# 2023 Albirex Niigata season

The 2023 season was Albirex Niigata's 68th season in existence and the club's first season back in the top flight of Japanese football. In addition to the domestic league, Albirex Niigata participated in this season's edition of the Emperor's Cup and the J.League Cup.

## Players
### First-team squad

    As of 5 June 2023.
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 |
| 1 | GK | JPN | Ryosuke Kojima |
| 2 | DF | JPN | Naoto Arai |
| 3 | DF | AUS | Thomas Deng |
| 5 | DF | JPN | Michael Fitzgerald |
| 6 | MF | JPN | Hiroki Akiyama |
| 7 | FW | JPN | Kaito Taniguchi |
| 8 | MF | JPN | Takahiro Ko |
| 9 | FW | JPN | Koji Suzuki |
| 11 | FW | JPN | Shusuke Ota |
| 13 | MF | JPN | Ryotaro Ito |
| 14 | MF | JPN | Shunsuke Mito |
| 15 | DF | JPN | Taiki Watanabe |
| 16 | FW | JPN | Yota Komi |
| 17 | MF | BRA | Danilo Gomes |
| 18 | DF | JPN | Fumiya Hayakawa |
| 19 | MF | JPN | Yuji Hoshi |
| 20 | MF | JPN | Yuzuru Shimada |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 21 | GK | JPN | Koto Abe |
| 22 | MF | JPN | Eitaro Matsuda |
| 23 | FW | BRA | Gustavo Nescau |
| 24 | GK | JPN | Takuya Seguchi |
| 25 | MF | JPN | Soya Fujiwara |
| 29 | MF | PER | Kazuyoshi Shimabuku |
| 30 | GK | JPN | Shota Uchiyama $^{Type2}$ |
| 31 | DF | JPN | Yuto Horigome (captain) |
| 32 | DF | JPN | Takumi Hasegawa |
| 33 | MF | JPN | Yoshiaki Takagi |
| 35 | DF | JPN | Kazuhiko Chiba |
| 39 | GK | JPN | Haruki Nishimura |
| 40 | MF | JPN | Aozora Ishiyama $^{Type2}$ |
| 45 | DF | JPN | Hayato Inamura |
| 47 | MF | JPN | Jimpei Yoshida |
| 50 | DF | JPN | Daichi Tagami |
* ↑ Ito will play his last game for Albirex on 11 June. Right after, he will be fully transferred to Sint-Truidense V.V. (Jupiler Pro League/Belgium 1st Division).

### 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 |
| — | GK | JPN | Kazuki Fujita (to Tochigi SC) |
| — | DF | JPN | Ryo Endo (to Iwaki FC) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | DF | JPN | Shosei Okamoto (to Kagoshima United) |
| — | FW | JPN | Ken Yamura (to Fujieda MYFC) |

## Transfers
### In

| Pos. | Player | Transferred from | Fee | Date | Source |
| MF | Danilo Gomes | Ponte Preta | Free | 14 January 2023 | |

### Out

| Pos. | Player | Transferred to | Fee | Date | Source |
| FW | Alexandre Guedes | Paços de Ferreira | Free | 3 January 2023 | |

## Competitions
### Overview

| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record |
| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
| J1 League | 18 February 2023 | 12 November 2023 | Matchday 1 | | 18 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 19 | 28 | −9 | 022.22 |
| Emperor's Cup | 7 June 2023 | | Second round | | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 100.00 |
| J.League Cup | 8 March 2023 | 18 June 2023 | Group stage | Group stage | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 8 | −2 | 033.33 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 25 | 7 | 6 | 12 | 26 | 36 | −10 | 028.00 |
Last updated: 24 June 2023 Source: Soccerway

### J1 League
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Vissel Kobe (C) | 34 | 21 | 8 | 5 | 60 | 29 | +31 | 71 | Qualification for the AFC Champions League Elite league stage |
| 2 | Yokohama F. Marinos | 34 | 19 | 7 | 8 | 63 | 40 | +23 | 64 | Qualification for the AFC Champions League Elite league stage |
| 3 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 34 | 17 | 7 | 10 | 42 | 28 | +14 | 58 | Qualification for the AFC Champions League Two group stage |
| 4 | Urawa Red Diamonds | 34 | 15 | 12 | 7 | 42 | 27 | +15 | 57 | |
| 5 | Kashima Antlers | 34 | 14 | 10 | 10 | 43 | 34 | +9 | 52 | |
| 6 | Nagoya Grampus | 34 | 14 | 10 | 10 | 41 | 36 | +5 | 52 | |
| 7 | Avispa Fukuoka | 34 | 15 | 6 | 13 | 37 | 43 | −6 | 51 | |
| 8 | Kawasaki Frontale | 34 | 14 | 8 | 12 | 51 | 45 | +6 | 50 | Qualification for the AFC Champions League Elite league stage |
| 9 | Cerezo Osaka | 34 | 15 | 4 | 15 | 39 | 34 | +5 | 49 | |
| 10 | Albirex Niigata | 34 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 36 | 40 | −4 | 45 | |
| 11 | FC Tokyo | 34 | 12 | 7 | 15 | 42 | 46 | −4 | 43 | |
| 12 | Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo | 34 | 10 | 10 | 14 | 56 | 61 | −5 | 40 | |
| 13 | Kyoto Sanga | 34 | 12 | 4 | 18 | 40 | 45 | −5 | 40 | |
| 14 | Sagan Tosu | 34 | 9 | 11 | 14 | 43 | 47 | −4 | 38 | |
| 15 | Shonan Bellmare | 34 | 8 | 10 | 16 | 40 | 56 | −16 | 34 | |
| 16 | Gamba Osaka | 34 | 9 | 7 | 18 | 38 | 61 | −23 | 34 | |
| 17 | Kashiwa Reysol | 34 | 6 | 15 | 13 | 33 | 47 | −14 | 33 | |
| 18 | Yokohama FC (R) | 34 | 7 | 8 | 19 | 31 | 58 | −27 | 29 | Relegation to the J2 League |
* ↑ Qualified as the 2023 Emperor's Cup winners.

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Last updated: 24 June 2023. Source:

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| Ground | A | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H |
| Result | D | W | D | W | L | L | D | W | D | L | L | D | W | L | L | D | L | D | |
| Position | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

#### Matches

The league fixtures were announced on 20 January 2023.