Kashiwa Reysol

Kashiwa Reysol (柏レイソル, Kashiwa Reisoru) is a Japanese professional football club based in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Their home stadium is Sankyo Frontier Kashiwa Stadium, also known as "Hitachidai". Reysol is a portmanteau of the Spanish words Rey and Sol, meaning "Sun King". The name alludes to their parent company Hitachi, whose name means "rising sun" in Japanese.

Kashiwa Reysol

Full name	Kashiwa Reysol[1]
Nickname(s)	Taiyō-Ō (Sun King) Aurinegro (gold-and-black)
Short name	REY
Founded	1940; 85 years ago (1940) as Hitachi S.C.
Stadium	Sankyo Frontier Kashiwa Stadium ("Hitachidai") Kashiwa, Chiba
Capacity	15,900
Owner	Hitachi
Chairman	Ryuichiro Takikawa
Manager	Ricardo Rodríguez[2]
League	J1 League
2024	J1 League, 17th of 20
Website	www.reysol.co.jp
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Reysol supporters at Sankyo Frontier Kashiwa Stadium

The club was formed in 1940 and was a founding member ("Original Eight"^[a]) of the Japan Soccer League (JSL) in 1965. Since the league's inception, they have spent the majority of their existence in the top tier of Japanese football. They have been Japanese League champions twice in 1972 and 2011, and have won three League Cups in 1976, 1999 and 2013, and three Emperor's Cups in 1972, 1975 and 2012.

History

Hitachi SC (1939–1992)

The club started in 1939 and was officially formed as the company team, Hitachi, Ltd. Soccer Club in 1940 in Kodaira, Tokyo. The club formed the Japan Soccer League (JSL) in 1965, along with today's Urawa Reds, JEF United Chiba, Cerezo Osaka, Sanfrecce Hiroshima and three other clubs ("Original Eight").^[1] They had some successes during the mid-1970s, winning Emperor's Cups and JSL titles and contributing several players to the Japanese national team.

The club relocated from Kodaira to Kashiwa in 1986, but it took a while to adapt to the new town, as they were relegated to the JSL Division 2 at end of the 1986.^[3] They made it back to the top flight in 1989–90, but dropped back in 1990–91 and returned again in 1991–92.^[1] As the J.League was formed while they were not strong enough, the club abandoned any attempt to once again be a founding member of the newly formed professional league. Instead, the club joined the Japan Football League Division 1 in 1992, the second tier of the Japanese football hierarchy at the time, below the J.League.

Kashiwa Reysol (1993–)

The club changed its name to Kashiwa Reysol in 1993. Reysol added Careca of the Brazil national football team to their squad in the autumn of this year with the aim of winning the JFL champion and winning promotion to the J1 League.^[1] The club struggled in the 1993 season. However, with the help of Careca and Brazilian manager Zé Sérgio, they secured the 2nd place in the JFL in 1994, earning promotion to the top league.

Reysol debuted in the J1 League in 1995. In 1998 they welcomed Akira Nishino, the former manager of Japan's Olympic team as their new manager, along with player Hristo Stoichkov of the Bulgaria national football team. In 1999 Hong Myung-bo of the Korea national football team was added to the squad. The team won the J.League Cup in 1999, their first title as Kashiwa Reysol.^[4]

However, their next manager, Englishman Steve Perryman, unsettled the team and the club struggled over the next several seasons. After finishing at the 16th place out of 18 clubs in 2005, the club lost the J.League promotion / relegation series against Ventforet Kofu, the 3rd placed team in the J2 League that year, and was relegated to the J2 League.^[5]

A new manager, Nobuhiro Ishizaki, led an almost entirely new squad in 2006 and the club secured automatic promotion to the J1 League in the last game of the season.^[6]

The club was relegated again at the end of 2009. However, in 2010 they won the J2 League led by Nelsinho Baptista in and returned to the top flight. The club immediately won the J1 League in 2011 with talented footballers such as Hiroki Sakai, Junya Tanaka, Jorge Wagner and Leandro Domingues, and became the first Japanese club to win the second tier and the top tier back to back.^[b][7] The club qualified for the FIFA Club World Cup as the host nation's league champion and became a semifinalist after defeating Auckland City and Monterrey.

