# 2020 Vissel Kobe season

The 2020 Vissel Kobe season was Vissel Kobe's seventh consecutive season in the J1 League following promotion to the top flight in 2013 and their 22nd J1 League season overall. The club also took part in the J. League Cup, the 2020 Japanese Super Cup, and the 2020 AFC Champions League. The club secured their first ever appearances in the latter two competition as winners of the 2019 Emperor's Cup.

## Squad

    As of 13 April 2020
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 | Daiya Maekawa |
| 3 | DF | JPN | Hirofumi Watanabe |
| 4 | DF | BEL | Thomas Vermaelen |
| 5 | MF | JPN | Hotaru Yamaguchi (vice-captain) |
| 6 | MF | ESP | Sergi Samper |
| 8 | MF | ESP | Andrés Iniesta (captain) |
| 9 | FW | JPN | Noriaki Fujimoto |
| 11 | FW | JPN | Kyogo Furuhashi |
| 13 | FW | JPN | Keijiro Ogawa |
| 14 | MF | JPN | Takuya Yasui |
| 17 | DF | JPN | Ryuho Kikuchi |
| 18 | GK | JPN | Hiroki Iikura |
| 19 | DF | JPN | Ryo Hatsuse |
| 21 | FW | JPN | Junya Tanaka |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 22 | DF | JPN | Daigo Nishi (vice-captain) |
| 23 | DF | JPN | Tetsushi Yamakawa |
| 24 | DF | JPN | Gōtoku Sakai |
| 25 | DF | JPN | Leo Osaki |
| 27 | MF | JPN | Yuta Goke |
| 28 | GK | JPN | Kenshin Yoshimaru |
| 30 | GK | JPN | Genta Ito |
| 31 | MF | JPN | Yuya Nakasaka |
| 33 | DF | BRA | Dankler |
| 38 | MF | JPN | Daiju Sasaki |
| 41 | FW | JPN | Yutaro Oda |
| 44 | DF | JPN | So Fujitani |
| 49 | FW | BRA | Douglas |

### 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 |
| — | DF | JPN | Yuki Kobayashi (at Yokohama FC) |
| — | FW | JPN | Asahi Masuyama (at Avispa Fukuoka) |

## Competitions
### J. League
#### Table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 12 | Consadole Sapporo | 34 | 10 | 9 | 15 | 47 | 58 | −11 | 39 |
| 13 | Sagan Tosu | 34 | 7 | 15 | 12 | 37 | 43 | −6 | 36 |
| 14 | Vissel Kobe | 34 | 9 | 9 | 16 | 50 | 59 | −9 | 36 |
| 15 | Yokohama FC | 34 | 9 | 6 | 19 | 38 | 60 | −22 | 33 |
| 16 | Shimizu S-Pulse | 34 | 7 | 7 | 20 | 48 | 70 | −22 | 28 |

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Last updated: 18 November 2020. Source: Meiji Yasuda J1 League

#### 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 | H | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A |
| Result | D | L | W | D | W | D | L | W | L | D | L | W | D | D | L | D | L | W | W | W | L | D | L | D | L | L | L | L | W | W | L | L | L | L |
| Position | 9 | 15 | 13 | 12 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 14 |

#### Matches
### AFC Champions League
#### Group stage

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | VIS | SUW | GZE | JDT |
| 1 | Vissel Kobe | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 6 | Round of 16 | — | 0–2 | 0–2 | 5–1 |
| 2 | Suwon Samsung Bluewings | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 5 | Round of 16 | 0–1 | — | 0–0 | 25 Nov |
| 3 | Guangzhou Evergrande | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 5 | | 1–3 | 1–1 | — | 4 Dec |
| 4 | Johor Darul Ta'zim | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Withdrew | 1 Dec | 2–1 | 19 Nov | — |
* 1 2 Match played behind closed doors
* ↑ Johor Darul Ta'zim were unable to travel to Qatar to play the final four matches of the group stage due to the COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions after they were denied permission to travel by the Malaysian government. They were considered to have withdrawn from the competition, and all previous matches played by them shall be considered "null and void" and would not be considered in determining the final group rankings.
Matches

#### Knockout stage
## Statistics
### Goal scorers

| Rank | No. | Pos. | Player | J.League | Emperor's Cup | J.League Cup | Japanese Super Cup | AFC Champions League | Total |
| 1 | 11 | FW | Kyogo Furuhashi | 12 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 17 |
| 2 | 49 | FW | Douglas | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 9 |
| 3 | 5 | MF | Hotaru Yamaguchi | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| 4 | 14 | MF | Andrés Iniesta | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 5 | 9 | FW | Noriaki Fujimoto | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 5 | 27 | MF | Yuta Goke | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 7 | 13 | FW | Keijiro Ogawa | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| 8 | 33 | DF | Dankler | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 9 | 21 | FW | Junya Tanaka | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 9 | 22 | DF | Daigo Nishi | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 11 | 14 | MF | Takuya Yasui | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | 24 | DF | Gōtoku Sakai | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | 41 | FW | Yutaro Oda | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Own goals | Own goals | Own goals | Own goals | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | 50 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 13 | 66 |
Last updated: 13 December 2020. Source: Competitions

### Clean sheets

| Rank | No. | Pos. | Player | J.League | Emperor's Cup | J.League Cup | Japanese Super Cup | AFC Champions League | Total |
| 1 | 18 | GK | Hiroki Iikura | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
Last updated: 10 December 2020. Source: Competitions