is a Japanese professional football club based in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ...

. "Sanga" comes from the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

word ''

sangha Sangha is a Sanskrit word used in many Indian languages, including Pali meaning "association", "assembly", "company" or "community"; Sangha is often used as a surname across these languages. It was historically used in a political context t ...

'', a term meaning "group" or "club" and often used to denote the Buddhist priesthood, associating the club with Kyoto's many Buddhist temples. The club was formerly known as Kyoto Purple Sanga with "purple", the colour of the team uniforms, an imperial colour reflecting Kyoto's status as Japan's ancient imperial capital city. It was decided that, from 2007, the team will simply been known as "Kyoto Sanga". They are the oldest club competing in the J.League.

History

The club was started as ''Kyoto Shiko Club'', one of the few proper Japanese football clubs in the sense of being strictly dedicated to football and not being part of a company. Like

Ventforet Kofu is a Japanese football club from Kōfu in Yamanashi Prefecture. The team currently competes in the J2 League and play their home games in JIT Recycle Ink Stadium, located in Kōfu. The word "Ventforet" is a compound formed from two French ...

, it could not rise to a

Japan Soccer League , or JSL, was the top flight association football league in Japan between 1965 and 1992, and was the precursor to the current professional league, the J.League. JSL was the second national league of a team sport in Japan after the professional ...

First Division dominated by company teams; in 1993, after the J.League was created, Kyoto Shiko Club, aided by funds from local new sponsors

Kyocera is a Japanese multinational ceramics and electronics manufacturer headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It was founded as in 1959 by Kazuo Inamori and renamed in 1982. It manufactures industrial ceramics, solar power generating systems, telecommunic ...

and Nintendo, professionalized (though some players broke away and formed their own clubs, see below) and joined the former Japan Football League under the new name ''Kyoto Purple Sanga''. First joining the J.League in 1996, Kyoto Sanga hold the dubious distinction of being the League's most relegated side, having been demoted on three separate occasions. Relegation to J2 occurred at the end of the

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

, 2003 and 2006 seasons; more than any other team. The 2003 relegation happened despite having many national team players such as

Park Ji-sung Park Ji-sung (; ; born 30 March 1981) is a South Korean former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Born in the South Korean capital Seoul, Park is the most successful Asian player in football history, having won 19 trophies in ...

and Daisuke Matsui on its roster and they eventually left for European clubs. In December 2007 the club gained J1 status for the fourth time in their history via the promotion/relegation playoff. A 0-2 home defeat to

Urawa Reds , colloquially Urawa Reds (浦和レッズ), also known as Mitsubishi Urawa Football Club from April 1992 to January 1996, is a professional football club in the city of Saitama, part of the Greater Tokyo Area in Japan. The club plays in the J ...

on 14 November 2010 confirmed Sanga's relegation back to J2, bringing an end to their three-season spell in the top flight.

Record as J.League member

;Key

Honours

League

J.League Division 2 The or simply J2 is the second division of the and the second level of the Japanese association football league system. The top tier is represented by the J1 League. It (along with the rest of the J.League) is currently sponsored by Meiji Y ...

** 2001, 2005 *

Kansai Soccer League is the Japanese fifth tier of league football, which is part of the Japanese Regional Leagues. It covers most of the Kansai region, as well as the prefectures of Hyōgo, Kyōto, Nara, Osaka, Shiga and Wakayama. Mie, usually considered part of ...

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

, 1971,

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

Cups

* Emperor's Cup ** 2002 * All Japan Senior Football Championship **1988

Current squad

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Reserve squad (U-18s)

Club captains

Naohiko Minobe is a former Japanese Association football, football player and manager. Playing career Minobe was born in Moriyama, Shiga, Moriyama on July 12, 1965. After graduating from high school, he joined Gamba Osaka, Matsushita Electric (later ''Gamba O ...

1994 *

Makoto Sugiyama is a former Japanese football player. Club career Sugiyama was born in Fujieda on May 17, 1960. After graduating from Tokyo University of Agriculture, he joined Japan Soccer League club Nissan Motors in 1983. He played as regular player from fi ...

1995 *

Satoru Mochizuki is a former Japanese football player. He played for Japan national team. Club career Mochizuki was born in Otsu on May 18, 1964. After graduating from Osaka University of Commerce, he joined Nippon Kokan (later ''NKK SC'') in 1987. The club w ...

1996 *

Ruy Ramos is a former football player and manager, originally from Brazil, who spent his career in Japan and played for the Japan national team. Ramos is currently active as a television personality and ''tarento'', represented with Irving. Club car ...

