Kashima Antlers

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Kashima Antlers
鹿島アントラーズ

Full name	Kashima Antlers F.C. Co., Ltd.
Founded	1947; 77 years ago (1947) as Sumitomo Metal FC
Ground	Kashima Soccer Stadium
Capacity	40,728[1]
Owner	Mercari
Chairman	Fumiaki Koizumi[2]
Manager	Masaki Chugo
League	J1 League
2024	J1 League, 5th of 20
Website	www.antlers.co.jp/en
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Kashima Antlers (鹿島アントラーズ, Kashima Antorāzu) are a professional football club based in Kashima, Ibaraki, Japan. They currently play in the J1 League, the top tier of Japanese professional football leagues. The club has financial backing from Mercari, a Japanese e-commerce company.^[3]

Since the J.League's creation and introduction of professional Japanese football in 1993, Kashima have proven themselves to be by far Japan's most successful football club in terms of trophies won, having won the J1 League title a record 8 times, the J.League Cup a record 6 times, the Emperor's Cup 5 times and the Japanese Super Cup a record 6 times for an unprecedented nineteen major domestic titles.^[4] Continentally, Kashima became Asian champions when they won the AFC Champions League in 2018.^[5] The club also won the J.League Cup / Copa Sudamericana Championship on 2 occasions in 2012 and 2013.

Internationally, Kashima has made two appearances in the FIFA Club World Cup where in the 2016 edition, the club qualified as the host of the tournament.^[6] Kashima notably became the only club to qualify from the first round until the final where they would go on to lose to 2015–16 UEFA Champions League winners, Real Madrid 4–2 after extra time with Gaku Shibasaki scoring both goals for Kashima.^[7]

Kashima are also one of only two clubs to have competed in Japan's professional top-flight football every year since its inception (the other being Yokohama F. Marinos).

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.

Season(s)	Kit manufacturer	Main shirt sponsor	Collarbone sponsor	Additional sponsor(s)
2017	Nike	Lixil	—	Yellow Hat	Riso Kagaku Corporation	Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal	Eyeful Home	—
2018			Mercari
2019						Nippon Steel
2020
2021							Merpay / kaneka	Connect
2022							kaneka
2023								Takasago Thermal Engineering
2024

Home kits
1993–1994	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	2024 -

Away kits
1993–1994	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	2024 -

Alternative kits
1995 3rd	2008–2009 3rd 2009 ACL	2012 3rd	2017 3rd	2019 3rd
2021 3rd

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; some limited exceptions apply. 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; some limited exceptions apply. 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; some limited exceptions apply. 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

Role[17]	Name
Technical advisor	Zico
Manager	Masaki Chugo
Coaches	Ryuji Suzuki Kenji Haneda Masashi Moyoyama
Physical advisors	Masaya Sakihana
Physical coach	Ryosuke Ito
Goalkeeping coach	Yohei Sato
Assistant goalkeeper coach	Kwoun Sun-tae
Technical staff	Suguru Arie
Strength coach	Hitoshi Otomo
Physiotherapists	Yoshihiko Nakagawa Atsushi Inaba
Athletic trainers	Toshihiro Hashimoto Kenichi Nakata Tsukasa Ohashi
Mental trainer	Toshiki Shimizu
Dietitian	Aya Ishibashi
Interpreters	Kenta Kasai Kentaro Seki Masaya Kawakubo Kim Young-ha
Competent	Yuji Takada
Side affairs	Keisuke Okawa Shinpei Okiji
Team doctors	Hiroshi Jonouchi Jun Seki Ryo Matsunaga Takashi Sando Tomoo Ishii Toshiaki Nagamine Hiroshi Kimura

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

Kashima Antlers honours

Honour	No.	Years
All Japan Senior Football Championship	1	1973
Japan Soccer League (Second tier)	2	1984, 1986–87
J1 League	8	1996, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2016
Emperor's Cup	5	1997, 2000, 2007, 2010, 2016
J.League Cup	6	1997, 2000, 2002, 2011, 2012, 2015
A3 Champions Cup	1	2003
Japanese Super Cup	6	1997, 1998, 1999, 2009, 2010, 2017
J.League Cup / Copa Sudamericana Championship	2	2012, 2013
AFC Champions League	1	2018

• 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)

