# Vegalta Sendai

Vegalta Sendai (ベガルタ仙台, Begaruta Sendai) is a Japanese professional football club based in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. They currently play in J2 League, the Japanese second tier of professional football.

## History

Founded in 1988 as Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc. Soccer Club, Vegalta Sendai joined the J-League in 1999 after playing a few seasons in the JFL, with the nickname Brummell Sendai, to which they had been promoted in 1994 from the Tohoku Regional League. When joining the J-League, the name Vegalta was chosen as a homage to the famous Tanabata festival in Sendai. The names of the two celestial stars of the Tanabata legend, Vega and Altair were combined to form Vegalta.
They were first promoted to the top flight in 2002, but the team went back down the following season. They were promoted again for the 2010 season.
In 2011, despite the earthquake and tsunami, they achieved their highest position up to that time, 4th place in the top division.
In 2012, despite leading the table for most of the season, Sanfrecce Hiroshima's challenge proved too strong, and losing the penultimate week game to relegation battler Albirex Niigata cost them the title, rendering them second-place winners, their highest position in history.
In 2018, the Vegalta reached the final of the Emperor's Cup, losing 1-0 to Urawa Reds.
After twelve years spent in the J1 League, Vegalta returned to the J2 in 2022, after being relegated from the J1 at the end of 2021. After finishing in seventh place in the 2022 J2 League, thus failing to reach the promotion play-offs. Ryang Yong-gi, a symbol of Sendai, retired at the end of the 2023 season.
For the 2024 season, Yoshiro Moriyama, who has a track record of developing players at Sanfrecce Hiroshima's training age group and the U17 Japan National Team, was appointed as Manager.

## Stadium

Their home stadium is Yurtec Stadium Sendai, in Izumi-ku, Sendai, although a few home games have also been played at nearby Miyagi Stadium.
Sendai Stadium ranks among the top stadiums in Japan for its presence, comfort, and accessibility, and was once ranked second in an evaluation by a famous Japanese football media. It was also used by the Italian national football team as their basecamp during the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
Miyagi Stadium is famous for the Japan national team, and for hosting matches of the Argentine national team in the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

## Supporters and rivalries

As with most football clubs, fans in Sendai sing and dance during matches. However, most of the songs used by fans from other clubs are avoided due to the more eclectic set. Club themes sung before each game are Take Me Home, Country Roads, and during the game. Toy Dolls, Blitzkrieg Bop and other KISS and Twisted Sister songs.
Since Sendai is the hometown of Hirohiko Araki, who wrote JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, fans often wave flags with the same motifs of characters portrayed in Araki's manga.

### Michinoku Derby

Vegalta's traditional rivals are Montedio Yamagata from Yamagata Prefecture. The two have been rivals since meeting in the Tohoku Football League in 1991. Among the Tohoku derbies, this match is famous as the Michinoku derby.

### Tohoku Derby

This is the derby played by the Tohoku region teams, currently the most important match is that of Vegalta Sendai and Montedio Yamagata. Other teams included in this classic include Blaublitz Akita, Iwate Grulla Morioka, Iwaki FC.

