Kashima Antlers
鹿島アントラーズ

Full name	Kashima Antlers F.C. Co., Ltd.
Founded	1947 (1947) as Sumitomo Metal FC
Ground	Kashima Soccer Stadium
Capacity	40,728[1]
Owner	Mercari
Chairman	Fumiaki Koizumi
Manager	Ranko Popović
League	J1 League
2023	J1 League, 5th of 18
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

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.

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 J.League title a record eight times, the J.League Cup a record six times and the Emperor's Cup five times for an unprecedented nineteen major domestic titles. Kashima became Asian champions when they won the AFC Champions League in 2018.

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).

Name origin

The name Antlers is derived from the city name, Kashima, which literally means "deer island".

History

The name 'Antlers' is derived from the city of Kashima (鹿嶋), which literally translates to 'Deer Island'. 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. Deer are affectionate animals but are also known for their courageous character as they battle each other head-to-head with lethal antlers.

Leonardo Araújo played for Kashima from 1994 to 1996.

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, returning in 1986/87 and going down again in 1988/89. Its last standing in the JSL was 2nd in the Second Division for 1991/92.

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. 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^{[lower-alpha 1]} 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.

Outside the Kashima Soccer Stadium

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.

In 2016, they became the first Asian club to reach the FIFA Club World Cup final following a 3–0 victory over South American champions Atlético Nacional.^[2] In the final, after a 2–2 draw against European champions Real Madrid after 90 minutes, they were beaten 4–2 after extra time.^[3]

Kit evolution

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 -

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 -

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

Slogans

Players

Current squad

Kashima players training at Azadi Stadium

As of 8 January 2024.^[5][6]

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 Tomoki Hayakawa 2 DF  JPN Koki Anzai 4 DF  CRO Josip Ćalušić 5 DF  JPN Ikuma Sekigawa 8 MF  JPN Shoma Doi (captain) 10 MF  JPN Gaku Shibasaki 13 FW  JPN Kei Chinen 14 MF  JPN Yuta Higuchi 15 MF  JPN Tomoya Fujii 16 DF  JPN Hidehiro Sugai 25 MF  JPN Kaishu Sano 26 MF  JPN Naoki Sutoh 27 MF  JPN Yuta Matsumura 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 37 FW  JPN Yuki Kakita 38 GK  KOR Park Eui-jeong 39 DF  JPN Keisuke Tsukui 40 FW  JPN Yuma Suzuki (vice-captain) 41 FW  JPN Homare Tokuda Type 2 42 DF  JPN Haruto Matsumoto Type 2 55 DF  JPN Naomichi Ueda 77 MF  BRA Guilherme Parede (On loan from Talleres)

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  JPN Ryotaro Araki (on loan at FC Tokyo) — MF  JPN Yusuke Ogawa (on loan at FC Ryukyu) — MF  JPN Ryotaro Nakamura (on loan at Shimizu S-Pulse)

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW  JPN Itsuki Someno (on loan at Tokyo Verdy) — DF  JPN Naoki Hayashi (on loan at Tokyo Verdy) — MF  JPN Yoshihiro Shimoda (on loan at Iwaki FC)

Management and support staff

For the 2024 season.

Role	Name
Technical advisor	Zico
Manager	Ranko Popović
Assistant manager	Ryuji Suzui Kosei Nakamura
Goalkeeping coach	Yohei Sato
Technical staff	Suguru Arie
Strength coach	Hitoshi Otomo
Doctor	Hiroshi Jonouchi Jun Seki Ryo Matsunaga Takashi Sando Tomoo Ishii Toshiaki Nagamine
Physiotherapist	Atsushi Inaba Yoshihiko Nakagawa
Athletic trainer	Kenichi Nakata Toshihiro Hashimoto Tsukasa Ohashi
Interpreter	Kentaro Seki Kenta Kasai Masaya Kawakubo Kim Young-ha
Competent	Yuji Takada
Side affairs	Keisuke Okawa Shinpei Okiji

Manager history

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[7]
René Weiler	Switzerland	10 December 2021	7 August 2022[8]
Daiki Iwamasa	Japan	8 August 2022[9]	4 December 2023[10]
Ranko Popović	Serbia	21 December 2023[11]	Present

Record as J.League member

Financials

Honours

Kashima Antlers celebrate after winning the 2018 AFC Champions League.

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

Personnel awards

• 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)

Former players

In popular culture

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 FC's Tsubasa Ozora.

Notes

References

External links

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