is a Japanese professional

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

Sendai is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Miyagi Prefecture and the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,098,335 in 539,698 households, making it the List of cities in Japan, twelfth most populated city in Japan. ...

Miyagi Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Miyagi Prefecture has a population of 2,265,724 (1 August 2023) and has a geographic area of . Miyagi Prefecture borders Iwate Prefecture to the north, Akit ...

. They currently play in

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 Yasud ...

, the Japanese second tier of professional football.

History

Founded in 1988 as ''

Tohoku Electric Power is an electric utility, servicing 7.6 million individual and corporate customers in six prefectures in Tōhoku region plus Niigata Prefecture. It provides electricity at 100 V, 50 Hz, though some areas use 60 Hz. Tohoku Electric Power ...

Co., Inc. Soccer Club'', Vegalta Sendai joined the J-League in 1999 after playing a few seasons in the JFL, with the nickname ''Brummell Sendai'', to which they had been promoted in 1994 from the Tohoku Regional League. When joining the J-League, the name Vegalta was chosen as a homage to the famous

Tanabata , also known as the , is a Japanese festival originating from the Chinese Qixi Festival. It celebrates the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi (represented by the stars Vega and Altair respectively). According to legend, the Milk ...

festival in Sendai. The names of the two celestial stars of the Tanabata legend, ''

Vega Vega is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Lyra. It has the Bayer designation α Lyrae, which is Latinised to Alpha Lyrae and abbreviated Alpha Lyr or α Lyr. This star is relatively close at only from the Sun, and ...

'' and ''

Altair Altair is the brightest star in the constellation of Aquila (constellation), Aquila and the list of brightest stars, twelfth-brightest star in the night sky. It has the Bayer designation Alpha Aquilae, which is Latinisation of name ...

'' were combined to form ''Vegalta''. They were first promoted to the top flight in 2002, but the team went back down the following season. They were promoted again for the 2010 season. In 2011, despite the earthquake and tsunami, they achieved their highest position up to that time, 4th place in the top division. In 2012, despite leading the table for most of the season,

Sanfrecce Hiroshima Sanfrecce Hiroshima () is a Japanese professional association football, football club based in Hiroshima. The club competes in the J1 League, top flight of the Japanese football league system. Sanfrecce is one of the most successful clubs in Ja ...

's challenge proved too strong, and losing the penultimate week game to relegation battler

Albirex Niigata is a professional football club based in Niigata, Japan. Formed in 1955 as Niigata Eleven SC, it was renamed Albireo Niigata FC in 1995, and Albirex Niigata in 1997. They currently play in J1 League after being promoted from J2 League as cha ...

cost them the title, rendering them second-place winners, their highest position in history. In 2018, the Vegalta reached the final of the

Emperor's Cup , commonly known as or Japan FA Cup, and rebranded as The JFA Emperor's Cup from 2024 onwards, is a Japanese annual football competition. It has the longest tradition of any football tournament in Japan, dating back to 1921, before the formatio ...

, losing 1-0 to

Urawa Reds The or simply Urawa Reds (浦和レッズ, ''Urawa Rezzu''), also known as Mitsubishi Urawa Football Club from April 1992 to January 1996, are a professional football club in the city of Saitama, part of the Greater Tokyo Area in Japan, who p ...

. After twelve years spent in the

J1 League The , the J.League or the for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Japan and the highest level of the Japanese football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation ...

, Vegalta returned to the J2 in 2022, after being relegated from the J1 at the end of 2021. After finishing in seventh place 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 ...

, thus failing to reach the promotion play-offs.

Ryang Yong-gi Ryang Yong-gi (; born 7 January 1982) is a former professional association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. Born in Japan, he represented North Korea national football team, North Korea internationally. Ryang served as the capt ...

, a symbol of Sendai, retired at the end of the 2023 season. For the 2024 season, Yoshiro Moriyama, who has a track record of developing players at

's training age group and the U17 Japan National Team, was appointed as Manager.

Stadium

Their home stadium is

Yurtec Stadium Sendai is a football (soccer), football stadium in the Nanakita Park, Izumi-ku, Sendai, Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. Built in 1997, it is home to Vegalta Sendai, MyNavi Sendai, Mynavi Sendai Ladies and Sony Sendai FC, Sony Sendai. The stadium ...

, in

Izumi-ku, Sendai is the northernmost ward of the city of Sendai, in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. , the ward had a population of 215,048 and a population density of 1470 persons per km2 in 90,336 households. The total area of the ward was . Izumi-ku is the twelfth-l ...

