendai Izumi-ku, Sendai
Capacity	19,694
Chairman	Hideki Itabashi
Manager	Yoshiro Moriyama[1]
League	J2 League
2024	J2 League, 6th of 20
Website	vegalta.co.jp
Home colours Away colours
Current season

History

Founded in 1988 as Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc. Soccer Club, 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.^[2]

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.^[3]

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

Yurtec Stadium Sendai

Miyagi 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

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

Champions

Runners-up

Third place

Promoted

Relegated

League														J.League Cup	Emperor's Cup
Season	League	Tier	Teams	Pos.	P	W (OTW / PKW)	D	L (OTL)	F	A	GD	Pts	Attendance
Brummell Sendai
1995	Former JFL	2	16	15th	30	9	-	21	40	79	-39	27			2nd round
1996			16	6th	30	18	-	12	67	52	15	56			3rd round
1997			16	8th	30	12 (1 / 2)	-	15	37	43	-6	40		Group stage	2nd round
1998			16	7th	30	1 (5 / 3)	-	12	55	53	2	43		Group stage	4th round
Vegalta Sendai
1999	J2	2	10	9th	36	7 (3)	4	18 (4)	30	58	-28	31	7,470	1st round	2nd round
2000			11	5th	40	15 (4)	2	15 (4)	60	69	-9	55	8,885	1st round	1st round
2001			12	2nd	44	24 (3)	5	9 (3)	78	56	22	83	14,011	1st round	3rd round
2002	J1	1	16	13th	30	9 (2)	1	18	40	57	-17	32	21,862	Group stage	4th round
2003			16	15th	30	5	9	16	31	56	-25	24	21,646	Group stage	3rd round
2004	J2	2	12	6th	44	15	14	15	62	66	-4	59	16,198	Not eligible	4th round
2005			12	4th	44	19	11	14	66	47	19	68	15,934		4th round
2006			13	5th	48	21	14	13	75	43	32	77	14,453		4th round
2007			13	4th	48	24	13	11	72	54	18	83	14,685		3rd round
2008			15	3rd	42	18	16	8	62	47	15	70	14,080		4th round
2009			18	1st	51	32	10	9	87	39	48	106	12,951		Semi final
2010	J1	1	18	14th	34	10	9	15	40	46	-6	39	17,332	Quarter final	2nd round
2011			18	4th	34	14	14	6	39	25	14	56	15,656	2nd round	4th round
2012			18	2nd	34	15	12	7	59	43	16	57	16,603	Quarter final	3rd round
2013			18	13th	34	11	12	11	41	38	3	45	14,866	Quarter final	Quarter final
2014			18	14th	34	9	11	14	35	50	-15	38	15,173	Group stage	2nd round
2015			18	14th	34	9	8	17	44	48	-4	35	14,907	Group stage	Quarter final
2016			18	12th	34	13	4	17	39	48	-9	43	15,050	Group stage	2nd round
2017			18	12th	34	11	8	15	44	53	-9	41	14,746	Semi final	2nd round
2018			18	11th	34	13	6	15	44	54	-10	45	15,408	Round of 16	Runners up
2019			18	11th	34	12	5	17	38	45	-7	41	14,971	Play-off stage	4th round
2020 †			18	17th	34	6	10	18	36	61	-25	28	4,163	Group stage	Not eligible
2021			20	19th	38	5	13	20	31	62	-31	28	5,926	Group stage	2nd round
2022	J2	2	22	7th	42	18	9	15	67	59	8	63	8,991	Not eligible	3rd round
2023			22	16th	42	12	12	18	48	61	-13	48	11,215		3rd round
2024			20	6th	38	18	10	10	50	44	6	64	13,331	1st round	2nd round
2025			20	TBD	38									1st round	2nd round

• 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

Vegalta Sendai honours

Honour	No.	Years	Notes
Tohoku Soccer League	1	1994	Tohoku Electric Power
Japanese Regional Football League Competition	1	1994	Tohoku Electric Power
J.League Division 2	1	2009

