is a Japanese

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 Kumamoto, the capital city of Kumamoto Prefecture. The club currently plays in the

J2 League 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 Yas ...

, Japan's 2nd tier of professional league football.

Name origin

''Roasso'' is a portmanteau of the Italian words ''rosso'' and ''asso'', meaning "red ace".

History

Early years (1969–2004)

The club was founded as the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation (''Den-Den Kōsha'', current NTT) Kumamoto Soccer Club in 1969. The club was promoted to the Kyushu Soccer League in

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 ...

. According to the NTT's privatization in 1985, the club was renamed as NTT Kyushu Soccer Club in 1988. During the ''NTT Kyushu'' era, the club won five Kyushu Soccer League titles and one

All Japan Senior Football Championship The , officially called the All Japan Adults Football Tournament, is a football (soccer) cup competition in Japan. It is run by the Japan Football Association. As it only involves non-league teams (teams not affiliated to either J.League or the ...

. The club changed their name again to NTT Kumamoto Football Club in 2000. The club changed their name to NTT West Kumamoto Football Club in 2001 as the NTT was divided into NTT East and NTT West. The club was promoted to the JFL in

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 ...

after finishing 3rd in 24th JFL Promotion Tournament. The NTT relinquished the ownership of the club in 2002 and community oriented Alouette Kumamoto Football Club was born. ''Alouette'' is a French word meaning skylark, the bird of Kumamoto Prefecture. The club finished at the 17th in this season and was relegated to the Kyushu Soccer League.

Roasso Kumamoto (2005–)

The club name was changed again to Rosso Kumamoto in 2005. ''Rosso'' means red in Italian. After they won the Kyushu Soccer League and finished at the 3rd in the Regional League play-off tournament, the club was promoted to the JFL. The club was recently featured in

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 ...

program to introduce the club to followers of the professional league. Rosso's second-place finish in the 2007 JFL season was enough to earn promotion into the J.League (

) for the

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

season. The club changed their name to current Roasso Kumamoto in 2008. The previous name ''Rosso'' was a registered trademark of another company, so the club could not use it due to a risk of copyright infringement. After 11 years spent in the J2 League, Kumamoto was relegated to the J3 League on 2018. After three years at J3 League, Kumamoto returned to J2, after being promoted as the J3 champions in 2021, just a point ahead of Iwate Grulla Morioka in the league table. In 2022, Kumamoto finished in 4th place with 62 points and advanced to J1 promotion/relegation playoffs after an arguably surprising performance in the

2022 J2 League The 2022 J2 League, also known as the for sponsorship reasons, was the 24th season of the J2 League, the second-tier Japanese professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1999. Clubs Personnel and kits ...

. Roasso played against the 4th and 5th-placed teams of the J2 season,

Oita Trinita is a Japanese football club currently playing in J2 League, having been relegated after the 2021 season after a three-year stint in J1 League. The club's home town is Ōita, Ōita, Ōita city, but the club draws support from Beppu, Ōita, Beppu, ...

and

Montedio Yamagata is Japanese professional association football club based in Tendo, Yamagata. The club plays in J2 League. Montedio is a coined word combining the Italian word for "mountain" (Monte) and the word for "God" (Dio). History The club based in T ...

, in matches that ended 1–1 and 2–2, respectively. As the league gave the advantage for the higher-placed team in the league standings to qualify for the next round, Roasso were able to qualify for the play-off finals, despite not winning any match. This time,

Kyoto Sanga 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 ...

, as the J1 League team in question, earned the seeding advantage, meaning that Roasso needed to win this match in order to earn promotion. The match ended in a 1–1 draw and Roasso were not promoted for the J1.

Rivalries

The traditional rival of Roasso Kumamoto is

Kagoshima United is a Japanese professional football club based in Kagoshima, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan that was formed from the merger of ''Volca Kagoshima'' and ''FC Kagoshima''. Both clubs played in the Kyushu Soccer League before the merger. Their top team ...

, the prefectural neighbours and former Kyushu Soccer League fellows since

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

League & cup record

Key

Honours

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 ...

): 1983–2000 *Division 3 ( JFL): 2001–2002 *Regional (

): 2003–2005 *Division 3 ( JFL): 2006–2007 *Division 2 ( J2): 2008–2018 *Division 3 ( J3): 2019–2021 *Division 2 ( J2): 2022–

Current squad

Out on loan

Coaching staff

Managerial history

Kit and colours

Colour, sponsors and manufacturers

Roasso Kumamoto's club colour is red, representing burning passion and desire for victory.

Kit evolution

Past seasons

Shota Aizawa is a Japanese Association football, footballer currently playing as a midfielder for Nankatsu SC. Career statistics Club . ;Notes See also *Football in Japan References External links

* 1996 births Living people Association fo ...

(2020)

References

External links

* {{Japanese Club Football, group=clubs Football clubs in Japan Association football clubs established in 2004 J.League clubs Kumamoto Nippon Telegraph and Telephone 2004 establishments in Japan Sports clubs and teams in Kumamoto Prefecture Japan Football League clubs