# Shonan Bellmare

Shonan Bellmare (湘南ベルマーレ, Shōnan Berumāre) is a Japanese professional football club based in Hiratsuka, in the west of Kanagawa Prefecture, part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Their home stadium is Hiratsuka Athletics Stadium. Shonan refers to a coastal area along Sagami Bay that includes Hiratsuka. Bellmare is a portmanteau of the Italian words bello and mare, meaning "beautiful sea".

## History
### Early years as corporate team (1968–1992)

The club was founded in 1968 as "Towa Real Estate SC" in Nasu, Tochigi. They were promoted to the Japan Soccer League (JSL) Division 1 in 1972. They changed their name to "Fujita Kogyo SC" when Towa Estate Development gave up the ownership to their parent company Fujita Industries, which moved the club to Hiratsuka.
They won the JSL three times (including two doubles with the Emperor's Cup) between 1977 and 1981. They were nevertheless relegated to the JSL's Division 2 in 1990. Although they won the last JSL Division 2 season in 1991–92, the professionalization and formation of the J.League meant they did not meet the new top flight league's criteria and the runners-up, Kashima Antlers (formerly Sumitomo), were promoted instead.

### 1993: JFL

In 1993, they adopted new name "Shonan Bellmare". Their application to the J.League Associate membership was accepted. They played in the former Japan Football League Division 1 and won the league championship. After Hiratsuka City Council committed to finance the refurbishment of the Hiratsuka Stadium to meet the J.League requirements, J.League accepted the club.

### 1994–1997: Golden era

The club was forced to change their name to Bellmare Hiratsuka because J.League required the participants to designate only one city or town as their hometown and include its name in the club names at that time. The club initially struggled to cope with the J.League opponents and finished 11th out of 12 in the first stage of the 1994 season. However, they came back in the second stage and finished 2nd. With this momentum, the club won the 1994–1995 Emperor's Cup. This title qualified Bellmare for the 1996 Asian Cup Winners' Cup, which they won by beating Iraq's Al Talaba in the final. Hidetoshi Nakata joined the team in 1995 and they also successfully recruited Brazilian-born Wagner Lopes and influential Korean international Hong Myung-bo. This is arguably the most successful period of the club.

### 1998–1999: Difficult period

Four Bellmare players were selected for the 1998 FIFA World Cup. They were Nakata, Lopes, Hong (for South Korea) and a goalkeeper Nobuyuki Kojima. However, as Nakata left for Italian club Perugia just after the World Cup, the club's fortune started to decline. The main sponsor Fujita decided to discontinue the financial support in 1999 due to their own financial difficulties. It forced the club to release some highly paid players including Lopes, Hong and Kojima. They finished bottom of J1 in 1999 and were relegated to J2.

### 2000–2009: J2 League

The club made a new start. The ownership was transferred to a community-owned organisation. They also changed their name to Shonan Bellmare as J.League allowed them to enlarge their designated hometowns to include several cities and towns surrounding Hiratsuka. The club's performance on the pitch has not been strong and they have not been serious contenders for the promotion to J1 so far.
A J1 comeback in 2010, if they are able to achieve promotion, will be the first without Fujita as their sponsor. Although for a time they refused to consider their history as the championship-winning Fujita corporate team in their current history, this year they celebrated the club's 40-year anniversary in 2009 as deduced from the badge in their Web site.
On 5 December 2009, Shonan returned to J1 as third-place finishers in 2009 seasons.