## League & cup record

| Champions | Runners-up | Third place | Promoted | Relegated |
| League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | J.League Cup | Emperor's Cup |
| Season | League | Tier | Teams | Pos. | P | W (OTW / PKW) | D | L (OTL) | F | A | GD | Pts | Attendance | J.League Cup | Emperor's Cup |
| Brummell Sendai ||||||||||||||||
| 1995 | Former JFL | 2 | 16 | 15th | 30 | 9 | - | 21 | 40 | 79 | -39 | 27 | | | 2nd round |
| 1996 | Former JFL | 2 | 16 | 6th | 30 | 18 | - | 12 | 67 | 52 | 15 | 56 | | | 3rd round |
| 1997 | Former JFL | 2 | 16 | 8th | 30 | 12 (1 / 2) | - | 15 | 37 | 43 | -6 | 40 | | Group stage | 2nd round |
| 1998 | Former JFL | 2 | 16 | 7th | 30 | 1 (5 / 3) | - | 12 | 55 | 53 | 2 | 43 | | Group stage | 4th round |
| Vegalta Sendai ||||||||||||||||
| 1999 | J2 | 2 | 10 | 9th | 36 | 7 (3) | 4 | 18 (4) | 30 | 58 | -28 | 31 | 7,470 | 1st round | 2nd round |
| 2000 | J2 | 2 | 11 | 5th | 40 | 15 (4) | 2 | 15 (4) | 60 | 69 | -9 | 55 | 8,885 | 1st round | 1st round |
| 2001 | J2 | 2 | 12 | 2nd | 44 | 24 (3) | 5 | 9 (3) | 78 | 56 | 22 | 83 | 14,011 | 1st round | 3rd round |
| 2002 | J1 | 1 | 16 | 13th | 30 | 9 (2) | 1 | 18 | 40 | 57 | -17 | 32 | 21,862 | Group stage | 4th round |
| 2003 | J1 | 1 | 16 | 15th | 30 | 5 | 9 | 16 | 31 | 56 | -25 | 24 | 21,646 | Group stage | 3rd round |
| 2004 | J2 | 2 | 12 | 6th | 44 | 15 | 14 | 15 | 62 | 66 | -4 | 59 | 16,198 | Not eligible | 4th round |
| 2005 | J2 | 2 | 12 | 4th | 44 | 19 | 11 | 14 | 66 | 47 | 19 | 68 | 15,934 | Not eligible | 4th round |
| 2006 | J2 | 2 | 13 | 5th | 48 | 21 | 14 | 13 | 75 | 43 | 32 | 77 | 14,453 | Not eligible | 4th round |
| 2007 | J2 | 2 | 13 | 4th | 48 | 24 | 13 | 11 | 72 | 54 | 18 | 83 | 14,685 | Not eligible | 3rd round |
| 2008 | J2 | 2 | 15 | 3rd | 42 | 18 | 16 | 8 | 62 | 47 | 15 | 70 | 14,080 | Not eligible | 4th round |
| 2009 | J2 | 2 | 18 | 1st | 51 | 32 | 10 | 9 | 87 | 39 | 48 | 106 | 12,951 | Not eligible | Semi final |
| 2010 | J1 | 1 | 18 | 14th | 34 | 10 | 9 | 15 | 40 | 46 | -6 | 39 | 17,332 | Quarter final | 2nd round |
| 2011 | J1 | 1 | 18 | 4th | 34 | 14 | 14 | 6 | 39 | 25 | 14 | 56 | 15,656 | 2nd round | 4th round |
| 2012 | J1 | 1 | 18 | 2nd | 34 | 15 | 12 | 7 | 59 | 43 | 16 | 57 | 16,603 | Quarter final | 3rd round |
| 2013 | J1 | 1 | 18 | 13th | 34 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 41 | 38 | 3 | 45 | 14,866 | Quarter final | Quarter final |
| 2014 | J1 | 1 | 18 | 14th | 34 | 9 | 11 | 14 | 35 | 50 | -15 | 38 | 15,173 | Group stage | 2nd round |
| 2015 | J1 | 1 | 18 | 14th | 34 | 9 | 8 | 17 | 44 | 48 | -4 | 35 | 14,907 | Group stage | Quarter final |
| 2016 | J1 | 1 | 18 | 12th | 34 | 13 | 4 | 17 | 39 | 48 | -9 | 43 | 15,050 | Group stage | 2nd round |
| 2017 | J1 | 1 | 18 | 12th | 34 | 11 | 8 | 15 | 44 | 53 | -9 | 41 | 14,746 | Semi final | 2nd round |
| 2018 | J1 | 1 | 18 | 11th | 34 | 13 | 6 | 15 | 44 | 54 | -10 | 45 | 15,408 | Round of 16 | Runners up |
| 2019 | J1 | 1 | 18 | 11th | 34 | 12 | 5 | 17 | 38 | 45 | -7 | 41 | 14,971 | Play-off stage | 4th round |
| 2020 † | J1 | 1 | 18 | 17th | 34 | 6 | 10 | 18 | 36 | 61 | -25 | 28 | 4,163 | Group stage | Not eligible |
| 2021 | J1 | 1 | 20 | 19th | 38 | 5 | 13 | 20 | 31 | 62 | -31 | 28 | 5,926 | Group stage | 2nd round |
| 2022 | J2 | 2 | 22 | 7th | 42 | 18 | 9 | 15 | 67 | 59 | 8 | 63 | 8,991 | Not eligible | 3rd round |
| 2023 | J2 | 2 | 22 | 16th | 42 | 12 | 12 | 18 | 48 | 61 | -13 | 48 | 11,215 | Not eligible | 3rd round |
| 2024 | J2 | 2 | 20 | 6th | 38 | 18 | 10 | 10 | 50 | 44 | 6 | 64 | 13,331 | 1st round | 2nd round |
| 2025 | J2 | 2 | 20 | TBD | 38 | | | | | | | | | TBD | TBD |
* 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 = Average home league attendance
* † 2020 & 2021 seasons attendances reduced by COVID-19 worldwide pandemic
* Source: J.League Data Site