During the period from 2010 through 2014, Reysol won six different titles in five consecutive seasons; the J2 League in 2010, the J1 League in 2011, the Emperor's Cup and the Super Cup in 2012, the J.League Cup in 2013 and the Suruga Bank Championship in 2014.

Rivalries

Marunouchi Gosanke

Historically, Kashiwa Reysol's fiercest rivals have been JEF United Chiba and the Urawa Reds, both close neighbors. The three were co-founders of the Japan Soccer League (JSL) in 1965, and spent most seasons in the top tier through the JSL era. Because of their former parent companies' headquarters all being based in Marunouchi, Tokyo, the three clubs were known as the Marunouchi Gosanke (丸の内御三家, "Marunouchi Big Three") and fixtures among them were known as the Marunouchi derbies.

Chiba derby

Reysol and JEF United Chiba first met in 1941 in the ancient Kanto regional football league. The two clubs are both now based in Chiba Prefecture, and their rivalry is known as the Chiba derby. They play a pre-season friendly match every year, popularly known as the Chibagin Cup (i.e., Chiba Bank Cup) since 1995.

Others

Reysol also has a rivalry with Kashima Antlers (commonly called Tonegawa clásico), FC Tokyo (commonly called Kanamachi derby) and Omiya Ardija (commonly called Nodasen derby).

Anthem

Kashiwa Reysol's anthem is We Are Reysol, which is sung by anime singer Hironobu Kageyama. The song released in 1994, the same year Reysol got promoted to J1.

Record as J.League member

Champions

Runners-up

Third place

Promoted

Relegated

Season	Div.	Teams	Pos.	P	W (OTW / PKW)	D	L (OTL / PKL)	F	A	GD	Pts	Attendance/G	J.League Cup	Emperor's Cup	AFC	FIFA CWC
1995	J1	14	12th	52	21 (0 / 0)	–	29 (0 / 1)	18	30	–12	22	16,102	–	2nd round	Did not qualify	Did not qualify
1996		16	5th	30	20	–	10	67	52	15	60	13,033	Semi-finals	4th round
1997		17	7th	32	16 (2 / 0)	–	11 (1 / 2)	63	49	14	52	8,664	Quarter-finals	Quarter-finals
1998		18	8th	34	14 (1 / 3)	–	13 (2 / 1)	56	61	–5	47	9,932	Group stage	4th round
1999		16	3rd	30	17 (3 / -)	1	8 (1 / -)	49	36	13	58	10,122	Winners	Semi-finals
2000		16	3rd	30	15 (6 / -)	1	7 (1 / -)	48	32	16	58	10,037	2nd round	4th round
2001		16	6th	30	12 (2 / -)	3	11 (2 / -)	58	46	12	43	12,477	2nd round	3rd round
2002		16	12th	30	9 (1 / -)	3	17	38	48	–10	32	11,314	Quarter-final	3rd round
2003		16	12th	30	9	10	11	35	39	–4	37	10,873	Group stage	4th round
2004		16	16th	30	5	10	15	29	49	–20	25	10,513	Group stage	4th Round
2005		18	16th	34	8	11	15	39	54	–15	35	12,492	Group stage	5th round
2006	J2	13	2nd	48	27	7	14	84	60	24	88	8,328	Not eligible	4th Round
2007	J1	18	8th	34	14	8	12	43	36	7	50	12,967	Group stage	4th Round
2008		18	11th	34	13	7	14	48	45	3	46	12,308	Group stage	Runners-up
2009		18	16th	34	7	13	14	41	57	–16	34	11,738	Group stage	3rd round
2010	J2	19	1st	36	23	11	2	71	24	47	80	8,098	Not eligible	4th round
2011	J1	18	1st	34	23	3	8	65	42	23	72	11,917	1st round	4th round		4th place
2012		18	6th	34	15	7	12	57	52	5	52	13,768	Semi-finals	Winners	Round of 16	Did not qualify
2013		18	10th	34	13	9	12	56	59	–3	48	12,553	Winners	4th round	Semi-finals
2014		18	4th	34	17	9	8	48	40	8	60	10,715	Semi-finals	3rd round	Did not qualify
2015		18	10th	34	12	9	13	46	43	3	45	10,918	Quarter-finals	Semi-finals	Quarter-finals
2016		18	8th	34	15	9	10	52	44	8	54	10,728	Group stage	4th round	Did not qualify
2017		18	4th	34	18	8	8	49	33	16	62	11,820	Group stage	Semi-finals
2018		18	17th	34	12	3	19	47	54	–7	39	11,298	Semi-finals	3rd round	Group stage
2019	J2	22	1st	42	25	9	8	85	33	52	84	9,471	Group stage	3rd round	Did not qualify
2020 †	J1	18	7th	34	15	7	12	60	46	14	52	3,484	Runners-up	Did not qualify
2021 †		20	15th	38	12	5	21	37	56	–19	41	4,444	Group stage	3rd round
2022		18	7th	34	13	8	13	43	44	–1	47	8,499	Group stage	Round of 16
2023		18	17th	34	6	15	13	33	47	−14	33	11,130	Group stage	Runners-up
2024		20	17th	38	9	14	15	39	51	-12	41	12,070	Playoff round	Round of 16
2025		20	TBD	38									TBD	2nd round