Individual awards

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

Players

Current squad

As of 22 July 2025.^[4]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  JPN Daiki Hotta 2 DF  JPN Ryota Takada 3 DF  JPN Masayuki Okuyama 4 MF  JPN Azuri Yutani 5 DF  JPN Masahiro Sugata 6 MF  JPN Renji Matsui 8 MF  JPN Hidetoshi Takeda 9 FW  BRA Eron 10 MF  JPN Hiromu Kamada 11 MF  JPN Yuta Goke 14 MF  JPN Ryunosuke Sagara 15 MF  JPN Sota Minami 17 MF  JPN Aoi Kudo 19 DF  BRA Mateus Moraes 20 FW  BRA Gustavo 21 GK  JPN Riku Umeda 23 MF  JPN Keito Arita 24 MF  JPN Toya Myogan (on loan from Kawasaki Frontale)

No. Pos. Nation Player 25 DF  JPN Takumi Mase 26 MF  JPN Sota Yokoyama 27 MF  JPN George Onaiwu 29 GK  JPN Koki Matsuzawa 32 MF  JPN Hinata Yamauchi (on loan from Kawasaki Frontale) 33 GK  JPN Akihiro Hayashi 38 GK  JPN Kosei Watanabe Type 2 39 DF  JPN Rikuto Ishio 40 FW  JPN Takumi Yasuno 42 DF  JPN Hayata Ishii 44 DF  JPN Shion Inoue 46 DF  JPN Taiga Nagai Type 2 47 FW  JPN Shunta Araki 48 MF  JPN Yu Nakada DSP 49 GK  JPN Masaemon Fueda Type 2 59 FW  JPN Kokoro Kobayashi 99 FW  JPN Ko Miyazaki

Out on loan

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 18 FW  JPN Tsubasa Umeki (at Blaublitz Akita) 30 FW  JPN Minto Nishimaru (at Kamatamare Sanuki) — DF  JPN Tetsuya Chinen (at Mito HollyHock)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  JPN Manato Kudo (at Kochi United) — FW  JPN Ryunosuke Sugawara (at Tochigi SC)

Notable players and coaches

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

International convention

National Team

World Cup 2018 Danny Vukovic (2014) 2022 Daniel Schmidt (2014–2019) Ko Itakura (2018) Danny Vukovic

World Cup (Manager) 2022 Hajime Moriyasu (2002–2003) Graham Arnold (2014)

FIFA Confederations Cup

• 2017
  • Danny Vukovic
  • Michael McGlinchey (2014)

AFC Asian Cup 2011/2015 Ryang Yong-gi (2004–2019, 2022-) 2019 Daniel Schmidt ※Runner up Danny Vukovic

AFC Asian Cup (Manager) 2019 Hajime Moriyasu Graham Arnold

Copa América 2019 Ko Itakura

OFC Nations Cup 2016 Michael McGlinchey ※Winner

EAFF E-1 Football Championship

• 2015
  • Yuji Rokutan (2015–2016)
• 2022
  • Takuma Nishimura (2015–2018, 2020–2021)
  • Hajime Moriyasu
    ※Winner

Under National Team

Summer Olympics (U-23) 2020 Ko Itakura

Summer Olympics (U-23 Manager) 2016 Makoto Teguramori (Manager) 2020 Graham Arnold

AFC U-23 Asian Cup

• 2016
  • Makoto Teguramori
    ※Winner
• 2020
  • Graham Arnold
    ※3rd place

Asian Games (U-23) 2018 Ko Itakura ※Runner up

Asian Games (U-23 Manager) 2014 Makoto Teguramori

Toulon Tournament (U-22)

• 2019
  • Keiya Shiihashi (2016–2020)
    ※Runner up,Best XI

FIFA U-20 World Cup (Manager)

• 2023
  • Kim Eun-jung (2003)

Club Officials

For the 2024 season.^[5]