## Honours

Vegalta Sendai honours :
| Honour | No. | Years | Notes |
| Tohoku Soccer League | 1 | 1994 | Tohoku Electric Power |
| Japanese Regional Football League Competition | 1 | 1994 | Tohoku Electric Power |
| J.League Division 2 | 1 | 2009 | |

### Individual awards

* J. League Best Eleven
** Wilson: 2012
* Valuable Player Award
** Takuto Hayashi Makoto Kakuda Jiro Kamata: 2011
** Takuto Hayashi Taikai Uemoto Makoto Kakuda Jiro Kamata Naoki Sugai Ryang Yong-gi Shingo Akamine: 2012
** Simão Mate: 2019
* Individual Fair-Play award
** Yuichi Nemoto: 2003
** Ryang Yong-gi: 2011
* J.League Monthly MVP
** Shingo Akamine: 2014 (May)
** Simão Mate: 2019 (June)
** Ryoma Kida: 2022 (May)
* Monthly Best Manager
** Susumu Watanabe: 2019 (June)
** Masato Harasaki: 2022 (May)
* Monthly Best Goal
** Ryang Yong-gi: 2015
** Crislan: 2017
* J.League Cup Award
** Takuma Nishimura: 2017
* TAG Heuer YOUNG GUNS Award
** Takuma Nishimura: 2017
** Ko Itakura: 2018
* J.League Cup Top Scorer
** Crislan: 2017
* J2 League Top Scorer
** Marcos: 2001
** Borges: 2006
* Meritorious Player Award
** Norio Omura: 2009
** Atsushi Yanagisawa: 2015
** Hisato Satō: 2021
** Makoto Kakuda, Naoki Ishihara, Yoshiki Takahashi: 2022
** Shingo Tomita, Shingo Akamine: 2023

## Players
### Current squad

    As of 17 March 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 |
| 1 | GK | JPN | Daiki Hotta |
| 2 | DF | JPN | Ryota Takada |
| 3 | DF | JPN | Masayuki Okuyama |
| 4 | MF | JPN | Azuri Yutani |
| 5 | DF | JPN | Masahiro Sugata |
| 6 | MF | JPN | Renji Matsui |
| 8 | MF | JPN | Hidetoshi Takeda |
| 9 | FW | BRA | Eron |
| 10 | MF | JPN | Hiromu Kamada |
| 11 | MF | JPN | Yuta Goke |
| 13 | DF | JPN | Yuki Saneto |
| 14 | MF | JPN | Ryunosuke Sagara |
| 15 | MF | JPN | Sota Minami |
| 17 | MF | JPN | Aoi Kudo |
| 18 | FW | JPN | Tsubasa Umeki |
| 19 | DF | BRA | Mateus Moraes |
| 20 | FW | BRA | Gustavo |
| 21 | GK | JPN | Riku Umeda |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 23 | MF | JPN | Keito Arita |
| 24 | MF | JPN | Toya Myogan (on loan from Kawasaki Frontale) |
| 25 | DF | JPN | Takumi Mase |
| 26 | MF | JPN | Sota Yokoyama |
| 27 | MF | JPN | George Onaiwu |
| 29 | GK | JPN | Koki Matsuzawa |
| 30 | FW | JPN | Minto Nishimaru |
| 33 | GK | JPN | Akihiro Hayashi |
| 38 | GK | JPN | Kosei Watanabe $^{Type2}$ |
| 39 | DF | JPN | Rikuto Ishio |
| 40 | FW | JPN | Takumi Yasuno |
| 42 | DF | JPN | Hayata Ishii |
| 44 | DF | JPN | Shion Inoue |
| 47 | FW | JPN | Shunta Araki |
| 48 | MF | JPN | Yu Nakada |
| 49 | GK | JPN | Masaemon Fueda $^{Type2}$ |
| 99 | FW | JPN | Ko Miyazaki |

### 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 | Tetsuya Chinen (at Mito HollyHock) |
| — | MF | JPN | Manato Kudo (at Kochi United) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | FW | JPN | Ryunosuke Sugawara (at Tochigi SC) |

