is a Japanese professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club based in

Kagoshima , abbreviated to , is the capital city of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Located at the southwestern tip of the island of Kyushu, Kagoshima is the largest city in the prefecture by some margin. It has been nicknamed the "Naples of the Eastern wor ...

Kagoshima Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands. Kagoshima Prefecture has a population of 1,599,779 (1 January 2020) and has a geographic area of 9,187 km2 (3,547 sq mi). Kagoshima Prefecture borders Kumamoto P ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

that was formed from the merger of ''Volca Kagoshima'' and ''FC Kagoshima''. Both clubs played in the

Kyushu Soccer League is the Japanese fifth tier of league football, which is part of the Japanese Regional Leagues. It covers eight prefectures, which are (Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Oita, Miyazaki, Kagoshima and Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okin ...

before the merger. Their top team currently plays in the

J3 League or simply J3 is the third division of . It was established in 2013 as the third-tier professional association football league in Japan. The third-tier nationwide league is a relatively recent development in Japanese football with a first attempt ...

, Japan's 3rd tier of professional league football. Their secondary team plays in the Kagoshima Prefectural League as Kagoshima United FC SECOND.

History

Origins (1959–2013)

Volca Kagoshima was established in 1959 as Kagoshima Teachers' Soccer Club. The club was a founding member of the

in 1973. Since the league's inception, the club had always played in this league and never be relegated to the Prefectural Leagues until the merge with FC Kagoshima in 2014. They advanced to the Regional League promotion series five times, but never succeeded to promote to the upper tier,

Japan Football League The also known as simply the JFL is the 4th tier of the Japanese association football league system, positioned beneath the three divisions of the J.League. The league features fully professional teams that hold J.League associate membership am ...

, known as the highest level for amateur club football in the country. The club changed the name from Kagoshima Teachers to Volca Kagoshima in 1995. FC Kagoshima was established in 1994 as an affiliated club of the

National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Kanoya is a national university in Kanoya, Kagoshima, Japan, founded in 1981. Four alumni participated in the swimming and volleyball events in the Beijing Olympics, including Athens Olympics swimming gold medalist Ai Shibata. Four players parti ...

. They were promoted to the

as early as 2004 and changed the name to '' Osumi NIFS United FC.'' Both of Volca and NIFS have been seeking the way to promote to the JFL separately. The idea of a merged club of Volca and FC Kagoshima (renamed from NIFS in 2010) had been discussed by the Kagoshima Prefectural Football Association as early as 2012, however, it was failed to reach an agreement at that time. Although Volca and FC Kagoshima had applied for J.League Associate Membership separately, both sides restarted their talk about the merger, then finally agreed with merging their clubs to aim promotion to the

J.League The , officially is Japan's professional football league including the first division J1 League, second division J2 League and third division J3 League of the Japanese association football league system. J1 League is one of the most successfu ...

, in response of the advisory by the J.League organization. As both clubs had advanced to the final round of the Regional League promotion series in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

, the merged club earned the promotion to the JFL of

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

Kagoshima United (2014–)

The two clubs, Volca Kagoshima and FC Kagoshima, were merged in 2014 to form Kagoshima United. In November 2015, after finishing promotion zone in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

, they received J.League license to participate in the

. In 2018, Kagoshima United was promoted to the J2 League after five years at the J3. In 2019, Kagoshima United was instantly relegated back to the J3, after a 21st-place finish in their J3 debut season. The club will play their 4th consecutive season at the J3 League on 2023.

Rivalries

The traditional rival of Kagoshima United is

Roasso Kumamoto is a Japanese football club based in Kumamoto, the capital city of Kumamoto Prefecture. The club currently plays in the J2 League, which is the second tier of football in the country. ''Roasso'' is a portmanteau of the Italian words ''rosso'' an ...

, the prefectural neighbours and former

fellows since

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

until

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, except

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

–

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

. Matches between the two clubs are labelled ''Hisatsu derby'' (肥薩ダービー, ''"

Kumamoto is the capital city of Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 738,907 and a population density of 1,893 people per km2. The total area is 390.32 km2. had a population of 1,461,000, ...

derby"'') and generate a lot of interest in both prefectures.

League & cup record

;Key

Honours

Volca Kagoshima (1959–2013)

(1973–) **Champions (3):

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

FC Kagoshima (1994–2013)

(1973–) **Champions (1):

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

Kagoshima United (2014–)

(2014–) **Runners-up (1):

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

League history

*Regional (

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surroun ...

): 1973–2013 *Division 4 ( JFL): 2014–2015 *Division 3 ( J3): 2016–2018 *Division 2 ( J2): 2019 *Division 3 ( J3): 2020–

Current squad

''As of 11 January 2023''.

Out on loan

Coaching staff

For the 2023 season.

Managerial history

Crest and colours

The club crest has the illustrations of

Sakurajima Sakurajima ( ja, 桜島, literally "Cherry Blossom Island") is an active stratovolcano, formerly an island and now a peninsula, in Kagoshima Prefecture in Kyushu, Japan. The lava flows of the 1914 eruption connected it with the Ōsumi Peninsula ...

and

Kagoshima Bay also known as Kinkō Bay, is a deep inlet of the East China Sea on the coast of Japan.''Merriam Webster's Geographical Dictionary, Third Edition'', p. 562. Kagoshima Bay is on the south coast of the island of Kyūshū. The port city of Kagoshi ...

, both symbolize

, on its background design, with red colour, which represents Volca, and light blue colour, represents FC Kagoshima.

Kit evolution

Kagoshima United's club colours are

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

and

navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

References

External links

Official website (in Japanese)
{{Japanese Club Football, group=clubs Football clubs in Japan Japan Football League clubs J.League clubs Sports teams in Kagoshima Prefecture Association football clubs established in 2014 2014 establishments in Japan