# 2022 Kashima Antlers season

The 2022 season was Kashima Antlers' 30th consecutive season in the J1 League, the top flight of Japanese football since the introduction of professional football in 1993. The club finished the 2022 J1 League in fourth place, exactly the same position as the previous season. They also competed in the Emperor's Cup where they reached the semi-finals and the J.League Cup where they were knocked out at the play-off stage.
Kashima started the league season strongly winning six of their first seven games and were in first position for a number of weeks before the end of May. Forward Ayase Ueda was in fine form and won the first J.League Monthly MVP award of the season. From May onwards, the performances started to detioriate and wins became hard to come by. Following the departure of top-scorer Ueda to Cercle Brugge at the start of July, scoring goals also became difficult and by August following two consecutive defeats, Kashima decided to part ways with manager René Weiler after only a few months in the post. Daiki Iwamasa took over as manager and in spite of only winning two of his ten league games in charge, led Kashima to a fourth-place finish.
Kashima had a good run in the Emperor's Cup, but would have hoped to have been finalists following defeat at the semi-final stage by J2 League club and eventual winners Ventforet Kofu. Yuma Suzuki was their top scorer in the competition with two goals.

## Squad

All players ages displayed below shows their age at the first match of the J1 League season, on 19 February 2022.

### Season squad

| Squad no. | Name | Position(s) | Date of birth (age at start of season) |
| Goalkeepers |||||
| 1 | Kwoun Sun-tae | GK | (1984-09-11)11 September 1984 (aged 37) |
| 29 | Tomoki Hayakawa | GK | (1999-03-03)3 March 1999 (aged 22) |
| 31 | Yuya Oki | GK | (1999-08-22)22 August 1999 (aged 22) |
| 38 | Taiki Yamada | GK | (2002-01-08)8 January 2002 (aged 20) |
| Defenders |||||
| 2 | Koki Anzai | RB / LB | (1995-05-31)31 May 1995 (aged 26) |
| 5 | Ikuma Sekigawa | CB | (2000-09-13)13 September 2000 (aged 21) |
| 15 | Bueno | CB | (1995-08-24)24 August 1995 (aged 26) |
| 16 | Itsuki Oda | RB | (1998-07-16)16 July 1998 (aged 23) |
| 20 | Kim Min-tae | CB | (1993-11-26)26 November 1993 (aged 28) |
| 22 | Rikuto Hirose | RB | (1995-09-23)23 September 1995 (aged 26) |
| 23 | Naoki Hayashi | CB | (1998-06-09)9 June 1998 (aged 23) |
| 28 | Shuhei Mizoguchi | LB | (2004-02-13)13 February 2004 (aged 18) |
| 32 | Keigo Tsunemoto | RB / CB | (1998-10-21)21 October 1998 (aged 23) |
| Midfielders |||||
| 6 | Kento Misao | DM / CB | (1996-04-16)16 April 1996 (aged 25) |
| 10 | Ryotaro Araki | AM / FW | (2002-01-29)29 January 2002 (aged 20) |
| 11 | Ryuji Izumi | LM / RW | (1993-11-06)6 November 1993 (aged 28) |
| 14 | Yuta Higuchi | RM / CM | (1996-10-30)30 October 1996 (aged 25) |
| 17 | Arthur Caíke | LW / FW | (1992-06-15)15 June 1992 (aged 29) |
| 21 | Diego Pituca | CM | (1992-08-15)15 August 1992 (aged 29) |
| 24 | Yusuke Ogawa | DM / CM | (2002-04-14)14 April 2002 (aged 19) |
| 27 | Yuta Matsumura | RM / LM | (2001-04-13)13 April 2001 (aged 20) |
| 30 | Shintaro Nago | CM / AM | (1996-04-17)17 April 1996 (aged 25) |
| 33 | Hayato Nakama | LM / AM | (1992-05-16)16 May 1992 (aged 29) |
| 34 | Yu Funabashi | DM | (2002-07-12)12 July 2002 (aged 19) |
| 35 | Ryotaro Nakamura | DM | (1997-09-27)27 September 1997 (aged 24) |
| Forwards |||||
| 8 | Shoma Doi (c) | SS / LW / RW | (1992-05-21)21 May 1992 (aged 29) |
| 9 | Everaldo | FW | (1991-07-05)5 July 1991 (aged 30) |
| 19 | Blessing Eleke | FW | (1996-03-05)5 March 1996 (aged 25) |
| 40 | Yuma Suzuki | FW | (1996-04-28)28 April 1996 (aged 25) |
Last updated: 31 July 2022. Source: Kashima Antlers website

