Sanfrecce Hiroshima

Sanfrecce Hiroshima
サンフレッチェ広島
	Logo
Full name	Sanfrecce Hiroshima F.C.
Nickname(s)	Sanfrecce, Sanfre
Founded	1992; 32 years ago
Ground	Hiroshima Big Arch; Asaminami-ku, Hiroshima
Capacity	50,000
Owner	Mazda
Chairman	Kaoru Koyano
Manager	Hajime Moriyasu
League	J. League Division 1
2015	1st (Champions)
Website	Club home page
Home colours	Away colours
	Current season

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Sanfrecce Hiroshima (サンフレッチェ広島, Sanfurecche Hiroshima^?) is a professional association football club based in Asaminami-ku, Hiroshima, Japan. The club currently competes in the J1 League.

Club name

The club name is a portmanteau of the Japanese numeral for three, San and an Italian word frecce or 'arrows'. This is based on the story of Mori Motonari who told his three sons that while a single arrow might be easily snapped, three arrows held together would not be broken and urged them to work for the good of the clan and its retainers.^[1]

1938–70 : Toyo Kogyo Syukyu Club (東洋工業蹴球部^?) {"Syukyu" means "football" in Japanese.}
- 1943–46 : Play was suspended during this period due to the Pacific War.
1971–80 : Toyo Kogyo Soccer Club (東洋工業サッカー部^?)
1981–83 : Mazda Sports Club Toyo Kogyo Soccer Club (マツダスポーツクラブ東洋工業サッカー部^?)
1984–85 : Mazda Sports Club Soccer Club (マツダスポーツクラブサッカー部^?)
1986–92 : Mazda Soccer Club (マツダサッカークラブ^?)
1992– : Sanfrecce Hiroshima (サンフレッチェ広島^?)

Location

The team's home town is Hiroshima, Hiroshima and the side plays at Hiroshima Big Arch and Hiroshima Prefectural Stadium. It holds training sessions at Yoshida Soccer Park in Akitakata, Hiroshima and Hiroshima 1st Ball Park.

History

As Mazda team

200px

Funamoto

Ozawa

Imanishi

Niwa

H.Kuwahara

Ishii

Ogi

Okamitsu

Matsumoto

Kuwata

Y.Kuwahara

1965 Inaugural League Champions Team. Hiroyuki Kuwahara and Yasuyuki Kuwahara are brothers.

The team was a former company team of Toyo Kogyo Soccer Club (東洋工業サッカー部^?) in 1938 and played in the semi-professional Japan Soccer League. They dominated the JSL's early years, winning the title 4 times in a row – a feat that was later equaled by Yomiuri SC/Verdy Kawasaki. The name change was made at Mazda SC (マツダSC^?) in 1981. When JSL disbanded and became the J. League in 1992, it dropped the company name and became "Sanfrecce Hiroshima". Alongside JEF United Ichihara Chiba and Urawa Red Diamonds they co-founded both leagues.

During the 1969 season they participated in the Asian Club Cup, forerunner to today's AFC Champions League; at the time, the tournament was done in a single locale (in that year it was Bangkok, Thailand), and they ended up in third place, the first participation of a Japanese club in the continental tournament. This also cost them the league title to Mitsubishi/Urawa, and although they won another title in 1970, since then the club has been out of the running for the title, with exceptional seasons such as 1994 when they won runner-up.

1965 Inaugural League Champions Team

The Toyo Industries team that became the first JSL champions also completed the first double by taking the Emperor's Cup. They were also the first of three "Invincibles", undefeated champion teams in Japan (the others were Mitsubishi Motors in 1969 and Yamaha Motors in 1987–88), although only Toyo completed a double.

Matsumoto, Ogi, and Yasuyuki Kuwahara went on to win the 1968 Olympic bronze medal for the national team.

2000s

File:SanfreeceHiroshima.png

former logo

In 2002, Sanfrecce became the first former stage winner (first stage, 1994) to be relegated to the lower division, J2. But it only spent a year there, finishing second the very next season to regain promotion back to J1. The club finished 16th in the 2007 season and were relegated to J. League Division 2 after they were beaten by Kyoto Sanga in the promotion/relegation play-off. In 2008 they nevertheless won the J2 title at the first attempt, having 84 points (a difference of 25 points with the runner-up teams) with six matches left.

By virtue of earning fourth place in the 2009 season and Gamba Osaka retaining the Emperor's Cup, Sanfrecce qualified for the Asian Champions League, where they were knocked out in the group phase.

On 24 November 2012, Sanfrecce defeated Cerezo Osaka 4–1 to seal their first ever J. League Division 1 title.^[2]^[3]

On 7 December 2013, Sanfrecce defeated Kashima Antlers 2–0, securing their second J. League Division 1 title following a thrilling finish to the season which saw first-place Yokohama F. Marinos losing their final league game, handing Sanfrecce the title. With their second consecutive title win, Sanfrecce became the second team to successfully defend their crown since Kashima in 2009.

Record as J. League member

Season	Div.	Tms.	Pos.	Attendance/G	J. League Cup	Emperor's Cup	Asia
1992	-	-	-	-	Group Stage	2nd Round	-	-
1993	J1	10	5	16,644	Group Stage	Semi-final	-	-
1994	J1	12	2	17,191	1st Round	Quarter-final	-	-
1995	J1	14	10	11,689	-	Final	-	-
1996	J1	16	14	8,469	Group Stage	Final	-	-
1997	J1	17	12	6,533	Group Stage	4th Round	-	-
1998	J1	18	10	8,339	Group Stage	Quarter-final	-	-
1999	J1	16	8	9,377	2nd Round	Final	-	-
2000	J1	16	11	8,865	2nd Round	4th Round	-	-
2001	J1	16	9	9,916	Quarter-final	4th Round	-	-
2002	J1	16	15	10,941	Group Stage	Semi-final	-	-
2003	J2	12	2	9,000	-	4th Round	-	-
2004	J1	16	12	14,800	Group Stage	4th Round	-	-
2005	J1	18	7	12,527	Group Stage	5th Round	-	-
2006	J1	18	10	11,180	Group Stage	5th Round	-	-
2007	J1	18	16	11,423	Quarter-final	Final	-	-
2008	J2	15	1	10,840	-	Quarter-final	-	-
2009	J1	18	4	15,723	Group Stage	3rd Round	-	-
2010	J1	18	7	14,562	Final	3rd Round	CL	Group Stage
2011	J1	18	7	13,203	1st Round	3rd Round	-	-
2012	J1	18	1	17,721	Group stage	2nd Round	-	-
2013	J1	18	1	16,209	Quarter-final	Final	CL	Group Stage
2014	J1	18	8	14,997	Final	Round of 16	CL	Round of 16
2015	J1	18	1	16,382	Group Stage	Quarter-final	-	-

Key

Tms. = Number of teams
Pos. = Position in league
Attendance/G = Average league attendance

Honours

Toyo Kogyo SC & Mazda SC

Domestic Leagues

Japan Soccer League: (5)
- 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1970

Domestic Cups

Emperor's Cup: (3)
- 1965, 1967, 1969
All Japan Works Football Championship: (2)
- 1956, 1962 (shared)
NHK Super Cup: (1)
- 1967

International Titles

Asian Club Championship: Third place
- 1969