is a Japanese

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club based in the city of Ōita, capital of

Ōita Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Ōita Prefecture has a population of 1,081,646 (1 February 2025) and has a geographic area of 6,340 km2 (2,448 sq mi). Ōita Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the northwest, K ...

. They currently play in the

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 100 Year Plan club sta ...

, the fourth tier of Japanese league football. The 2025 season is their 14th consecutive season in the JFL.

History

The club was formed in 2003 as Hoyo FC. In 2005 they changed their name to Hoyo Atletico Elan, the name in which they competed for many years in the Kyushu Football League. The club is backed by the ''Hoyo Group'', a digital camera and

auto parts This is a list of auto parts, which are manufactured components of automobiles. This list reflects both fossil-fueled cars (using internal combustion engines) and electric vehicles; the list is not exhaustive. Many of these parts are also used o ...

manufacturer based in nearby

Kunisaki is a small coastal city located in Ōita Prefecture, Kyushu, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 25,721 in 13082 households, and a population density of 81 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Kunisaki co ...

. In 2010 they changed their name to Hoyo Atletico Elan Oita. In 2011, they changed their name to Hoyo AC Elan Oita, won 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 most commonly refers to: * Okinawa ...

and earned third place in the Regional League promotion series, which gave them qualification to compete in the JFL from 2012. Ahead of a league jump, they changed their name to Hoyo Oita on 2012. In December 2013, the club tried to get closer ties to the community and therefore made another name change, this time to , for the 2014 season onwards, which the club have kept untouched ever since. In

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

, Verspah won their first

title. The title campaign was fairly unusual, as issues regarding

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

prevented the league to be held normally. The clubs were only able to play the first half of the planned matches, 15 out of 30. The league decided to abandon the season and give the title to the 1st-placed team at that time, which was Verspah Oita. As the club did not have a J3 license at the time, the club was unable to receive promotion to professional league football, despite being a J.League 100 Year Plan club status holders. In

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, with the league operating normally with all matches being played, Verspah ended the league season in the 3rd place, but, the same issue was brought up. The club still was not a J3 license holder, and then, could not get promoted to the J3. Their J3 license was issued and granted only in the following 2022 season, which the club finished in 8th place, eight points off the promotion zone.

Team name

The current team's name, "Verspah", was coined by combining the Portuguese word "vermelho", which means "red", and the English word "spa", which represents hot springs (after famously known

Beppu Onsen is an extensive hot spring system in the city of Beppu, Ōita, Japan. There are eight distinct major thermal spring zones called ''"Beppu Hatto"''（別府八湯). There are rich hot spring resources in Beppu; the volume of water discharged f ...

), and the initial letter "H" of the former team name Hoyo Oita.

Home Towns

The main home towns are

Beppu 270px, Beppu City Hall is a city in Ōita Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. As of November 30, 2023, the city had a population of 113,045 in 62,702 households, and a population density of 900 persons per km2. The total area of the ci ...

and

Yufu 270px, Yufu City Hall is a city in Ōita Prefecture. , the city had an estimated population of 33,556 in 15883 households, and a population density of 110 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Yufu is located almost in t ...

. On 28 June 2022, at a J.League Board of Directors meeting, they approved the addition of the Ōita city.

Historical Logos

League & cup record

;Key

Honours

Current squad

''As of 30 May 2024''.

Club staff

Managerial history

References

External links

Official website
{{Japanese Club Football, group=clubs Football clubs in Japan Association football clubs established in 2003 Sports clubs and teams in Ōita Prefecture Ōita (city) Japan Football League clubs Works association football clubs in Japan 2003 establishments in Japan