## Transfers
### Arrivals

| Date | Position | Player | From | Type |
| 17 December 2021 | DF | Itsuki Oda | JEF United Chiba | Return from loan |
| 18 December 2021 | MF | Hayato Nakama | Kashiwa Reysol | Full |
| 24 December 2021 | DF | Kim Min-tae | Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo | Full |
| 25 December 2021 | MF | Yuta Higuchi | Sagan Tosu | Full |
| 28 December 2021 | MF | Ryotaro Nakamura | Ventforet Kofu | Full |
| 28 December 2021 | MF | Shintaro Nago | Shonan Bellmare | Return from loan |
| 3 January 2022 | FW | Yuma Suzuki | Sint-Truiden | Full |
| 1 August 2022 | FW | Blessing Eleke | Beerschot | Full |

### Departures

| Date | Position | Player | To | Type |
| 14 December 2021 | MF | Kotaro Arima | Iwaki FC | Full |
| 17 December 2021 | DF | Tatsuki Nara | Avispa Fukuoka | Full |
| 17 December 2021 | DF | Katsuya Nagato | Yokohama F. Marinos | Full |
| 18 December 2021 | MF | Léo Silva | Nagoya Grampus | Full |
| 22 December 2021 | MF | Ryota Nagaki | Shonan Bellmare | Full |
| 25 December 2021 | MF | Yasushi Endo | Vegalta Sendai | Full |
| 25 December 2021 | DF | Tomoya Inukai | Urawa Red Diamonds | Full |
| 27 December 2021 | MF | Ryōhei Shirasaki | Shimizu S-Pulse | Full |
| 27 December 2021 | DF | Shogo Sasaki | JEF United Chiba | Full |
| 1 January 2022 | DF | Koki Machida | Union SG | Loan |
| 1 February 2022 | FW | Yuki Kakita | Sagan Tosu | Loan |
| 1 February 2022 | MF | Naoki Suto | Zweigen Kanazawa | Loan |
| 1 July 2022 | FW | Ayase Ueda | Cercle Brugge | Full |
| 17 July 2022 | FW | Itsuki Someno | Tokyo Verdy | Loan |
| 31 July 2022 | MF | Juan Alano | Gamba Osaka | Full |

## Pre-season and friendlies

Kashima played one pre-season friendly as part of the Ibaraki Soccer Festival against their Ibaraki neighbours Mito Hollyhock.
Win  Draw  Loss  Fixtures

## 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 2022 (2022-02-18) | 5 November 2022 (2022-11-05) | Matchday 1 | 4th | 34 | 13 | 13 | 8 | 47 | 42 | +5 | 038.24 |
| J.League Cup | 2 March 2022 (2022-03-02) | 11 June 2022 (2022-06-11) | Group stage | Play-off stage | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 18 | 9 | +9 | 062.50 |
| Emperor's Cup | 1 June 2022 (2022-06-01) | 5 October 2022 (2022-10-05) | Second round | Semi-finals | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 2 | +6 | 080.00 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 47 | 22 | 14 | 11 | 73 | 53 | +20 | 046.81 |
Source: Competitions

### J1 League

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 2 | Kawasaki Frontale | 34 | 20 | 6 | 8 | 65 | 42 | +23 | 66 | Qualification for the AFC Champions League group stage |
| 3 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 34 | 15 | 10 | 9 | 52 | 41 | +11 | 55 | |
| 4 | Kashima Antlers | 34 | 13 | 13 | 8 | 47 | 42 | +5 | 52 | |
| 5 | Cerezo Osaka | 34 | 13 | 12 | 9 | 46 | 40 | +6 | 51 | |
| 6 | FC Tokyo | 34 | 14 | 7 | 13 | 46 | 43 | +3 | 49 | |

