# 2020 Nagoya Grampus season

The 2020 Nagoya Grampus season was Nagoya Grampus' 3rd season back in the J1 League following their relegation at the end of the 2016 season, their 27th J1 League season and 37th overall in the Japanese top flight. Nagoya Grampus finished the season in Third Position, qualifying for the Play-off Round of the 2021 AFC Champions League. Due to finishing third, Nagoya Grampus did not qualify for the re-formatted 2020 Emperor's Cup, which if a J1 team were to win would put Nagoya Grampus directly into the AFC Champions League Group Stage.

## Season events

On 20 December 2019, Massimo Ficcadenti agreed a new contract to manage Nagoya Grampus for the 2020 season. The following day, 21 December 2019, Kazuhiko Chiba signed a new one-year contract with Nagoya Grampus.
On 24 December 2019, Yohei Takeda signed a new one-year contract with Nagoya Grampus, whilst Naoki Maeda extended his contract for the 2020 season the next day.
On 26 December 2019, Mitchell Langerak and Ariajasuru Hasegawa signed a new contracts until the end of the 2020 season.
On 27 December, Shumpei Naruse signed a new contract with Nagoya Grampus for the 2020 season, with Yutaka Yoshida following suit the next day.
On 5 January, Nagoya Grampus announced the signing of Ryogo Yamasaki from Shonan Bellmare, and that Shinnosuke Nakatani had renewed his contract with Nagoya Grampus for the 2020 season. The following day, 6 January, João Schmidt and Ryota Aoki renewed their contracts with Nagoya Grampus for the 2020 season.
On 7 January, Shuto Watanabe and Kosuke Ota renewed there contracts with Nagoya Grampus for the 2020 season, whilst Kazuya Miyahara renewed his contract for the 2020 season on 8 January.
On 9 January, Tsubasa Shibuya renewed his contract with Nagoya Grampus for the 2020 season, Takashi Kanai returned from his loan deal at Sagan Tosu and Jonathan Matsuoka joined ReinMeer Aomori on loan for the 2020 season.
On 25 February, all football scheduled to be played between 28 February and 15 March, was suspended as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. On 12 March, Nagoya Grampus announced that their upcoming games on 18 March & 22 March, against Yokohama and Urawa Red Diamonds, had also been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 13 days, 25 March, a further 9 games, scheduled between 3 April and 6 May, where postponed to prevent the spread of Coronavirus. Also on 25 March, Nagoya Grampus announced the signing of Mu Kanazaki on loan from Sagan Tosu until 31 January 2021.
On 2 June, Nagoya Grampus announced that Mu Kanazaki had tested positive for COVID-19, with the club announcing four days later that Mitchell Langerak had also tested positive for COVID-19.
On 5 June, the group stage of the 2020 J.League Cup was reduced from a 6 games to 3 games, resulting in Nagoya Grampus' away games against Kawasaki Frontale and Kashima Antlers, as well as their home game against Shimizu S-Pulse were cancelled.
On 21 June, Nagoya Grampus announced that their contract with Jô had been terminated, and that the matter was with the FIFA after Jô had signed for Corinthians whilst still under contract with Nagoya Grampus.
On 9 July, Nagoya Grampus confirmed the signing of Oh Jae-suk from Gamba Osaka.
On 25 July, Nagoya Grampus announced that Kazuya Miyahara had tested positive for COVID-19. The following day, Shuto Watanabe and coaching staff also tested positive for COVID-19, resulting in the postponement of that afternoon's match between Nagoya Grampus and Sanfrecce Hiroshima.

