Avispa Fukuoka
アビスパ福岡
Full nameAvispa Fukuoka
Nickname(s)Avi, Hachi (Hornet, in Japanese), Meishu
Founded1982 (1982)
StadiumBest Denki Stadium
Hakata-ku, Fukuoka
Capacity22,563
ChairmanTakashi Kawamori
ManagerShigetoshi Hasebe
LeagueJ1 League
2023J1 League, 7th of 18
WebsiteClub website

Avispa Fukuoka (アビスパ福岡, Abisupa Fukuoka) is a Japanese professional football club based in Hakata, Fukuoka. They currently compete in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country.

History

Earlier years in Fujieda

The club were originally based in Fujieda, Shizuoka and was founded as Chūō Bōhan SC in 1982 by the workers of security company Chuo Bohan in Fujieda, Shizuoka. They were promoted to the Japan Soccer League Division 2 in 1991. The club then participated in the newly founded former Japan Football League Division 2 in 1992 and were promoted to Division 1 in 1993. They changed their name to Fujieda Blux with intention to be a J.League member. However, with difficulties to have a stadium that met J.League requirements, and with local competition from Júbilo Iwata and Shimizu S-Pulse, the football fan base in Shizuoka prefecture was already considered saturated.

Move to Fukuoka (1994)

As a result, in 1994, the club decided to move to Fukuoka where the community was eager to have a J.League club. They adopted new name Fukuoka Blux and became a J.League associate member, while the amateur club of Chūō Bōhan F.C. was active in Fujieda until 2006.

1995 (JFL)

The first season in Fukuoka saw them win the JFL championship with help from Argentine Hugo Maradona and they were promoted to J.League. After becoming the champions of 1995 Japan Football League as Fukuoka Blux the team was admitted to the J.League in 1996 season.

1996–1998 (J.League)

Fukuoka Blux eventually decided to change their name to Avispa Fukuoka, in order to avoid a potential trademark dispute with men's clothier Brooks Brothers. "Avispa" itself means "wasp" in Spanish. The club acquired experienced players such as former Japanese international Satoshi Tsunami and defender Hideaki Mori but they finished lowly 15th in the 1996 season.

They finished bottom of the league two seasons in a row from 1997 to 1998, but were able to narrowly avoid relegation. This was because J.League were building foundation of J.League 2 for 1999. Therefore, no clubs were relegated and there were relegation/promotion play-offs for the first time at the end of 1998 season, in which Avispa were involved. Around this time, forward Yoshiteru Yamashita and midfielder Chikara Fujimoto were chosen for the Japanese national team.

1999–2001 (J1)

In 1999, they again reinforced the squad by acquiring experienced players such as former internationals Nobuyuki Kojima and Yasutoshi Miura as well as Yugoslavian Nenad Maslovar. They won a fierce relegation battle and eventually stayed up. In 2000, Argentine David Bisconti and Romanian Pavel Badea were transferred to Fukuoka and they finished club record 6th in the second stage. In 2001, the club acquired former Korean international Noh Jung-Yoon and Yoshika Matsubara but they finished 15th and were relegated to J2.

2002–2005 (J2)

In 2002, they kept experienced players and released younger players such as Daisuke Nakaharai and Yoshiteru Yamashita but they finished 8th out of 10. In 2002, with new manager Hiroshi Matsuda, they decided to recruit and nurture young players who graduated from local high schools instead of acquiring experienced footballers from other clubs. They initially struggled but came back well and finished 4th. In 2004, they finished 3rd and qualified for the play-offs but Kashiwa Reysol dashed their promotion hope by beating them home and away (the scoreline was both 2–0). In 2005, they finished 2nd and gained an automatic promotion to J1. Avispa players Hokuto Nakamura and Tomokazu Nagira represented Japan for the 2005 World Youth Championship in the Netherlands.

2006 (J1)

They had been involved in a relegation battle from the beginning of the season. They finished 16th and were relegated to J2 after the promotion/relegation play-offs against Vissel Kobe, which they tied twice, 0–0 in Kobe, then 1–1 at their home game. Like many J2 teams this has led to financial issues. The Daily Yomiuri reported that in 2006 Avispa needed 535 million yen in loans from the local prefectural and municipal governments.