Position	Name
Manager	Yoshiro Moriyama
First-team coach	Koichiro Katafuchi Akira Konno Yōsuke Nishi
Goalkeeper coach	Motoki Ueda
Physical coach	Makoto Muraoka
Analyst & coach	Takuma Deguchi
Chief trainer	Yakuya Matsuda
Trainer	Tomoki Takeda Taisuke Ikoma
Physiotherapist	Masaaki Taira
Interpreter	Rodrigo Simões
Competent	Shinya Naganuma
Deputy officer	Yutaro Miura Hiroki Ito

Managerial history

Manager	Nationality	Tenure
		Start date	Finish date
Takekazu Suzuki	Japan	1 July 1990	31 December 1995
Choei Sato	Japan	1 January 1996	31 December 1996
Branko Elsner	Slovenia	1 February 1997	31 December 1997
Toshiya Miura	Japan	1 January 1998	31 January 1998
Takekazu Suzuki	Japan	1 February 1998	24 July 1999
Hidehiko Shimizu	Japan	27 July 1999	14 September 2003
Hajime Ishii	Japan	15 September 2003	20 September 2003
Zdenko Verdenik	Slovenia	21 September 2003	31 December 2004
Satoshi Tsunami	Japan	1 January 2005	30 November 2005
Joel Santana	Brazil	1 December 2005	31 December 2006
Tatsuya Mochizuki	Japan	1 January 2007	31 December 2007
Makoto Teguramori	Japan	1 February 2008	14 November 2013
Graham Arnold	Australia	14 November 2013	9 April 2014
Susumu Watanabe	Japan	10 April 2014	31 January 2020
Takashi Kiyama	Japan	1 February 2020	31 January 2021
Makoto Teguramori	Japan	1 February 2021	22 November 2021
Masato Harasaki	Japan	23 November 2021	5 September 2022
Akira Ito	Japan	6 September 2022	12 July 2023
Takafumi Hori	Japan	13 July 2023	13 November 2023
Yoshiro Moriyama	Japan	1 January 2024	Current

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.

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.

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.

	Game	Date/Stadium	Overview	Match data
①	2001 J League Division 2 Round 44 Kyoto Purple Sanga FC 0-1 Vegalta Sendai	November 18, 2001 Takebishi Stadium Kyoto	The long-awaited J1 first promotion match. Head-to-head competition between leader Kyoto and 3rd place Sendai in the final round. The first promotion to J1 as a club in the Tohoku region is decided.	Official record
②	2011 J League Division 1 Round 7 Kawasaki Frontale 1-2 Vegalta Sendai	April 23, 2011 Kawasaki Todoroki Stadium	The first match after the suspension of the league match due to the Great East Japan Earthquake. Sendai, who suffered severe damage to the club itself, came from behind to win. Recorded the club's first victory with Todoroki Stadium.	Official record

Continental record

AFC Champions League

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.

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	1–0	2–1

Kit evolution

Home - 1st kits
1999-2001	2002-2003	2004-2006	2007-2008	2009-2010
2011-2012	2013-2014	2015	2016	2017
2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
2023	2024	2025 -

Away - 2nd kits
1999-2001	2002-2003	2004-2006	2007-2008	2009-2010
2011-2012	2013-2014	2015	2016	2017
2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
2023	2024	2025 -

Other - 3rd kits
2009 15th Anniversary	2014 20th Anniversary	2016 Great East Japan Earthquake 5th Anniversary Reconstruction	2017 SUMMER	2018 SUMMER
2019 25th Anniversary	2021 Limited	2022 Limited	2024 30th Anniversary

Asian clubs ranking

As of 16 May 2024.^[6]

Current Rank	Country	Team	Points
175		Nantong Zhiyun FC	1290
176		Qingdao Jonoon	1290
177		Kitchee	1290
178		Pas Hamedan	1288
179		Vegalta Sendai	1288
180		V-Varen Nagasaki	1288

Vegalta House

"Shichigashuku Town's Empty House Revitalization Project: Let's Build a Vegalta House" will start in July 2021 with the support of 143 crowdfunding people and a total of 78 local workers.^[7] It is involved in a social collaboration activity, in line with Goal 11 "Sustainable cities and communities" and Goal 17 "Partnership for the goals" of the SDGs basic guidelines.^[8][9][10]