Sagan Tosu

Sagan Tosu (サガン鳥栖, Sagan Tosu) is a Japanese professional football club, currently playing in the J1 League. The team is located in Tosu, Saga Prefecture.

Sagan Tosu logo
Full nameSagan Tosu Football Club
Nickname(s)Sagan
Founded1997 (1997)
GroundTosu Stadium
Tosu, Saga
Capacity24,130
ChairmanMinoru Takehara
ManagerKim Myung-hwi
LeagueJ1 League
2019J1 League, 15th of 18
WebsiteClub website

Sagan is a coined word with a couple of meanings behind it. One of its homophones is sandstone (砂岩, sagan) in Japanese. This symbolises many small elements uniting to form one formidable object, for example as a metaphor for a team. Also, Sagan Tosu can be interpreted as "Tosu of Saga (Prefecture)" (佐賀ん鳥栖, Saga-n Tosu) in the area's dialect.

History

In February 1997, Sagan was established as a new club which virtually takes over Tosu Futures, which became insolvent in the previous month, and admitted to participate Japan Football League from 1997 to 1998, as well as J. League Cup in 1997 as a preferential measure, although J. League Associate Membership status is not awarded to Sagan. In 1999 they were admitted to the new J. League Division 2 (J2) as the original ten teams, where they remained until their promotion to J1 at the end of the 2011 season. Things have changed and started to turn positive with the new President & Chief Operating Officer Minoru Takehara, who is also part owner of the club.[1]

In their first season at the J. League Division 1 in 2012, confounding the prediction of many critics about their immediate relegation to J2, they have been maintaining their position between 5th and 11th places all the way through the season, only except after the 2nd week in which they were ranked as 13th. They were ranked third after the 33rd week, having a chance to qualify for the 2013 AFC Champions League if they would not lose to Yokohama F. Marinos in the last match of the 2012 season. However, they have lost to Yokohama 0–1 then ended up in 5th, while Urawa Red Diamonds defeated Nagoya Grampus and ranked in 3rd. They also became the first club in Asia to sign a partnership with Warrior Sports[2] who also sponsors English side Liverpool FC and others.

In 2013, they made it to the semifinal of the 2013 Emperor's Cup first time in the club's history, becoming the first club based in Kyushu to make it to the semifinal of the Emperor's Cup since Nippon Steel Yawata SC had done in the 1981 edition. In 2013, they also invited Sydney FC from the A-League along with the former Italian national team player Alessandro Del Piero for a Japan Tour for the first time.[3]

In 2014, the club have been in the most successful season in J. League Division 1, as being ranked on the top of 2014 J. League Division 1 after the 1st, 2nd, 13th, and 18th week. However, the club made an announcement on 8 August, several days after the 18th week match when Sagan moved back to the top of the league, to terminate the contract with the head coach Yoon Jung-Hwan as of 7 August all by sudden.[4] In 2014, they continued on its international expansion and initiated a relationship with Italian side Juventus FC for its Juventus Under-16 Japan Tour 2014.[5]

Record as J. League member
old crest
Season Div. Tms. Pos. Attendance/G J. League Cup Emperor's Cup
1999 J2 10 8 3,385 1st Round 3rd Round
2000 J2 11 6 3,714 1st Round 3rd Round
2001 J2 12 10 3,479 1st Round 4th Round
2002 J2 12 9 3,890 – 3rd Round
2003 J2 12 12 3,172 – 1st Round
2004 J2 12 11 3,610 – 4th Round
2005 J2 12 8 7,855 – 4th Round
2006 J2 13 4 7,465 – 4th Round
2007 J2 13 8 6,114 – 5th Round
2008 J2 15 6 7,261 – Quarter-final
2009 J2 18 5 5,939 – 4th Round
2010 J2 19 9 6,633 – 3rd Round
2011 J2 20 2 7,731 – 2nd Round
2012 J1 18 5 11,991 Group Stage 2nd Round
2013 J1 18 12 11,515 Group Stage Semi-final
2014 J1 18 5 14,137 Group Stage Round of 16
2015 J1 18 11 13,450 Group Stage Quarter-final
2016 J1 18 11 12,636 Group Stage Round of 16
2017 J1 18 8 14,194 Group Stage 3rd Round
Key
  • Tms. = Number of teams
  • Pos. = Position in league
  • Attendance/G = Average league attendance

Players

Current squad

As of 23 February 2020.[6] 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 Tatsuya Morita
2 MF Teruki Hara
3 DF Eduardo
4 MF Riki Harakawa
6 DF Yuto Uchida
7 FW Takeshi Kanamori
8 DF Keisuke Iwashita
9 FW Tiago Alves
11 FW Yohei Toyoda
12 GK Yosei Itahashi
13 DF Yuzo Kobayashi
14 MF Yoshiki Takahashi
15 DF Park Jeong-su (on loan from Kashiwa Reysol)
16 FW Daichi Hayashi
18 GK Yohei Takaoka
19 FW Cho Dong-geon
No. Position Player
20 FW Renzo Lopez (on loan from Kyoto Sanga)
21 GK Kim Min-ho
22 MF Tomoya Koyamatsu
23 MF Fuchi Honda
25 MF An Yong-woo
26 DF Wang Jianan
28 DF Ryoya Morishita
31 DF Ayumu Ohata
30 MF Yuta Higuchi
32 MF Yosuke Yuzawa
33 FW Kaisei Ishii
36 MF Hideto Takahashi
38 DF Daiki Miya
41 MF Daiki Matsuoka
44 FW Mu Kanazaki
50 MF Ryang Yong-gi

Out on loan

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

No. Position Player

Retired number
  • 17 Sakata Michitaka – A former professor of Saga University and the person which backed up in both the establishment of Tosu Futures and the team's revival as Sagan Tosu. He died due to kidney cancer on January 7, 2000. The number 17 indicates his day of death.

Managers

References
  1. [サガン、竹原氏が社長就任　「Ｊ１昇格と健全な経営」 http://www1.saga-s.co.jp/news/saga.0.1913106.article.html]
  2. [Warrior Football – Sagan Tosu http://www.warriorfootball.com/teams/sagan-tosu]
  3. [Sagan Tosu outlast Sydney FC in J-League friendly https://www.sbnation.com/2013/7/24/4551614/sydney-sagan-tosu-j-league]
  4. "尹晶煥監督　契約解除のお知らせ" [Annulment of the contract with Head Coach Yoon Jung-Hwan]. Sagan Tosu. 2014-08-08. Archived from the original on 2014-08-07. Retrieved 2014-08-08.
  5. [The Bianconeri Allievi fly to Japan http://www.juventus.com/juve/en/news/18%20june%202014%20allievi%20japan%5B%5D]
  6. "Top Team Player". Sagan Tosu. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
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