2007–2008 (J2)

With relegation came another new manager, the former German international Pierre Littbarski. "Litti" arrived from the Australian A-League, bringing with him several experienced players such as Mark Rudan, Joel Griffiths and Ufuk Talay, but he was unable to steer Avispa to any notable success. Having finished 7th in 2007, an inability to compete near the top of the league led to Littbarski's sacking in mid-2008. He was replaced by former Avispa player Yoshiyuki Shinoda.

2009 (J2)

The departure of Littbarski coincided with the departure of the club's Australian players, who were largely replaced with youngsters from a number of Kyushu-based universities. After a reasonable start, Avispa's form has tailed off sharply, with a recent five-game losing streak including 6–0 and 5–0 thrashings away at Ventforet Kofu and Mito HollyHock respectively. The club finished in the lower half of the J2 table with promotion hopes dashed for another year.

2010 (J2)

Yoshiyuki Shinoda bolstered his squad for the 2010 season by adding more players from local University teams, and picked up midfielders Kosuke Nakamachi and Genki Nagasato who had previously played together at Shonan Bellmare. The season started slowly with the team picking up only 1 point out of a possible 15 in March, but then saw a dramatic improvement in performance as they went on to win 17 of the next 25 games including a come from behind victory against promotion rivals JEF United. As JEF United went on to drop more points Avispa secured promotion back to J1 with 2 games of the season left to play.

Popular striker Tetsuya Okubo was released at the end of the season, along with 4 other players as the squad was prepared for J1.

2011 (J1)

The promotion to J1 saw some significant changes to the squad as Takuya Matsuura was brought in to replace Genki Nagasato who departed to Ventforet Kofu under a cloud, Shogo Kobara, Kim Min-je and Takumi Wada coming in to bolster defence, while Sho Naruoka and Kentaro Shigematsu arrived to try to score the goals to keep the club in the division.

Tipped by all pundits on the J-League After Game Show to finish the season in 18th position, the players struggled to gel and went for the first 13 games of the season without earning a point. Despite improving slightly towards the mid-season break manager Shinoda left the club to be replaced by head coach Tetsuya Asano.

While results continued to improve, culminating in a 6–0 away win to Montedio Yamagata, the club could not pull themselves out of the relegation zone and finished the season in 17th position to be relegated to J2. At the end of the season the manager was changed again with Koji Maeda being brought in to replace the departing Asano.

2012 (J2)

The team was looking to bounce straight back to J1 upon their return to the second tier but endured the worst season in the history of the club as they finished a lowly 18th in the table; only winning 9 games all season and conceding 68 goals (only Gainare Tottori would concede more in the season). The end of the season saw Koji Maeda part ways with the club as they looked to rebuild towards a better 2013.

2013 (J2)

The club returned to hiring a non-Japanese manager for the first time since Pierre Littbarski as Slovenian Marijan Pusnik arrived. His arrival saw a greater emphasis given towards the development of young players at the club as rookies Yuta Mishima and Takeshi Kanamori were given chances in the first team.

Results on the pitch immediately improved and the club were competing around the play-off positions until a slump in form mid-season coincided with the announcement that the club needed ¥50 million to remain solvent. The club finished in 14th position, but found the money to stay afloat, with Pusnik agreeing to remain as manager for another season.

2014 (J2)

Avispa finished in 16th place. Pušnik's contract was not renewed and he returned to Slovenia.

2015 (Promotion to J1)

The club hired new coach Masami Ihara[1] who twice handled Kashiwa Reysol in a caretaker capacity. They finished third and were promoted back to J1 in winning the promotion playoffs.

2016 (J1)

Avispa finished in 18th place and relegated to J2. League

2017 (J2)

Avispa finished in fourth place. In the "J1 promotion play-off", Avispa won the semi-final game 1–0 against Tokyo Verdy. In the final game however, the team had a scoreless draw, 0-0, with Nagoya Grampus leaving them in third place, meaning Avispa could not be promoted to J1.

2021–present (J1)

A second place finish in the 2020 J2 League saw Avispa returned to J1 League for the first time since 2016.

On 4 November 2023, Avispa won the J.League Cup by defeating two-time winners Urawa Red Diamonds 2–1 in the final match of 2023 edition.[2][3] It was the first major trophy in the history of the club.