### 2010–present: Return to J1 League

The club returned to the J1 in 2010, but injured one after another and J2 was relegated after leaving four games. In the end, he won 21 consecutive league games. It was the worst record of J1 at that time. After that, the team will be repeatedly demoted to J2 and promoted to J1.
In recent years, the team has been steadily improving. In 2014, the team made good progress in the J2, winning 14 consecutive games from the opening. The team was defeated by Ehime FC in the 15th round, but after that they lost 21 battles. J1 automatic promotion is confirmed. As a result, he won the J2 with 31 wins, 8 draws, 3 losses and 101 points in the 2014 season. In 2016, in the J1, Shonan Bellmare was the final result in 8th place, and it was the first time for J1 to remain in history. In addition, at the EAFF E-1 Football Championship 2015 held in August, Wataru Endo, who was on the team at the time, participated as a representative of Japan. In 2018, won the J.League Cup. It was the first time for Shonan Bellmare to win three major titles since winning the 74th Emperor's Cup in the Bellmare Hiratsuka.
On the operational side, there was some report that the club fell into excess debt of more than 100 million yen in February 2012, and in the worst case the club itself could be dissolved (the actual amount of excess debt was 82.68 million yen). However, the debt insolvency was resolved by two capital increases. In April 2018, SANEI ARCHITECTURE PLANNING, which was the largest shareholder of Shonan Bellmare, established "Merudia RIZAP Shonan Sports Partners" in collaboration with RIZAP GROUP. The new company acquired a 50% stake in Shonan Bellmare. RIZAP GROUP intends to invest 1 billion yen in Bellmare over the next three years.

## Rivalries

Historically the Shonan area was part of a pre-modern province, Sagami Province, whereas Yokohama and Kawasaki were part of Musashi Province, hence Bellmare's intraprefectural rivalries with Yokohama F. Marinos, Yokohama FC and Kawasaki Frontale are based on the hard-working port cities of South Musashi as opposed to the more laid-back attitude of Sagami.

## Affiliated clubs

The following clubs are currently affiliated with Shonan Bellmare:
* Davao Aguilas (2022–2024)
* Boeung Ket (2022–2026)
* Sudeva Delhi (2022–2026)
* Nongbua Pitchaya (2022–2026)
* Wuhan Three Towns (2022–2030)
* FC Chanthabouly (2022–2028)
* Kelantan Darul Naim (2022–2030)
* Persis Solo (2024–2038)
* Inter Milan (2024–2038)
* SS Lazio (2024–2038)
* Borussia Dortmund (2024–2038)
* Wolverhampton Wanderers (2024–2025)

## Current squad

As of 7 January 2025.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 3 | DF | JPN | Taiga Hata (vice-captain) |
| 4 | DF | JPN | Koki Tachi (vice-captain) |
| 5 | DF | JPN | Junnosuke Suzuki |
| 6 | MF | BRA | Zé Ricardo (on loan from Kawasaki Frontale) |
| 7 | MF | JPN | Kosuke Onose |
| 8 | DF | JPN | Kazunari Ono |
| 10 | FW | JPN | Akito Suzuki (captain) |
| 11 | FW | BRA | Lukian |
| 13 | MF | JPN | Taiyo Hiraoka |
| 14 | MF | JPN | Akimi Barada |
| 15 | MF | JPN | Kohei Okuno |
| 16 | FW | JPN | Ryo Nemoto |
| 17 | MF | JPN | Soki Tamura |
| 18 | MF | JPN | Masaki Ikeda |
| 19 | MF | JPN | Sho Fukuda |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 20 | FW | JPN | Sena Ishibashi |
| 21 | GK | JPN | Tatsunari Nagai |
| 22 | DF | JPN | Kazuki Oiwa |
| 23 | DF | JPN | Kanaru Matsumoto |
| 24 | DF | JPN | Kotaro Honda |
| 27 | FW | BRA | Luiz Phellype |
| 29 | FW | JPN | Keigo Watanabe |
| 31 | GK | JPN | Kota Sanada |
| 32 | DF | JPN | Sere Matsumura |
| 33 | DF | JPN | Naoya Takahashi |
| 37 | MF | JPN | Yuto Suzuki (vice-captain) |
| 47 | DF | KOR | Kim Min-tae (vice-captain) |
| 50 | MF | JPN | Tomoya Fujii |
| 77 | FW | JPN | Hisatsugu Ishii |
| 99 | GK | JPN | Naoto Kamifukumoto |

### Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | DF | JPN | Arata Yoshida (at Kataller Toyama) |
| — | DF | JPN | Hayato Fukushima (at Ehime FC) |
| — | DF | JPN | Kodai Minoda (at Vanraure Hachinohe) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | DF | JPN | Toru Shibata (at Fukushima United) |
| — | MF | JPN | Sosuke Shibata (at Iwaki FC) |

## Club officials

| Role | Name |
| Manager | Satoshi Yamaguchi |
| Assistant manager | Yoshihiro Natsuka Masahiro Koga Yoshihiro Yatsukawa |
| Coach assistant | Taiga Soeda |
| Goalkeeper coach | Takeaki Yuhara |
| Analyst | Masayuki Hirakawa |
| Physical coach | Kazutaka Takahashi |
| Conditioning coach | Yuta Iguchi |
| Chief team doctor | Eiichi Suzuki |
| Team doctor | Hirofumi Katsutani Makoto Takahashi |
| Medical group chief trainer | Hisayoshi Kojima |
| Athletic trainer | Nobuhide Kurihara Takahiro Yoshikawa |
| Physiotherapist | Shusuke Shimada Shigeyuki Shimizu |
| Interpreter | Kim Fan-ju Tiago Higa |
| Competent | Keita Mikami |
| Side affairs | Hiroto Araki Takahito Hiraga Hiroto Tanaka |

## Honours

As Towa / Fujita (until 1992); Bellmare Hiratsuka (1993–1999) and Shonan Bellmare (2000–present)
Shonan Bellmare honours :
| Competition | No. | Years |
| Kanto Soccer League | 1 | 1971 |
| All Japan Senior Football Championship | 1 | 1971 |
| JSL Cup | 1 | 1973 |
| Emperor's Cup | 3 | 1977, 1979, 1994 |
| Japan Soccer League Division 1 | 3 | 1977, 1979, 1981 |
| Japanese Super Cup | 2 | 1978, 1982 |
| Japan Soccer League Division 2 | 1 | 1991–92 |
| Japan Football League Division 1 | 1 | 1993 |
| Asian Cup Winners' Cup | 1 | 1995 |
| J2 League | 2 | 2014, 2017 |
| BTV Cup | 1 | 2016 |
| J.League Cup | 1 | 2018 |

## Managerial history

| Manager | Nationality | Tenure | Tenure |
| Manager | Nationality | Start | Finish |
| Yukio Shimomura | Japan | 1 February 1972 | 31 January 1979 |
| Yoshinobu Ishii | Japan | 1 January 1975 | 31 December 1980 |
| Tsutomu Nakamura | Japan | 1 February 1981 | 31 January 1985 |
| Hidemitsu Hanaoka | Japan | 1 February 1985 | 30 June 1988 |
| Yoshinobu Ishii | Japan | 1 January 1988 | 31 December 1990 |
| Mitsuru Komaeda | Japan | 1 July 1990 | 27 November 1995 |
| Shigeharu Ueki | Japan | 28 November 1995 | 31 January 1996 |
| Toninho Moura | Brazil | 1 February 1996 | 19 September 1996 |
| Shigeharu Ueki | Japan | 20 September 1996 | 31 January 1999 |
| Eiji Ueda | Japan | 1 February 1999 | 30 June 1999 |
| Mitsuru Komaeda | Japan | 1 July 1999 | 31 January 2000 |
| Hisashi Katō | Japan | 1 February 2000 | 31 January 2001 |
| Kōji Tanaka | Japan | 1 February 2001 | 30 November 2002 |
| Ajam Boujarari Mohammed | Morocco | 1 February 2003 | 15 May 2003 |
| Matsuichi Yamada | Japan | 16 May 2003 | 14 July 2004 |
| Tatsuya Mochizuki | Japan | 15 July 2004 | 13 September 2004 |
| Eiji Ueda | Japan | 15 September 2004 | 5 June 2006 |
| Masaaki Kanno | Japan | 5 June 2006 | 31 January 2009 |
| Yasuharu Sorimachi | Japan | 1 February 2009 | 31 January 2012 |
| Cho Kwi-jae | South Korea | 1 February 2012 | 8 October 2019 |
| Kenji Takahashi | Japan | 13 August 2019 | 9 October 2019 |
| Bin Ukishima | Japan | 10 October 2019 | 31 August 2021 |
| Satoshi Yamaguchi | Japan | 1 September 2021 | Current |