1997 * Yuji Okuma 1997 *

Hajime Moriyasu is a Japanese football manager and former player. He made more than 250 appearances in 14 years with Sanfrecce Hiroshima, including a year on loan to Kyoto Purple Sanga, before spending his final season as a professional with Vegalta Sendai. He a ...

1998 *

Hisashi Kurosaki is a former Japanese football player and manager. He played for Japan national team. He used his name "黒崎比差支" from 1992 to 1999. Club career Kurosaki was born in Kanuma on May 8, 1968. After graduating from high school, he joined H ...

1999 * Kazuyoshi Miura 2000 *

Naoto Otake is a former Japanese football player and manager. He played for Japan national team. His younger brother Masato was also a footballer. He is currently manager of Kagoshima United. Club career Otake was educated at and played for Tokai Univer ...

2001 *

Hiroshi Noguchi is a former Japanese football player. Playing career Noguchi was born in Sakai, Ibaraki on February 25, 1972. After graduating from Komazawa University, he joined Kyoto Purple Sanga is a Japanese professional football club based in Kyoto. ...

2002 *

Kiyotaka Ishimaru is a former Japanese Association football, football player and manager. he currently manager J3 League club of Ehime FC Playing career Ishimaru was born in Katano, Osaka, Katano on October 30, 1973. After graduating from Hannan University, he ...

2003–2004 *

Daisuke Nakaharai is a former Japanese football player. Playing career Nakaharai was born in Shizuoka Prefecture on May 22, 1977. After graduating from Shimizu Higashi High School, he joined newly was promoted to J1 League club, Avispa Fukuoka in 1996. He be ...

2005-2006 * Daisuke Saito 2007 * Yuto Sato 2008-2009 *

Atsushi Yanagisawa is a Japanese former professional footballer who played as a forward. He played for Japan national team. He is best known for playing the majority of his career at Kashima Antlers, in addition to his spells with Italian sides Sampdoria and ...

2010 *

Diego Diego is a Spanish masculine given name. The Portuguese equivalent is Diogo. The name also has several patronymic derivations, listed below. The etymology of Diego is disputed, with two major origin hypotheses: ''Tiago'' and ''Didacus''. ...

2011 *

Hiroki Nakayama is a former Japanese football player. Club statistics References External links * 1985 births Living people Association football people from Kagoshima Prefecture Japanese footballers J1 League players J2 League players Kyoto San ...

2012 * Jun Ando 2013 *

Koji Yamase is a Japanese football player who plays for Renofa Yamaguchi FC. His father Isao Yamase participated in the 1984 Winter Olympics as a biathlete. His brother Yukihiro Yamase is also footballer. Club career Yamase was born in Sapporo on 22 Sept ...

2014 * Satoshi Yamaguchi 2015 *

Takanori Sugeno is a Japanese football player who plays for Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo. Playing career Although considered short for a goalkeeper, standing at 178 cm, he makes up for his lack of height with superb agility and reflexes. In 2006, he was part of ...

2016–2017 * Yuta Someya 2018 * Takumi Miyayoshi 2019 *Jun Ando 2020 *

Temma Matsuda is a Japanese football player. He plays for Kyoto Sanga FC. Career Temma Matsuda joined J2 League club Shonan Bellmare in 2017. After being promoted to J1 League for the 2018 season, he scored his first goal as an equalizer against Kawasaki Fr ...

2021–

Club officials

Managerial history

Kit evolution

Related clubs

* Amitie S.C. (

Division 1) – broke away from the original Kyoto Shiko Club upon professionalization; amateur club *

Kyoto Shiko Club is a Japanese professional football club based in Kyoto. "Sanga" comes from the Sanskrit word ''sangha'', a term meaning "group" or "club" and often used to denote the Buddhist priesthood, associating the club with Kyoto's many Buddhist temp ...

(

Division 2) – broke away from Kyoto BAMB 1993 (now Kyoto Amitie) in 1998; amateur club *Shiko Club women's (Kansai Women's Soccer League) – linked with today's Kyoto Shiko Club Kyoto Sanga is considered the main continuation of the Kyoto Shiko Club that competed in the

Second Division. "Shiko" (紫光) means "brilliant purple" and is the colour that Shiko/Sanga have always worn.

References

External links

* {{Authority control J.League clubs Japan Soccer League clubs Football clubs in Japan Association football clubs established in 1922 Emperor's Cup winners Sport in Kyoto 1922 establishments in Japan Japan Football League (1992–1998) clubs Sports teams in Kyoto Prefecture