## Squad

    As of match played 19 December 2020
| No. | Name | Position | Date of birth (Age) | Signed from | Signed in | Contract ends | Apps. | Goals |
| Goalkeepers ||||||||||
| 1 | Mitchell Langerak | GK | (1988-08-22)22 August 1988 (aged 32) | Levante | 2018 | 2020 | 108 | 0 |
| 18 | Tsubasa Shibuya | GK | (1995-01-27)27 January 1995 (aged 25) | Yokohama | 2017 | 2020 | 8 | 0 |
| 21 | Yohei Takeda | GK | (1987-06-30)30 June 1987 (aged 33) | Oita Trinita | 2016 | 2020 | 38 | 0 |
| 22 | Daiki Mitsui | GK | (2001-05-27)27 May 2001 (aged 19) | Academy | 2020 | | 0 | 0 |
| Defenders ||||||||||
| 3 | Yuichi Maruyama | DF | (1989-06-16)16 June 1989 (aged 31) | FC Tokyo | 2018 | | 88 | 2 |
| 4 | Shinnosuke Nakatani | DF | (1996-03-24)24 March 1996 (aged 24) | Kashiwa Reysol | 2018 | 2020 | 95 | 1 |
| 5 | Kazuhiko Chiba | DF | (1985-06-21)21 June 1985 (aged 35) | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 2019 | 2020 | 7 | 0 |
| 6 | Kazuya Miyahara | DF | (1996-03-22)22 March 1996 (aged 24) | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 2019 | 2020 | 116 | 4 |
| 13 | Haruya Fujii | DF | (2000-12-26)26 December 2000 (aged 19) | Academy | 2018 | | 11 | 0 |
| 23 | Yutaka Yoshida | DF | (1990-02-17)17 February 1990 (aged 30) | Sagan Tosu | 2019 | 2020 | 66 | 2 |
| 26 | Shumpei Naruse | DF | (2001-01-17)17 January 2001 (aged 19) | Academy | 2018 | 2020 | 36 | 0 |
| 28 | Akira Yoshida | DF | (2001-07-09)9 July 2001 (aged 19) | Academy | 2020 | | 0 | 0 |
| 36 | Kosuke Ota | DF | (1987-07-23)23 July 1987 (aged 33) | FC Tokyo | 2019 | 2020 | 26 | 0 |
| Midfielders ||||||||||
| 2 | Takuji Yonemoto | MF | (1990-12-03)3 December 1990 (aged 30) | Tokyo | 2019 | | 59 | 1 |
| 8 | João Schmidt | MF | (1993-05-19)19 May 1993 (aged 27) | Atalanta | 2019 | 2020 | 62 | 3 |
| 9 | Ariajasuru Hasegawa | MF | (1988-10-29)29 October 1988 (aged 32) | Omiya Ardija | 2018 | 2020 | 62 | 6 |
| 11 | Hiroyuki Abe | MF | (1989-07-05)5 July 1989 (aged 31) | Kawasaki Frontale | 2020 | | 29 | 4 |
| 14 | Yosuke Akiyama | MF | (1995-04-13)13 April 1995 (aged 25) | Academy | 2017 | | 44 | 1 |
| 15 | Sho Inagaki | MF | (1991-12-25)25 December 1991 (aged 28) | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 2020 | | 37 | 3 |
| 19 | Ryota Aoki | MF | (1996-03-06)6 March 1996 (aged 24) | Academy | 2014 | 2020 | 59 | 14 |
| 20 | Shuto Watanabe | MF | (1997-01-28)28 January 1997 (aged 23) | Academy | 2019 | 2020 | 0 | 0 |
| 24 | Ryotaro Ishida | MF | (2001-12-13)13 December 2001 (aged 19) | Academy | 2018 | | 9 | 0 |
| 34 | Oh Jae-suk | MF | (1990-01-04)4 January 1990 (aged 30) | Gamba Osaka | 2020 | | 23 | 0 |
| 44 | Mu Kanazaki | MF | (1989-02-16)16 February 1989 (aged 31) | loan from Sagan Tosu | 2020 | 2021 | 123 | 21 |
| Forwards ||||||||||
| 10 | Gabriel Xavier | FW | (1993-07-15)15 July 1993 (aged 27) | Cruzeiro | 2018 | | 111 | 22 |
| 16 | Mateus | FW | (1994-09-11)11 September 1994 (aged 26) | Omiya Ardija | 2019 | 2020 | 51 | 15 |
| 17 | Ryogo Yamasaki | FW | (1992-09-20)20 September 1992 (aged 28) | Shonan Bellmare | 2020 | | 30 | 2 |
| 25 | Naoki Maeda | FW | (1995-11-17)17 November 1995 (aged 25) | Matsumoto Yamaga | 2018 | 2020 | 91 | 23 |
| 27 | Yuki Soma | FW | (1997-02-25)25 February 1997 (aged 23) | Academy | 2018 | | 68 | 8 |
| Unregistered ||||||||||
| | Ryutaro Ishida | MF | | Academy | 2018 | | 1 | 0 |
| | Shunto Kodama | MF | (1999-12-03)3 December 1999 (aged 21) | Academy | 2018 | | 10 | 1 |
| Away on loan ||||||||||
| 24 | Yukinari Sugawara | DF | (2000-06-28)28 June 2000 (aged 20) | Academy | 2018 | | 26 | 0 |
| 28 | Daiki Enomoto | MF | (1996-06-21)21 June 1996 (aged 24) | Academy | 2018 | | 11 | 0 |
| 37 | Shumpei Fukahori | MF | (1998-06-29)29 June 1998 (aged 22) | Academy | 2016 | | 13 | 3 |
| | Koki Sugimori | MF | (1997-04-05)5 April 1997 (aged 23) | Academy | 2014 | | 52 | 3 |
| | Yuki Ogaki | FW | (2000-02-28)28 February 2000 (aged 20) | Academy | 2017 | | 3 | 0 |
| | Jonathan Matsuoka | FW | (2000-05-27)27 May 2000 (aged 20) | Academy | 2019 | | 0 | 0 |
| Left during the season ||||||||||
| 7 | Jô | FW | (1987-03-20)20 March 1987 (aged 33) | Corinthians | 2018 | | 74 | 33 |