## Record as J.League member

| Champions | Runners-up | Third place | Promoted | Relegated |
| League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | J.League Cup | Emperor's Cup | Asia | Asia |
| Season | Div. | Teams | Pos. | P | W (OTW/PKW) | D | L (OTL/PKL) | F | A | GD | Pts | Attendance/G | J.League Cup | Emperor's Cup | Asia | Asia |
| Bellmare Hiratsuka | Bellmare Hiratsuka | Bellmare Hiratsuka | Bellmare Hiratsuka | Bellmare Hiratsuka | Bellmare Hiratsuka | Bellmare Hiratsuka | Bellmare Hiratsuka | Bellmare Hiratsuka | Bellmare Hiratsuka | Bellmare Hiratsuka | Bellmare Hiratsuka | Bellmare Hiratsuka | Bellmare Hiratsuka | Bellmare Hiratsuka | Bellmare Hiratsuka | |
| 1994 | J1 | 12 | 5th | 44 | 23 | – | 21 | 75 | 80 | -5 | – | 17,836 | 1st round | Winner | – | – |
| 1995 | J1 | 14 | 11th | 52 | 21 | – | 29 (–/2) | 94 | 102 | -8 | 65 | 16,111 | – | 2nd round | CWC | Winner |
| 1996 | J1 | 16 | 11th | 30 | 12 | – | 18 (–/0) | 47 | 58 | -11 | 36 | 10,483 | Semi-final | Quarter-finals | CWC | Quarter Final |
| 1997 | J1 | 17 | 8th | 32 | 14 | – | 12 (–/1) | 55 | 52 | 3 | 49 | 7,841 | Group stage | Quarter-finals | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 1998 | J1 | 18 | 11th | 34 | 12 (2/2) | – | 17 (1/0) | 53 | 66 | -13 | 42 | 10,158 | Group stage | Round of 16 | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 1999 | J1 | 16 | 16th | 30 | 4 (0/-) | 1 | 22 (3/0) | 30 | 72 | -42 | 13 | 7,388 | 1st round | 3rd round | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| Shonan Bellmare |||||||||||||||||
| 2000 | J2 | 11 | 8th | 40 | 12 (3/0) | 1 | 17 (7/–) | 59 | 71 | -12 | 43 | 4,968 | 1st round | 3rd round | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2001 | J2 | 12 | 8th | 44 | 16 (4/–) | 4 | 18 (2/0) | 64 | 61 | 3 | 60 | 4,112 | 1st round | 2nd round | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2002 | J2 | 12 | 5th | 44 | 16 | 16 | 12 | 46 | 46 | 3 | 64 | 4,551 | Not eligible | Round of 16 | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2003 | J2 | 12 | 10th | 44 | 11 | 11 | 22 | 33 | 53 | -20 | 44 | 4,731 | Not eligible | Round of 16 | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2004 | J2 | 12 | 10th | 44 | 7 | 15 | 22 | 39 | 64 | -25 | 36 | 4,691 | Not eligible | Round of 16 | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2005 | J2 | 12 | 7th | 44 | 13 | 15 | 16 | 46 | 59 | -13 | 54 | 5,746 | Not eligible | 3rd round | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2006 | J2 | 13 | 11th | 48 | 13 | 10 | 25 | 61 | 87 | -26 | 49 | 5,365 | Not eligible | 4th round | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2007 | J2 | 13 | 6th | 48 | 23 | 8 | 17 | 72 | 55 | 17 | 77 | 4,677 | Not eligible | 4th round | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2008 | J2 | 15 | 5th | 42 | 19 | 8 | 15 | 68 | 48 | 20 | 65 | 5,994 | Not eligible | 3rd round | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2009 | J2 | 18 | 3rd | 51 | 29 | 11 | 11 | 84 | 52 | 32 | 98 | 7,273 | Not eligible | 2nd round | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2010 | J1 | 18 | 18th | 34 | 3 | 7 | 24 | 31 | 82 | -51 | 16 | 11,095 | Group stage | 3rd round | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2011 | J2 | 20 | 14th | 38 | 12 | 10 | 16 | 46 | 48 | -2 | 46 | 6,943 | Not eligible | Quarter-final | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2012 | J2 | 22 | 2nd | 42 | 20 | 15 | 7 | 66 | 43 | 23 | 75 | 6,852 | Not eligible | 3rd round | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2013 | J1 | 18 | 16th | 34 | 6 | 7 | 21 | 34 | 62 | -28 | 25 | 9,911 | Group stage | 3rd round | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2014 | J2 | 22 | 1st | 42 | 31 | 8 | 3 | 86 | 25 | 61 | 101 | 8,478 | Not eligible | 3rd round | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2015 | J1 | 18 | 8th | 34 | 13 | 9 | 12 | 40 | 44 | -4 | 48 | 12,208 | Group stage | 3rd round | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2016 | J1 | 18 | 17th | 34 | 7 | 6 | 21 | 30 | 56 | -26 | 27 | 11,530 | Group stage | Quarter-finals | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2017 | J2 | 22 | 1st | 42 | 24 | 11 | 7 | 58 | 36 | 22 | 83 | 8,454 | Not eligible | 3rd round | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2018 | J1 | 18 | 13th | 34 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 38 | 43 | -5 | 41 | 12,120 | Winner | Round of 16 | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2019 | 18 | 16th | 34 | 10 | 6 | 18 | 40 | 63 | -23 | 36 | 12,848 | Group stage | 2nd round | | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2020 † | 18 | 18th | 34 | 6 | 9 | 19 | 29 | 48 | -19 | 27 | 4,467 | Group stage | Did not qualify | | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2021 † | 20 | 16th | 38 | 7 | 16 | 15 | 36 | 41 | -5 | 37 | 4,850 | Play-off stage | Round of 16 | | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2022 | 18 | 12th | 34 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 31 | 39 | -8 | 41 | 9,228 | Play-off stage | 3rd round | | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2023 | 18 | 15th | 34 | 8 | 10 | 16 | 40 | 56 | -16 | 34 | 13,161 | Group stage | Quarter-finals | | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2024 | 20 | 15th | 38 | 12 | 9 | 17 | 53 | 58 | -5 | 45 | 11,315 | 2nd Round | Round of 16 | | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2025 | 20 | TBD | 38 | | | | | | | | | TBD | TBD | | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |

