Sagan Tosu

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] On July 10, 2018, the club reached an agreement with former World Cup, UCL and Europa League winner, Fernando Torres. The aging star would play 35 games for the side netting 5 goals before finally hanging up his boots on his star studded career.

Key

As of 18 March 2022[6][7]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  JPN Tatsuya Morita 2 DF  JPN Nanasei Iino (vice-captain) 3 DF  LBN Joan Oumari 4 MF  JPN Toshio Shimakawa 5 DF  BRA Diego 6 MF  JPN Akito Fukuta 7 MF  JPN Yoshihiro Nakano 8 MF  JPN Fuchi Honda 10 MF  JPN Yuji Ono (footballer) 11 FW  JPN Taisei Miyashiro (on loan from Kawasaki Frontale) 12 GK  JPN Keisuke Fukaya 13 DF  JPN Shinya Nakano (vice-captain) 14 MF  JPN Naoyuki Fujita (captain) 15 FW  JPN Yukihito Kajiya 16 FW  JPN Shunta Araki 18 MF  JPN Jun Nishikawa (on loan from Cerezo Osaka) 19 FW  JPN Yuki Kakita (on loan from Kashima Antlers) 20 DF  KOR Hwang Seok-ho 21 GK  KOR Ueom Ye-hoon

No. Pos. Nation Player 22 MF  JPN Kyo Sato 23 MF  JPN Taichi Kikuchi 25 FW  JPN Yuta Fujihara 26 DF  KOR Taiga Son 27 MF  JPN Ryunosuke Sagara 29 FW  JPN Yuto Iwasaki (on loan from Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo) 30 DF  JPN Masaya Tashiro 31 GK  JPN Masahiro Okamoto 32 MF  JPN Yosuke Yuzawa 33 FW  JPN Kaisei Ishii 37 DF  JPN Kei Koizumi 40 GK  KOR Park Il-gyu (vice-captain) 41 MF  JPN Shunya Sakai Type 2 42 DF  JPN Wataru Harada 43 MF  JPN Taichi Fukui 44 MF  JPN Yuki Horigome 45 MF  JPN Yoshiki Narahara Type 2 47 MF  JPN Kentaro Moriya

Out on loan

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  JPN Yosei Itahashi (on loan at Ehime) — DF  JPN Daisuke Matsumoto (on loan at Zweigen Kanazawa) — MF  JPN Tomoya Koyamatsu (on loan at Kashiwa Reysol) — FW  JPN Ryo Wada (on loan at Brisbane Roar)

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW  JPN Rio Nitta (on loan at FC Wacker Innsbruck II) — FW  JPN Reoto Kodama (on loan at Renofa Yamaguchi) — FW  KEN Ismael Dunga (on loan at Kamatamare Sanuki)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sagan Tosu.

• (in Japanese) Official Site