Key

• 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
• OTW / PKW = Overtime wins / Penalty kicks wins 1997 & 1998 seasons - 1999, 2000, 2001 & 2002 Overtime wins only
• OTL / PKL = Overtime losses / Penalty kicks losses 1997 and 1998 seasons - 1999, 2000 & 2001 Overtime losses only
• Attendance/G = Average home league attendance
• † 2020 & 2021 seasons attendances reduced by COVID-19 worldwide pandemic
• Source: J.League Data Site

Honours

Kashiwa Reysol honours

Honour	No.	Years
Japan Soccer League Division 1/J1 League	2	1972, 2011
Japan Soccer League Division 2/J2 League	3	1990–91, 2010, 2019
All Japan Works Football Championship	2	1958, 1960
All Japan Inter-City Football Championship	1	1963
Emperor's Cup	3	1972, 1975, 2012
JSL Cup/J.League Cup	3	1976, 1999, 2013
Japanese Super Cup	1	2012
Suruga Bank Championship	1	2014

League history

• Division 1 (JSL): 1965–1971 (as Hitachi SC)
• Division 1 (JSL Div. 1): 1972 to 1986–87
• Division 2 (JSL Div. 2): 1987–88 to 1988–89
• Division 1 (JSL Div. 1): 1989–90
• Division 2 (JSL Div. 2): 1990–91
• Division 1 (JSL Div. 1): 1991–92
• Division 2 (former JFL Div. 1): 1992–1993
• Division 2 (former JFL): 1994 (as Kashiwa Reysol)
• Division 1 (J.League): 1995–1998
• Division 1 (J1): 1999–2005
• Division 2 (J2): 2006
• Division 1 (J1): 2007–2009
• Division 2 (J2): 2010
• Division 1 (J1): 2011–2018
• Division 2 (J2): 2019
• Division 1 (J1): 2020–present

Current squad

As of 27 July 2025.^[8]

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 Haruki Saruta 2 DF  JPN Hiromu Mitsumaru 3 DF  BRA Diego 4 DF  JPN Taiyo Koga (vice-captain) 5 DF  JPN Hayato Tanaka 6 MF  JPN Yuto Yamada 8 MF  JPN Yoshio Koizumi 9 FW  JPN Mao Hosoya 11 MF  JPN Masaki Watai 13 DF  JPN Tomoya Inukai (captain) 14 MF  JPN Tomoya Koyamatsu 15 FW  JPN Yōta Komi 16 DF  JPN Eiichi Katayama 17 MF  JPN Kohei Tezuka 18 FW  JPN Yuki Kakita 19 MF  JPN Hayato Nakama 20 MF  JPN Yusuke Segawa 21 MF  JPN Yudai Konishi 22 DF  JPN Hiroki Noda