### Notable players and coaches

* Edmar 1995–1997
* Pierre Littbarski 1996–1997
* Frank Ordenewitz 1996
* Branko Elsner 1997
* Teruo Iwamoto 2001–2003
* Hajime Moriyasu 2002–2003
* Zdenko Verdenik 2003–2004
* Ryang Yong-gi 2004–2019, 2022–2023
* Goce Sedloski 2004
* Joel Santana 2006
* Thiago Neves 2006
* Humberlito Borges 2006
* Makoto Teguramori 2008–2013, 2021
* Atsushi Yanagisawa 2011–2014
* Graham Arnold 2014
* Danny Vukovic 2014
* Michael McGlinchey 2014
* Daniel Schmidt 2014–2019
* Takuma Nishimura 2015–2018, 2020–2021
* Ko Itakura 2018
* Simão Mate Junior 2019–2021

### International convention
#### FIFA Confederations Cup

* 2017
** Danny Vukovic
** Michael McGlinchey (2014)

#### EAFF E-1 Football Championship

* 2015
** Yuji Rokutan (2015–2016)
* 2022
** Takuma Nishimura (2015–2018, 2020–2021)
** Hajime Moriyasu ※Winner

#### AFC U-23 Asian Cup

* 2016
** Makoto Teguramori ※Winner
* 2020
** Graham Arnold ※3rd place

#### Toulon Tournament (U-22)

* 2019
** Keiya Shiihashi (2016–2020) ※Runner up,Best XI

#### FIFA U-20 World Cup (Manager)

* 2023
** Kim Eun-jung (2003)

## Club Officials

For the 2024 season.
| Position | Name |
| Manager | Yoshiro Moriyama |
| First-team coach | Koichiro Katafuchi Akira Konno Yōsuke Nishi |
| Goalkeeper coach | Motoki Ueda |
| Physical coach | Makoto Muraoka |
| Analyst & coach | Takuma Deguchi |
| Chief trainer | Yakuya Matsuda |
| Trainer | Tomoki Takeda Taisuke Ikoma |
| Physiotherapist | Masaaki Taira |
| Interpreter | Rodrigo Simões |
| Competent | Shinya Naganuma |
| Deputy officer | Yutaro Miura Hiroki Ito |

## Managerial history

| Manager | Nationality | Tenure | Tenure |
| Manager | Nationality | Start date | Finish date |
| Takekazu Suzuki | Japan | 1 July 1990 | 31 December 1995 |
| Choei Sato | Japan | 1 January 1996 | 31 December 1996 |
| Branko Elsner | Slovenia | 1 February 1997 | 31 December 1997 |
| Toshiya Miura | Japan | 1 January 1998 | 31 January 1998 |
| Takekazu Suzuki | Japan | 1 February 1998 | 24 July 1999 |
| Hidehiko Shimizu | Japan | 27 July 1999 | 14 September 2003 |
| Hajime Ishii | Japan | 15 September 2003 | 20 September 2003 |
| Zdenko Verdenik | Slovenia | 21 September 2003 | 31 December 2004 |
| Satoshi Tsunami | Japan | 1 January 2005 | 30 November 2005 |
| Joel Santana | Brazil | 1 December 2005 | 31 December 2006 |
| Tatsuya Mochizuki | Japan | 1 January 2007 | 31 December 2007 |
| Makoto Teguramori | Japan | 1 February 2008 | 14 November 2013 |
| Graham Arnold | Australia | 14 November 2013 | 9 April 2014 |
| Susumu Watanabe | Japan | 10 April 2014 | 31 January 2020 |
| Takashi Kiyama | Japan | 1 February 2020 | 31 January 2021 |
| Makoto Teguramori | Japan | 1 February 2021 | 22 November 2021 |
| Masato Harasaki | Japan | 23 November 2021 | 5 September 2022 |
| Akira Ito | Japan | 6 September 2022 | 12 July 2023 |
| Takafumi Hori | Japan | 13 July 2023 | 13 November 2023 |
| Yoshiro Moriyama | Japan | 1 January 2024 | Current |

## Mascot and cheerleaders
### Mascot

* VEGATTA (Brother)
** He has won "the J League mascot general election" many times and is quite popular.
** The eagle, which is also used in the club emblem as a symbol of victory in Greek mythology, is associated with the Aquila constellation, to which Hikoboshi (Altair) belongs, which is the origin of the club's name. The name was decided by public submission. Vegatta's SNS (BLOG, Twitter), which is updated daily, is loved and popular among soccer fans in Japan, as the mascot loves mischief, and is by some fans, hard to believe it is a mascot.
* LTAANA (Sister)
** From the Sendai summer tradition "Sendai Tanabata", which is the origin of the team name, "Luta" for Vega (Orihime) and Altair (Hikoboshi), and "Tana" for Tanabata, it was named as a girlish name by combining "na", on a 7 August, which is the date of the event and the birthday. Sometimes she tweet with [#ルターナ] (LTAANA written phonetically on Katakana) on Sendai's official Twitter.
** When Vegalta wins any match, she expresses her joy on Twitter.

