Kochi United SC

On February 1st 2016, two established Shikoku League clubs; Igosso Kōchi FC (アイゴッソ高知FC) and Kōchi U Torastar FC (高知UトラスターFC) merged to form one club, whose aim was to be the first team from Kōchi Prefecture to play in the J. League. After officially changing the management company's name to Kōchi United Sports Club Ltd., Kochi United SC took Igosso Kōchi FC's place in the Shikoku League. For the many players at Kōchi U Torastar FC unable to join Kochi United SC, and wanting to continue playing as amateurs in the Shikoku League, Kochi Sports Club Ltd. and Kochi University established KUFC Nangoku on March 1st 2016, and this new club took Kōchi U Torastar FC's place in the Shikoku League. The club badge depicts the ceremonial Keshō-mawashi (化粧廻し) of a Tosa Fighting Dog on the outside, with the dark red colors of Igosso Kochi FC and the green of Kōchi U Torastar inside it and an image of a leaping bonito or skipjack tuna drawn in the center (a popular fish in Kochi prefecture). The club's home shirt also reflects the colors of the amalgamated teams from which Kochi United SC was formed.

Postwar-1966: Kōchi Agricultural High School O.B. Club (高知農業高校OBクラブ).

1966-1996: Nangoku Soccer Club (Shikoku League Champions:1980).

1996-1999: Himawari Milk Nangoku F.C. (ひまわり牛乳南国FC).

1999-2014: Nangoku Kōchi F.C. (Shikoku League Champions: 2001, 2002. 2003, 2004, 2005).

2014-2016: Igosso Kōchi.

[1]

1998-2000: Transistor (トランジェスター).

2000-2006: Torastar (トラスター).

2006-2008: Beiling Torastar (北陵トラスター).

2008-2013: Nankoku Torastar (南国トラスターFC).

2013-2016: Kōchi U Torastar FC (Shikoku League Champions: 2014)

[2]

In their inaugural 2016 season they finished runners up in the Shikoku League (W12-D1-L1) to FC Imabari (FC今治) . They also qualified for the All Japan Senior Football Championship (全国社会人サッカー選手権大会 Zenkoku Shakaijin Sakkā Senshuken Taikai), but lost 4–3 in the first round to eventual winners Mitsubishi Mizushima FC (三菱水島 FC). In addition, they represented Kōchi in the Emperor's Cup (天皇杯 Tennōhai) breaking Kochi University's 13 year streak, but lost 2–1 in the first round proper to V-Varen Nagasaki (V・ファーレン長崎) of the J2 League having taken a shock lead with a Kota Sugawara penalty. Takuya Kobayashi was the top goalscorer with 17 goals in all competitions.

In the 2017 season they won the Shikoku League with a W12-D2-L0 record, thus qualifying for the Japanese Regional Football League Competition (全国地域サッカーチャンピオンズリーグ Zenkoku Chiiki Sakkā Championzu Līgu). They were drawn in Group B for the tournament alongside Amitie SC Kyoto (now Ococias Kyoto AC おこしやす京都AC), FC TIAMO Hirakata (FCティアモ枚方) of the Kansai Soccer League, and Mitsubishi Mizushima FC of the Chūgoku Soccer League. They lost 1–0 against Kansai Champions Amitie SC Kyoto in their first match, but won their second game 2–1 against FC TIAMO Hirakata. In their final match they thrashed Mitsubishi Mizushima (6 times Chugoku League champions) 5–2, but it wasn't enough to win the group or qualify for the final stage as best runners up. Still, it was a fine overall performance in their first appearance in the tournament. In the Emperor's Cup they represented Kochi again, but went out in the first round proper for the second consecutive season, losing 2–1 to Verspah Oita (ヴェルスパ大分) of the Japan Football League, after leading with a Tsubasa Yokotake goal. In the All Japan Senior Football Championship first round, they led at half time but ended up losing 3–1 to Vonds Ichihara (VONDS市原). The top scorer for the season was Kota Sugawara with 23 goals in all competitions.

Updated to May 4th, 2020.[3]

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Jun Kurosawa 2 DF Koki Yamashita 3 DF Shota Fujisaki 4 MF Sho Matsumoto 5 DF Kazuya Nakayama 6 MF Sho Aoki 7 MF Ryo Taguchi 8 FW Yuta Nishimura 9 FW Yoshikimi Nagao 10 MF Tsubasa Yokotake (captain) 11 FW Hiroki Maehara 13 MF Yuki Ueda 14 MF Sota Hamaguchi 15 DF Kenta Tamagawa

No. Position Player 16 FW Shogo Maeda 17 FW Takunosuke Funakawa 18 FW Koki Izumi 19 FW Kaima Akahoshi 20 MF Yusei Ohashi 22 GK Naotaka Ikegami 23 MF Kodai Himeda 24 DF Kenichiro Hirata 25 MF Junya Kurihara 26 FW Chen Xiangyu 27 MF Kento Nakamasu 28 FW Kiyoshiro Tsuboi 29 DF Ryusei Shimodo 30 GK Tatsuro Okuda

Note: AJSFC=All Japan Senior Football Championship. CCL=Chiiki Champions League

Updated to Nov 2019

Updated to Nov 2019

• Shikoku Soccer League: Champions (3)

2017, 2018, 2019

• Kochi Prefectural Football Championship: Winners (4)

2016, 2017, 2018, 2019

• Japanese Regional Football League Competition: Runners Up (1)

2019

• Record home victory: 11-0 v Rossorise KFC (Emperor's Cup Regional Round, 2017) & v Koyo Sealing Techno (Shikoku Soccer League, 2019).
• Record away victory: 0-14 v Koyo Sealing Techno (Shikoku Soccer League 2019).
• Record defeat: 0-3 v Matsue City FC (Western Japan Soccer Championship, 2016), 0-3 v Suzuka Unlimited FC (All Japan Senior Cup 1st Round, 2018), 0-3 v Hokkaido Tokachi Sky Earth (Japanese Regional Football League Competition, 2018), 0-3 v Iwaki FC (Japanese Regional Football League Competition, 2019).
• Record away league defeat: 2-1 v FC Imabari (Shikoku Soccer League, 2016) & 1-0 v FC Tokushima (Shikoku Soccer League, 2018).
• Note: Kochi United SC have never lost a home game in the league.
• Longest winning streak (all comps): 13 games (2017–18 and 2019 season).
• Longest losing streak (all comps): 4 games (Oct-Nov 2018).
• Most goals by one player in a game: 4 (Takuya Kobayashi: SSL 2016, Kazuki Nakabayashi: AJSFC 2017, Paulo Sousa: SSL 2018, Ryo Taguchi: SSL 2019, Hiroki Maehara: SSL 2019).
• Most career goals for Kochi United SC: 57 (Hiroki Maehara).
• Most hat-tricks for Kochi United SC: 5 (Kota Sugawara, Ryo Taguchi, Hiroki Maehara).

• Official Website (in Japanese)
• Official Facebook Page (in Japanese)