No. Pos. Nation Player 23 MF  JPN Kaiji Chonan Type 2 24 MF  JPN Tojiro Kubo 25 GK  JPN Ryosuke Kojima 26 DF  JPN Daiki Sugioka 27 MF  JPN Koki Kumasaka 28 MF  JPN Sachiro Toshima (vice-captain) 30 MF  JPN Yuito Kamo Type 2 32 DF  JPN Yusei Yamanouchi DSP 36 FW  JPN Nabel Yoshitaka Furusawa 37 MF  JPN Shun Nakajima 38 MF  JPN Rei Shimano DSP 39 MF  JPN Nobuteru Nakagawa 40 MF  JPN Riki Harakawa 41 GK  JPN Daiki Sakata 42 DF  JPN Wataru Harada 44 DF  JPN Taisei Kuwata 46 GK  JPN Kenta Matsumoto 48 MF  JPN Kazuki Kumasawa 88 DF  JPN Seiya Baba

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 29 MF  JPN Takuya Shimamura (at Albirex Niigata) 43 MF  JPN Mohammad Farzan Sana (at Thespa Gunma) — GK  JPN Masato Sasaki (at Iwaki FC) — DF  JPN Naoki Kawaguchi (at Júbilo Iwata) — MF  JPN Takumi Tsuchiya (at Ventforet Kofu)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  JPN Fumiya Unoki (at Iwaki FC) — MF  JPN Mohamad Sadiki Wade (at FC Ryukyu) — FW  JPN William Owie (at FC Gifu) — FW  JPN Ota Yamamoto (at Renofa Yamaguchi)

Club captains

Captain	Nationality	Tenure
Takahiro Shimotaira	Japan	–1998
Hong Myung-bo	Korea	1999
Tomokazu Myojin	Japan	2000–2005
Yuta Minami	Japan	2006–2007
Hidekazu Otani	Japan	2008–2022
Taiyo Koga	Japan	2023–present

Club officials

Club staff 2025

Position	Name
Manager	Ricardo Rodríguez
Assistant manager	Ryoichi Kurisawa
Coaches	Hidekazu Otani Yuta Someya
Coaches & Physical coach	Naoya Matsubara
Goalkeeping coach	Keita Inoue
Technical	Yasushi Okamura
Doctor	Kojiro Hyodo
Medical	Kaoru Arakawa Hiroyuki Akai Toshiya Itagaki Hisao Iwaki Fabiano
Interpreter	Isao Yakita Masayoshi Edson Hayakawa Michinori Katsuta
Scout and support coach	Lee Chang-won
Equipment	Masafumi Kimura
Competent	Takumi Miyamoto