#### Results by matchday

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 |
| Ground | A | H | H | A | H | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | A | H | A | A | H |
| Result | W | L | W | W | W | W | W | L | D | W | W | L | W | D | D | L | W | D | W | D | D | D | L | L | W | D | L | D | D | D | L | D | W | D |
| Position | 1 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 |

#### Results
### J.League Cup

Kashima were drawn into Group A as the team that finished in the highest position in the league in the previous season (4th) without qualifying for the 2022 AFC Champions League – the four that did qualify received byes from the group stage of the cup.

#### Group stage

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | ANT | CER | GAM | OIT |
| 1 | Kashima Antlers | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 16 | 7 | +9 | 13 | Advanced to play-off stage | — | 0–1 | 4–1 | 3–0 |
| 2 | Cerezo Osaka | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 14 | 9 | +5 | 11 | Advanced to play-off stage | 1–3 | — | 0–0 | 6–1 |
| 3 | Gamba Osaka | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 12 | −4 | 5 | | 3–1 | 2–3 | — | 2–0 |
| 4 | Oita Trinita | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 19 | −10 | 3 | | 3–3 | 3–3 | 2–2 | — |

#### Play-off stage

2–2 on aggregate. Avispa Fukuoka won on away goals.

### Emperor's Cup
## Statistics
### Appearances

| No. | Pos. | Name | J1 League | J1 League | Emperor's Cup | Emperor's Cup | J.League Cup | J.League Cup | Total | Total |
| No. | Pos. | Name | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Goalkeepers |||||||||||
| 1 | GK | Kwoun Sun-tae | 27 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 32 | 0 |
| 29 | GK | Tomoki Hayakawa | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 31 | GK | Yuya Oki | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| Defenders |||||||||||
| 2 | DF | Koki Anzai | 28+5 | 0 | 3+1 | 0 | 5+3 | 0 | 45 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | Ikuma Sekigawa | 27+5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 41 | 1 |
| 15 | DF | Bueno | 4+3 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 4+1 | 1 | 13 | 1 |
| 16 | DF | Itsuki Oda | 1+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1+2 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 20 | DF | Kim Min-tae | 13+8 | 1 | 2+1 | 0 | 3+2 | 0 | 29 | 1 |
| 22 | DF | Rikuto Hirose | 15+5 | 0 | 4+1 | 0 | 4+1 | 0 | 30 | 0 |
| 23 | DF | Naoki Hayashi | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 28 | DF | Shuhei Mizoguchi | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 32 | DF | Keigo Tsunemoto | 24+4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5+1 | 0 | 35 | 0 |
| Midfielders |||||||||||
| 6 | MF | Kento Misao | 31+2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 43 | 3 |
| 10 | MF | Ryotaro Araki | 6+7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3+1 | 0 | 17 | 1 |
| 11 | MF | Ryuji Izumi | 23+9 | 1 | 1+2 | 1 | 4+3 | 0 | 40 | 2 |
| 14 | MF | Yuta Higuchi | 29+3 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 4+3 | 1 | 42 | 3 |
| 17 | MF | Arthur Caíke | 23+6 | 9 | 2+1 | 0 | 5+1 | 2 | 38 | 11 |
| 21 | MF | Diego Pituca | 24+4 | 1 | 3+1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 35 | 3 |
| 24 | MF | Yusuke Ogawa | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 27 | MF | Yuta Matsumura | 5+7 | 1 | 0+2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 16 | 1 |
| 30 | MF | Shintaro Nago | 1+4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 33 | MF | Hayato Nakama | 12+7 | 2 | 2+1 | 1 | 3+2 | 1 | 27 | 4 |
| 34 | MF | Yu Funabashi | 3+10 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 | 19 | 0 |
| 35 | MF | Ryotaro Nakamura | 2+10 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 | 4+2 | 0 | 21 | 0 |
| Forwards |||||||||||
| 8 | FW | Shoma Doi | 11+12 | 1 | 3+2 | 0 | 5+2 | 2 | 35 | 3 |
| 9 | FW | Everaldo | 3+16 | 5 | 2+3 | 1 | 1+2 | 1 | 27 | 7 |
| 19 | FW | Blessing Eleke | 2+2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 40 | FW | Yuma Suzuki | 31+1 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 4+1 | 2 | 41 | 11 |
| Players loaned or transferred out during the season |||||||||||
| 7 | MF | Juan Alano | 5+7 | 1 | 2+1 | 0 | 3+1 | 0 | 19 | 1 |
| 18 | FW | Ayase Ueda | 17+1 | 10 | 0+1 | 1 | 2+2 | 3 | 25 | 14 |
| 19 | FW | Itsuki Someno | 0+12 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2+6 | 2 | 21 | 4 |
Last updated: 6 November 2022. Source: jleague.co, Soccer D.B.