League & cup record

Champions Runners-up Third place Promoted Relegated
LeagueJ.League CupEmperor's
Cup
SeasonDiv.TeamsPos.PW (ET/PK)DL (ET/PK)FAGDPtsAttendance/G
1996 J11615th309 (–/–)19 (–/2)4264–22299,737Group stageRound of 16
1997 1717th326 (–/1)20 ((5/–)2958–29198,653Group stageRound of 16
1998 1818th346 (1/1)22 ((2/2)2969–402110,035Group stageRound of 16
1999 1614th307 (3/–)118 (1/–)4159–182811,4672nd roundRound of 16
2000 1612th309 (4/–)210 (5/–)4148–73713,6122nd roundRound of 16
2001 1615th307 (2/–)214 (5/–)3556–212713,8222nd round3rd round
2002 J2128th441012225869–11426,491Not eligibleRound of 16
2003 124th442181567625717,4173rd round
2004 123rd4423714564115768,7434th round
2005 122nd4421158726487810,7864th round
2006 J11816th34512173256–242713,780Group stageRound of 16
2007 J2137th4822719776116739,529Not eligible4th round
2008 158th421513145566–105810,0793rd round
2009 1811th511714205271–19657,7633rd round
2010 193rd362196633429698,821Quarter-finals
2011 J11817th3464243475–422210,415Group stage3rd round
2012 J22218th42914195368–15415,586Not eligible3rd round
2013 2214th421511164754–7565,7272nd round
2014 2216th421311185260–8505,0622nd round
2015 223rd4224108633726828,7363rd round
2016 J11818th3447232666–401912,857Quarter-finals2nd round
2017 J2224th42211110543618749,550Not eligible3rd round
2018 227th42191310584216708,8733rd round
2019 2216th42128223962–23446,9833rd round
2020 222nd422598512922843,289Did not qualify
2021 J1208th3814121242375545,403Group stage3rd round
2022 1814th34911142938–9387,150Semi-finalsQuarter-finals
2023 187th34156133743-6518,689WinnersSemi-finals
2024 20TBA38
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
  • Attendance/G = Average home league attendance
  • 2020 season attendance reduced due to COVID-19 pandemic in Japan
  • Source: J.League Data Site

Honours

Current players

As of 15 August 2023.[4][5]

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 Japan JPN Takumi Nagaishi
2 DF Japan JPN Masato Yuzawa
3 DF Japan JPN Tatsuki Nara (captain)
5 DF Japan JPN Daiki Miya (vice-captain)
6 MF Japan JPN Hiroyuki Mae (vice-captain)
7 MF Japan JPN Takeshi Kanamori (vice-captain)
8 MF Japan JPN Kazuya Konno
9 FW Brazil BRA Lukian
10 FW Japan JPN Hisashi Jogo
11 MF Japan JPN Yuya Yamagishi
14 MF Japan JPN Tatsuya Tanaka
16 DF Japan JPN Itsuki Oda
17 FW Japan JPN Shun Nakamura
18 FW Brazil BRA Wellington
19 MF Japan JPN Sotan Tanabe
20 DF Japan JPN KennedyEgbus Mikuni
21 GK Japan JPN Takumi Yamanoi
22 DF Japan JPN Masashi Kamekawa
No. Pos. Nation Player
26 DF Japan JPN Seiya Inoue
27 FW Japan JPN Ryoga Sato
28 FW Japan JPN Reiju Tsuruno
29 DF Japan JPN Yota Maejima
30 MF Japan JPN Masato Shigemi DSP
31 GK Japan JPN Masaaki Murakami
33 DF Brazil BRA Douglas Grolli
35 MF Japan JPN Yuto Hiratsuka
37 DF Japan JPN Masaya Tashiro
41 GK Japan JPN Daiki Sakata
44 DF Japan JPN Kimiya Moriyama (vice-captain)
45 FW Japan JPN Ichika Maeda Type 2
46 MF Japan JPN Katsuki Nishimura Type 2
47 MF Japan JPN Sota Iwanaga Type 2
49 GK Japan JPN Jin Tokishi Type 2
51 GK Japan JPN Kazuaki Suganuma DSP
99 MF Japan JPN Yosuke Ideguchi (on loan from Celtic)

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
MF Japan JPN Yuji Kitajima (at Tokyo Verdy)

Club officials

For the 2023 season.