### 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 |
| 28 | MF | JPN | Daiki Enomoto (at Tokushima Vortis until 31 January 2021) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 37 | MF | JPN | Shumpei Fukahori (at Mito HollyHock until 31 January 2021) |

## Transfers
### In

| Date | Position | Name | From | Fee |
| 27 December 2019 | MF | Sho Inagaki | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | Undisclosed |
| 30 December 2019 | MF | Hiroyuki Abe | Kawasaki Frontale | Undisclosed |
| 9 July 2020 | MF | Oh Jae-suk | Gamba Osaka | Undisclosed |

### Out

| Date | Position | Name | To | Fee |
| 24 December 2019 | DF | Ikki Arai | JEF United Chiba | Undisclosed |
| 25 December 2019 | DF | Kazuki Kushibiki | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | Undisclosed |
| 4 January 2020 | MF | Ryuji Izumi | Kashima Antlers | Undisclosed |
| 19 January 2020 | DF | Takashi Kanai | Shimizu S-Pulse | Undisclosed |

### Loans in

| Date from | Position | Nationality | Name | From | Date to | Ref. |
| 25 March 2020 | MF | | Mu Kanazaki | Sagan Tosu | 31 January 2021 | |

### Loans out

| Date from | Position | Name | To | Date to |
| 27 December 2019 | MF | Daiki Enomoto | Tokushima Vortis | 31 January 2021 |
| 28 December 2019 | MF | Shumpei Fukahori | Mito HollyHock | 31 January 2021 |
| 9 January 2020 | FW | Jonathan Matsuoka | ReinMeer Aomori | 31 January 2021 |

### Released

| Date | Position | Name | Joined | Date |
| 12 February 2020 | MF | Eduardo Neto | | |
| 21 June 2020 | FW | Jô | Corinthians | 17 June 2020 |
| 31 December 2020 | DF | Kazuhiko Chiba | Albirex Niigata | |
| 31 December 2020 | DF | Kosuke Ota | Perth Glory | |

## Competitions
### J. League
#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Last updated: 19 December 2020. Source: see below

#### Results by round

| 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 | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | A | A | H | H | H | A | H | H |
| Result | D | W | D | W | W | W | L | W | L | W | W | D | L | W | L | W | L | W | L | W | W | W | L | L | W | W | D | L | W | W | D | W | D | W |
| Position | 7 | 4 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |

#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Kawasaki Frontale (C) | 34 | 26 | 5 | 3 | 88 | 31 | +57 | 83 | Qualification for AFC Champions League group stage |
| 2 | Gamba Osaka | 34 | 20 | 5 | 9 | 46 | 42 | +4 | 65 | Qualification for AFC Champions League group stage |
| 3 | Nagoya Grampus | 34 | 19 | 6 | 9 | 45 | 28 | +17 | 63 | Qualification for AFC Champions League group stage |
| 4 | Cerezo Osaka | 34 | 18 | 6 | 10 | 46 | 37 | +9 | 60 | Qualification for AFC Champions League play-off round |
| 5 | Kashima Antlers | 34 | 18 | 5 | 11 | 55 | 44 | +11 | 59 | |
* 1 2 Since the winners of the 2020 Emperor's Cup, Kawasaki Frontale, qualified for the Champions League group stage, the spot given to the Emperor's Cup winners (Champions League group stage) was passed to the third-placed team and the spot given to the third-place team (Champions League play-off round) was passed to the fourth-placed team.