### 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
* OTW / PKW = Overtime wins / Penalty kicks wins 1997 & 1998 seasons - 1999, 2000, 2001 & 2002 Overtime wins only
* OTL / PKL = Overtime losses / Penalty kicks losses 1997 and 1998 seasons - 1999, 2000 & 2001 Overtime losses only
* † 2020 & 2021 seasons attendances were reduced by COVID-19 worldwide pandemic
* Source: J.League Data Site

## League history

* Kanto Football League: 1970–71
* Division 1 (Japan Soccer League Div. 1): 1972–89 (1972–74 as Towa Real Estate Development; 1975–89 as Fujita Industries)
* Division 2 (Japan Soccer League Div. 2): 1990–91 (as Fujita Industries)
* Division 2 (Japan Football League (former) Div. 1): 1992–93 (as Fujita Industries)
* Division 1 (J.League Div. 1): 1994–99 (as Bellmare Hiratsuka)
* Division 2 (J.League Div. 2): 2000–09 (as Shonan Bellmare)
* Division 1 (J.League Div. 1): 2010
* Division 2 (J.League Div. 2): 2011–12
* Division 1 (J.League Div. 1): 2013
* Division 2 (J.League Div. 2): 2014
* Division 1 (J1 League): 2015–16
* Division 2 (J2 League): 2017
* Division 1 (J1 League): 2018–
Total (as of 2017): 28 seasons in the top tier, 18 seasons in the second tier and 2 seasons in the Regional Leagues.