Position Staff
Sporting directorJapan Nobuaki Yanagida
ManagerJapan Shigetoshi Hasebe
Assistant managerJapan Megumu Yoshida
First-Team coachJapan Kazuno Nakashima
Japan Ryotaro Tanaka
Goalkeeping coachJapan Hideki Tsukamoto
Conditioning coachJapan Sotaro Higuchi
Chief trainerJapan Eiji Miyata
Athletic trainerJapan Naoki Yoshioka
Japan Naoki Nagai
Japan Toshiki Okuno
InterpreterJapan Atsushi Kamiyama
Brazil Gustavo De Marco
Japan Ryu Sakai
Kit managerJapan Ryuya Muto
Japan Takuna Nakano
CompetentJapan Eishi Nakamura
Strengthening departmentJapan Yoshitaka Fujisaka
Japan Kim Dong-hyun
ScoutJapan Hidetoshi Hayashida
Japan Rikihiro Sugiyama

Managerial history

ManagerNationalityTenure
StartFinish
Yoshio Kikugawa Japan1 January 198231 December 1994
Jorge Olguín Argentina1 July 199331 December 1995
Hidehiko Shimizu Japan1 February 199631 January 1997
Carlos Pachamé Argentina1 January 199731 December 1997
Takaji Mori Japan1 February 199831 January 1999
Yoshio Kikugawa Japan1 January 199931 December 1999
Nestor Omar Piccoli Argentina1 January 200031 December 2001
Masataka Imai Japan1 February 200228 July 2002
Tasuya Mochizuki Japan29 July 200214 August 2002
Shigekazu Nakamura Japan15 August 200231 January 2003
Hiroshi Matsuda Japan1 February 20037 May 2006
Ryōichi Kawakatsu Japan8 May 200631 January 2007
Hitoshi Okino Japan11 December 200631 January 2007
Pierre Littbarski Germany1 February 200711 July 2008
Yoshiyuki Shinoda Japan15 July 20083 August 2011
Tetsuya Asano Japan3 August 201131 December 2011
Kōji Maeda Japan1 January 201228 October 2012
Futoshi Ikeda Japan29 October 201231 January 2013
Marijan Pušnik Slovenia1 January 201331 December 2014
Masami Ihara Japan1 February 201531 January 2019
Fabio Pecchia Italy1 February 20193 June 2019
Kiyokazu Kudō Japan4 June 201931 January 2020
Shigetoshi Hasebe Japan1 February 2020Current

Colour, sponsors and manufacturers

Season(s)Main Shirt SponsorCollarbone SponsorAdditional Sponsor(s)Kit Manufacturer
2018FJ.
Fukuoka Estate
Hakata Green Hotel (Left)-Shin Nihon SeiyakuPIETROHakata Nakasu FukuyaBIKEN TECHNOBefore the ban is liftedYONEX
2019
2020Plantel EXPIETRO
2021Shin Nihon SeiyakuJapan Park (Right)DMM HokenYupiesu-/
BYBIT
2022DMM HokenBYBITKIRIN Beverage-
2023AgekkeDMM TV-Hakata Nakasu Fukuya

Kit evolution

Home 1st
1996 - 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 2nd
1996 - 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 -
Alternate 3rd / Special
2015
20th Anniversary
2017
Bee Festival Memorial
2018
Bee Festival Memorial
2019
Hachimatsuri Memorial
2020
25th Anniversary
2021
Autumn Formation
2022
SP

References

  1. Avispa hires head coach Masami Ihara Archived 19 December 2015 at the Wayback Machine (in Japanese)
  2. "Avispa Fukuoka reign supreme in J.League YBC Levain Cup triumph". JLeague.co. J.League. 4 November 2023. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
  3. "2023 J.League YBC Levain Cup Final - Avispa Fukuoka vs Urawa Red Diamonds". JLeague.co. J.League. 4 November 2023. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  4. "2023シーズン新体制 および 選手背番号決定のお知らせ" (in Japanese). Avispa Fukuoka. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  5. "トップチーム選手・スタッフプロフィール" (in Japanese). Avispa Fukuoka. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
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