### Cheerleaders

* The Vegalta Cheerleaders mainly support "Vegalta Sendai", participate in many events, and continue to work as a cheering group for people who are doing their best in the area. She has the longest history as a cheerleader for a professional sports team in Sendai, and has been active since 2003.

## Best Match

① and ② were selected as "that game I want to see again" on the J League official YouTube channel, and 2 was also selected as "10 Best Matches" by J Chronicle Best. ② was also selected as the "Best Match" of the J30 Best Awards.

### J Chronicle Best

This is a project to select the J.League "Best Eleven", "Best Goal" and "Best Match" over the past 20 years. A project held in 2013 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Japan Professional Soccer League. The mentioned two game is often featured as a legendary game in each media.

### J30 BEST AWARDS

A project to select the "MVP", "Best Eleven", "Best Goal", "Best Match", and "Best Scene" of the J League over the past 30 years. An award hosted by the J.League to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the J.League in 2023.
Even in "Soccer Digest" (Japan's famous football media),the two were selected as "the best 3 selected J.League matches" by the reporter in charge of Sendai. Sendai's Yoshiaki Ota, who scored the equalizing goal against Kawasaki, said, "I think it was a goal that everyone worked together, including the thoughts of my teammates."
*The notation of the match card and the stadium where the match was held is at the time of the match.
| | Game | Date/Stadium | Overview | Match data |
| ① | 2001 J League Division 2 Round 44 Kyoto Purple Sanga FC 0-1 Vegalta Sendai | November 18, 2001 Takebishi Stadium Kyoto | The long-awaited J1 first promotion match. Head-to-head competition between leader Kyoto and 3rd place Sendai in the final round. The first promotion to J1 as a club in the Tohoku region is decided. | Official record |
| ② | 2011 J League Division 1 Round 7 Kawasaki Frontale 1-2 Vegalta Sendai | April 23, 2011 Kawasaki Todoroki Stadium | The first match after the suspension of the league match due to the Great East Japan Earthquake. Sendai, who suffered severe damage to the club itself, came from behind to win. Recorded the club's first victory with Todoroki Stadium. | Official record |

## Continental record

Sendai also participated in the ACL for the first time in 2013.
It was a tournament with many challenges other than matches, such as long-distance travel, overcrowded schedule with the J.League and local climate, but they did not lose in the extreme cold of Nanjing and the intense heat of Thailand and the final match was a draw or better in the qualifying.
It was a good point to leave the possibility of breaking through.
| Season | Competition | Round | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate |
| 2013 | AFC Champions League | Group E | Buriram United | 1–1 | 1–1 | 4th |
| 2013 | AFC Champions League | Group E | Jiangsu Sainty | 1–2 | 0–0 | 4th |
| 2013 | AFC Champions League | Group E | FC Seoul | 1–0 | 2–1 | 4th |

## Kit evolution

Home - 1st kits :
| 1999-2001 | 2002-2003 | 2004-2006 | 2007-2008 | 2009-2010 |
| 2011-2012 | 2013-2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
| 2023 | 2024 | 2025 - | | |
Away - 2nd kits :
| 1999-2001 | 2002-2003 | 2004-2006 | 2007-2008 | 2009-2010 |
| 2011-2012 | 2013-2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
| 2023 | 2024 | 2025 - |
Other - 3rd kits :
| 2009 15th Anniversary | 2014 20th Anniversary | 2016 Great East Japan Earthquake 5th Anniversary Reconstruction | 2017 SUMMER | 2018 SUMMER |
| 2019 25th Anniversary | 2021 Limited | 2022 Limited | 2024 30th Anniversary |

## Asian clubs ranking

    As of 16 May 2024.
| Current Rank | Team | Points |
| 175 | Nantong Zhiyun FC | 1290 |
| 176 | Qingdao Jonoon | 1290 |
| 177 | Kitchee | 1290 |
| 178 | Pas Hamedan | 1288 |
| 179 | Vegalta Sendai | 1288 |
| 180 | V-Varen Nagasaki | 1288 |

## Vegalta House

"Shichigashuku Town's Empty House Revitalization Project: Let's Build a Vegalta House" will start in July 2021 with the support of 143 crowdfunding people and a total of 78 local workers. It is involved in a social collaboration activity, in line with Goal 11 "Sustainable cities and communities" and Goal 17 "Partnership for the goals" of the SDGs basic guidelines.