Managerial history

Manager	Nationality	Tenure
		Start	Finish
Tokue Suzuki	Japan	1 February 1965	31 January 1966
Masayoshi Miyazaki	Japan	1 February 1966	31 January 1967
Kotaro Hattori	Japan	1 February 1967	31 January 1970
Hidetoki Takahashi	Japan	1 February 1970	31 January 1977
Takato Ebisu	Japan	1 February 1977	31 January 1979
Mutsuhiko Nomura	Japan	1 February 1979	31 January 1982
Yoshiki Nakamura	Japan	1 February 1982	31 January 1985
Yoshikazu Nagaoka	Japan	1 February 1985	30 June 1989
Hiroyuki Usui	Japan	1 July 1989	31 January 1993
Zé Sérgio	Brazil	1 February 1993	10 August 1995
Antoninho	Brazil	10 August 1995	31 January 1996
Nicanor	Brazil	1 February 1996	31 January 1998
Akira Nishino	Japan	1 February 1998	30 July 2001
Steve Perryman	England	1 August 2001	8 August 2002
Tomoyoshi Ikeya (caretaker)	Japan	9 August 2002	30 August 2002
Marco Aurelio	Brazil	31 August 2002	31 January 2004
Tomoyoshi Ikeya (caretaker)	Japan	1 February 2004	31 July 2004
Hiroshi Hayano	Japan	1 August 2004	31 January 2006
Nobuhiro Ishizaki	Japan	1 February 2006	31 January 2009
Shinichiro Takahashi	Japan	1 February 2009	14 July 2009
Masami Ihara (caretaker)	Japan	15 July 2009	30 July 2009
Nelsinho Baptista	Brazil	1 August 2009	31 January 2015
Tatsuma Yoshida	Japan	1 February 2015	31 January 2016
Milton Mendes	Brazil	1 February 2016	12 March 2016
Takahiro Shimotaira	Japan	12 March 2016	13 May 2018
Nozomu Katō	Japan	14 May 2018	10 November 2018
Ken Iwase	Japan	10 November 2018	31 January 2019
Nelsinho Baptista	Brazil	1 February 2019	17 May 2023
Masami Ihara	Japan	17 May 2023	4 December 2024[9]
Ricardo Rodríguez	Spain	11 December 2024 [2]	Current

Kit and colours

Colours

Kashiwa Reysol's main colour is yellow, like sunshine that is based on the club's name "Sun King". The uniform is yellow-black (called Aurinegro in Spanish) reminiscent of Peñarol or Borussia Dortmund. Reysol is the only top division club in the country to wear yellow-black.

Kit evolution

Home Kits - 1st
1992 - 1994	1995 - 1996	1997 - 1998	1999 - 2000	2001 - 2002
2003 - 2004	2005 - 2006	2007 - 2008	2009 - 2010	2011 - 2012
2013 - 2014	2015 - 2016	2017 - 2018	2019 - 2020	2021 - 2022
2023 -

Away Kit - 2nd
1992 - 1994	1995 - 1996	1997 - 1998	1999 - 2000	2001 - 2002
2003 - 2004	2005 - 2006	2007 - 2008	2009 - 2010	2011 - 2012
2013 - 2014	2015 - 2016	2017 - 2018	2019 - 2020	2021 - 2022
2023 -

Other Kits - 3rd
2013 ACL 1st	2013 ACL 2nd	2015 ACL 1st	2015 ACL 2nd	2018 ACL 1st
2018 ACL 2nd	2022 30th Anniversary

Continental record

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2012	AFC Champions League	Group H	Buriram United	1–0	3–2	2nd
			Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	5–1	0–2
			Guangzhou Evergrande	0–0	3–1
		Round of 16	Ulsan Hyundai	3–2
2013	AFC Champions League	Group H	Guizhou Renhe	1–1	0–1	1st
			Central Coast Mariners	3–1	0–3
			Suwon Samsung Bluewings	0–0	2–6
		Round of 16	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	2–5
		Quarter-finals	Al-Shabab	1–1	2–2	3–3 (a)
		Semi-finals	Guangzhou Evergrande	1–4	4–0	1–8
2015	AFC Champions League	Play-off round	Chonburi	3–2 (a.e.t.)
		Group E	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	3–2	0–0	1st
			Becamex Bình Dương	5–1	1–0
			Shandong Luneng	2–1	4–4
		Round of 16	Suwon Samsung Bluewings	1–2	2–3	4–4 (a)
		Quarter-finals	Guangzhou Evergrande	1–3	1–1	2–4
2018	AFC Champions League	Play-off round	Muangthong United	3–0
		Group E	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	0–2	3–2	3rd
			Tianjin Quanjian	1–1	3–2
			Kitchee	1–0	1–0

Notes

1. The original clubs of the Japan Soccer League in 1965 were Mitsubishi Motors, Furukawa Electric, Hitachi, Yanmar Diesel, Toyo Kogyo, Yahata Steel, Toyota Industries and Nagoya Mutual Bank.
2. Gamba Osaka achieved the same feat three seasons later; won the J2 League in 2013 and the J1 League back-to-back in 2014.