### Goalscorers

The list is sorted by shirt number when total goals are equal.
| Rnk | Pos | No. | Player | J1 | EC | JLC | Total |
| 1 | FW | 18 | Ayase Ueda | 10 | 1 | 3 | 14 |
| 2 | MF | 17 | Arthur Caíke | 9 | 0 | 2 | 11 |
| 2 | FW | 40 | Yuma Suzuki | 7 | 2 | 2 | 11 |
| 4 | FW | 9 | Everaldo | 5 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| 5 | FW | 19 | Itsuki Someno | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 5 | MF | 33 | Hayato Nakama | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 7 | MF | 6 | Kento Misao | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 7 | FW | 8 | Shoma Doi | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 7 | MF | 14 | Yuta Higuchi | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 7 | MF | 21 | Diego Pituca | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 11 | MF | 11 | Ryuji Izumi | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 12 | DF | 5 | Ikuma Sekigawa | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 12 | MF | 7 | Juan Alano | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | MF | 13 | Ryotaro Araki | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | DF | 15 | Bueno | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 12 | FW | 19 | Blessing Eleke | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | DF | 20 | Kim Min-tae | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | MF | 27 | Yuta Matsumura | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | – | – | Own goal | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| TOTALS | TOTALS | TOTALS | TOTALS | 47 | 8 | 18 | 73 |
Last updated: 29 October 2022. Source: jleague.co, besoccer.com

### Assists

The list is sorted by shirt number when total assists are equal.
| Rnk | Pos | No. | Player | J1 | EC | JLC | Total |
| 1 | MF | 14 | Yuta Higuchi | 8 | 0 | 5 | 13 |
| 2 | FW | 40 | Yuma Suzuki | 9 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 3 | MF | 17 | Arthur Caíke | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 4 | MF | 11 | Ryuji Izumi | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 4 | DF | 22 | Rikuto Hirose | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 6 | DF | 2 | Koki Anzai | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 7 | FW | 9 | Everaldo | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 | MF | 13 | Ryotaro Araki | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 7 | MF | 21 | Diego Pituca | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 | MF | 27 | Yuta Matsumura | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 7 | DF | 32 | Keigo Tsunemoto | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 12 | DF | 5 | Ikuma Sekigawa | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | MF | 7 | Juan Alano | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 12 | FW | 8 | Shoma Doi | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | DF | 15 | Bueno | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | FW | 18 | Ayase Ueda | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | FW | 19 | Blessing Eleke | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | FW | 19 | Itsuki Someno | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| TOTALS | TOTALS | TOTALS | TOTALS | 36 | 7 | 12 | 55 |
Last updated: 29 October 2022. Source: jleague.co

### Clean sheets

The list is sorted by shirt number when total clean sheets are equal.
| Rnk | No. | Player | J1 | EC | JLC | Total |
| 1 | 1 | Kwoun Sun-tae | 8 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| 2 | 31 | Yuya Oki | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 3 | 29 | Tomoki Hayakawa | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| TOTALS | TOTALS | TOTALS | 10 | 3 | 1 | 14 |
Last updated: 5 November 2022. Source: fbref.com