Manager	Nationality	Tenure
		Start	Finish
Masakatsu Miyamoto	Japan	January 1992	June 1994
Edu	Brazil	June 1994	December 1995
João Carlos	Brazil	January 1996	July 1998
Takashi Sekizuka (interim)	Japan	July 1998
Zé Mário	Brazil	July 1998	August 1999
Takashi Sekizuka (interim)	Japan	August 1999
Zico (interim)	Brazil	20 August 1999	31 December 1999
Toninho Cerezo	Brazil	1 January 2000	30 December 2005
Paulo Autuori	Brazil	31 December 2005	29 November 2006
Oswaldo de Oliveira	Brazil	1 January 2007	31 December 2011
Jorginho	Brazil	1 January 2012	31 December 2012
Toninho Cerezo	Brazil	1 January 2013	22 July 2015
Masatada Ishii	Japan	23 July 2015	31 May 2017
Go Oiwa	Japan	31 May 2017	1 January 2020
Antônio Carlos Zago	Brazil	2 January 2020	3 April 2021
Naoki Soma (interim)	Japan	7 April 2021	5 December 2021[18]
René Weiler	Switzerland	10 December 2021	7 August 2022[19]
Daiki Iwamasa	Japan	8 August 2022[20]	4 December 2023[21]
Ranko Popović	Serbia	21 December 2023[22]	6 October 2024[23]
Masaki Chugo	Japan	9 October 2024[24]	Present

Champions

Runners-up

Third place

Promoted

Relegated

Season	Div.	Tms.	Pos.	Avg. Attd.	J.League Cup	Emperor's Cup	Super Cup	Asia		Others
1992	–	–	–	–	Semi-finals	Quarter-finals	–	–	–	–	–
1993	J1	10	2nd	14,016	Group stage	Runners-up	–	–	–	–	–
1994		12	3rd	16,812	1st round	1st round	–	–	–	–	–
1995		14	7th	19,141	–	Semi-finals	–	–	–	–	–
1996		16	1st	15,386	Group stage	Quarter-finals	–	–	–	–	–
1997		17	2nd	16,985	Winner	Winner	Winner	–	–	–	–
1998		18	1st	15,345	Semi-finals	Semi-finals	Winner	CC	Quarter-finals	–	–
1999		16	9th	17,049	Runners-up	Round of 16	Winner	CWC	3rd place	–	–
2000		16	1st	17,507	Winner	Winner	–	CC	Quarter-finals	–	–
2001		16	1st	22,425	Semi-finals	Quarter-finals	Runners-up	–	–	–	–
2002		16	4th	21,590	Winner	Runners-up	Runners-up	CC	Quarter-finals	–	–
2003		16	5th	21,204	Runners-up	Semi-finals	–	CL	Group stage	A3	Winner
2004		16	6th	17,585	Quarter-finals	Quarter-finals	–	–	–	–	–
2005		18	3rd	18,641	Group stage	Quarter-finals	–	–	–	–	–
2006		18	6th	15,433	Runners-up	Semi-finals	–	–	–	–	–
2007		18	1st	16,239	Semi-finals	Winner	–	–	–	–	–
2008		18	1st	19,714	Quarter-finals	5th round	Runners-up	CL	Quarter-finals	–	–
2009		18	1st	21,617	Quarter-finals	Quarter-finals	Winner	CL	Round of 16	–	–
2010		18	4th	20,966	Quarter-finals	Winner	Winner	CL	Round of 16	–	–
2011		18	6th	16,156	Winner	Round of 16	Runners-up	CL	Round of 16	–	–
2012		18	11th	15,381	Winner	Semi-finals	–	–	–	Suruga	Winner
2013		18	5th	16,419	Quarter-finals	Round of 16	–	–	–	Suruga	Winner
2014		18	3rd	17,665	Group stage	2nd round	–	–	–	–	–
2015		18	5th	16,423	Winner	3rd round	–	CL	Group stage	–	–
2016		18	1st	19,103	Group stage	Winner	–	–	–	Suruga	Runners-up
										FIFA	Runners-up
2017		18	2nd	20,467	Quarter-finals	Quarter-finals	Winner	CL	Round of 16	–	–
2018		18	3rd	20,547	Semi-finals	Semi-finals	–	CL	Winner	FIFA	4th place
2019		18	3rd	20,571	Semi-finals	Runners-up	–	CL	Quarter-finals	–	–
2020 †		18	5th	6,466	Group stage	Did not qualify	–	CL	Playoff	–	–
2021 †		20	4th	7,818	Quarter-finals	Quarter-finals	–	–	–	–	–
2022		18	4th	16,161	Play-off stage	Semi-finals	–	–	–	–	–
2023		18	5th	20,834	Quarter-finals	3rd round	–	–	–	–	–
2024		20	5th		3rd round	Quarter-finals	–	–	–	–	–

Zico Leonardo Mazinho Bismarck Jorginho Fábio Júnior Pereira

Atsuto Uchida Yuya Osako Kōji Nakata Atsushi Yanagisawa Masashi Motoyama Takayuki Suzuki Gaku Shibasaki Hiroki Abe Ayase Ueda Kento Misao

Park Joo-ho Lee Jung-soo

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

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