### Emperor's Cup
## Squad statistics

    As of match played 19 December 2020

### Appearances and goals

| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | J-League | J-League | Emperor's Cup | Emperor's Cup | J-League Cup | J-League Cup |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 1 | GK | AUS | Mitchell Langerak | 38 | 0 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 2 | MF | JPN | Takuji Yonemoto | 29 | 1 | 25+2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | JPN | Yuichi Maruyama | 38 | 2 | 34 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| 4 | DF | JPN | Shinnosuke Nakatani | 38 | 0 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3+1 | 0 |
| 6 | DF | JPN | Kazuya Miyahara | 5 | 0 | 2+3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | BRA | João Schmidt | 27 | 1 | 9+15 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 |
| 10 | FW | BRA | Gabriel Xavier | 28 | 5 | 14+11 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1+2 | 1 |
| 11 | MF | JPN | Hiroyuki Abe | 29 | 4 | 23+4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 13 | DF | JPN | Haruya Fujii | 2 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 14 | MF | JPN | Yosuke Akiyama | 5 | 0 | 0+3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 15 | MF | JPN | Sho Inagaki | 38 | 3 | 34 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3+1 | 0 |
| 16 | FW | BRA | Mateus | 38 | 11 | 33+1 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 |
| 17 | FW | JPN | Ryogo Yamasaki | 29 | 2 | 6+19 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3+1 | 1 |
| 19 | MF | JPN | Ryota Aoki | 3 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 23 | DF | JPN | Yutaka Yoshida | 33 | 2 | 29+1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 24 | MF | JPN | Ryotaro Ishida | 9 | 0 | 0+7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 |
| 25 | FW | JPN | Naoki Maeda | 33 | 7 | 23+7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 26 | DF | JPN | Shumpei Naruse | 28 | 0 | 18+7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 |
| 27 | FW | JPN | Yuki Soma | 35 | 3 | 15+16 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| 34 | MF | KOR | Oh Jae-suk | 23 | 0 | 16+6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 36 | DF | JPN | Kosuke Ota | 12 | 0 | 3+6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 |
| 44 | MF | JPN | Mu Kanazaki | 26 | 6 | 22+3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| Players away on loan: ||||||||||||
| Players who left Nagoya Grampus during the season: ||||||||||||

### Goal Scorers

| Place | Position | Number | Name | J-League | Emperor's Cup | J-League Cup | Total |
| 1 | FW | 16 | Mateus | 9 | 0 | 2 | 11 |
| 2 | FW | 25 | Naoki Maeda | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 3 | MF | 44 | Mu Kanazaki | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 4 | FW | 10 | Gabriel Xavier | 4 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 5 | MF | 11 | Hiroyuki Abe | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 5 | | | Own goal | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 7 | MF | 15 | Sho Inagaki | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 7 | FW | 27 | Yuki Soma | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 9 | DF | 23 | Yutaka Yoshida | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 9 | DF | 3 | Yuichi Maruyama | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 9 | FW | 17 | Ryogo Yamasaki | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 12 | MF | 2 | Takuji Yonemoto | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | MF | 8 | João Schmidt | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| | | | TOTALS | 45 | 0 | 6 | 51 |

### Clean sheets

| Place | Position | Nation | Number | Name | J-League | Emperor's Cup | J-League Cup | Total |
| 1 | GK | | 1 | Mitchell Langerak | 16 | 0 | 2 | 18 |
| TOTALS | TOTALS | TOTALS | TOTALS | TOTALS | 16 | 0 | 2 | 18 |

### Disciplinary record

| Number | Position | Name | J-League | J-League | J. League Cup | J. League Cup | Emperor's Cup | Emperor's Cup | Total | Total |
| 1 | GK | Mitchell Langerak | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 2 | MF | Takuji Yonemoto | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | Yuichi Maruyama | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | Shinnosuke Nakatani | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | João Schmidt | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 10 | FW | Gabriel Xavier | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 11 | MF | Hiroyuki Abe | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 15 | MF | Sho Inagaki | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 16 | FW | Mateus | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 17 | FW | Ryogo Yamasaki | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 23 | DF | Yutaka Yoshida | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 25 | FW | Naoki Maeda | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 26 | DF | Shumpei Naruse | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| 27 | FW | Yuki Soma | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| 34 | MF | Oh Jae-suk | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 44 | MF | Mu Kanazaki | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Players away on loan: ||||||||||||
| Players who left Nagoya Grampus during the season: ||||||||||||
| | | TOTALS | 33 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 41 | 4 |