, although a few home games have also been played at nearby

Miyagi Stadium , the for sponsorship reasons, is an athletic and football stadium in the town of Rifu in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. The stadium's capacity is 49,133. The crescent-shaped roof extending past the edge of the stadium is meant to evoke images of ...

. Sendai Stadium ranks among the top stadiums in Japan for its presence, comfort, and accessibility, and was once ranked second in an evaluation by a famous Japanese football media. It was also used by the

Italian national football team The Italy national football team () has represented Italy in men's international football since its first match in 1910. The national team is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the governing body for football in Italy, which ...

as their basecamp during the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

. Miyagi Stadium is famous for the Japan national team, and for hosting matches of the Argentine national team in the

Supporters and rivalries

As with most football clubs, fans in Sendai sing and dance during matches. However, most of the songs used by fans from other clubs are avoided due to the more eclectic set. Club themes sung before each game are ''

Take Me Home, Country Roads "Take Me Home, Country Roads", also known simply as "Country Roads", is a song written by Bill Danoff, Taffy Nivert and John Denver. It was released as a single performed by Denver on April 12, 1971, peaking at number two on ''Billboard''s U ...

'', and during the game.

Toy Dolls The Toy Dolls are an English punk rock band formed in 1979. They are best known for their sole UK hit, a punk-rock cover of " Nellie the Elephant". The Toy Dolls' songs expressed a sense of fun, such as "Yul Brynner Was a Skinhead", "My Girlfr ...

Blitzkrieg Bop "Blitzkrieg Bop", titled "The Blitzkrieg Bop!!" on its single release, is a song by American punk rock band Ramones, released in February 1976 as their debut single in the United States. It was the opening track on the band's self-titled debut a ...

and other

KISS A kiss is the touching or pressing of one's lips against another person, animal or object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely; depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sex ...

and

Twisted Sister Twisted Sister was an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in 1972 in Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey, and later based on Long Island, New York (state), New York. Their best-known songs include "We're Not Gonna Take It (Twisted Sister song ...

songs. Since Sendai is the hometown of

Hirohiko Araki , better known as , is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known for his long-running series '' JoJo's Bizarre Adventure'', which began publication in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' in 1987 and has over 120 million copies in circulation, making it one ...

, who wrote

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki. It was originally serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1987 to 2004, and was transferred to the monthly manga magazine ''Ultra Jum ...

, fans often wave flags with the same motifs of characters portrayed in Araki's manga.

Michinoku Derby

Vegalta's traditional rivals are

Montedio Yamagata is a Japanese people, Japanese professional association football club based in Tendo, Yamagata. The club currently playing in J2 League, the Japanese second tier of professional football. Name origin Montedio is a coined word combining the I ...

from

Yamagata Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It has a population of 1,005,926 (1 February 2025) and an area of 9,325 Square kilometre, km2 (3,600 Square mile, sq mi). Its neighbours are Akita Prefectu ...

. The two have been rivals since meeting in the Tohoku Football League in

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

. Among the Tohoku derbies, this match is famous as the Michinoku derby.

Tohoku Derby

This is the derby played by the Tohoku region teams, currently the most important match is that of Vegalta Sendai and

. Other teams included in this classic include

Blaublitz Akita is a Japanese professional association football team based in Akita (city), Akita, capital of Akita Prefecture. The club currently play in the J2 League, Japanese second tier of professional football league. Due to the club's former ownership b ...

Iwate Grulla Morioka is a Japanese association football club based in Morioka, capital of Iwate Prefecture. They play in Japan Football League from 2025, the Japanese fourth tier of semi-professional football after relegation from J3 League in 2024. Name origin ...

Iwaki FC is a football (soccer) club based in Iwaki, a city in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. The club competes in the J2 League, the second tier of Japanese football league system. History Founder Club Iwaki FC was founded in 2012, before getting ...

League & cup record

Honours

Individual awards

* J. League Best Eleven ** Wilson: 2012 *Valuable Player Award ** Takuto Hayashi Makoto Kakuda Jiro Kamata: 2011 ** Takuto Hayashi Taikai Uemoto Makoto Kakuda Jiro Kamata Naoki Sugai

Shingo Akamine: 2012 ** Simão Mate: 2019 * Individual Fair-Play award **

Yuichi Nemoto is a former Japanese football player. Playing career Nemoto was born in Kashima on July 21, 1981. He joined J1 League club Kashima Antlers based in his local from youth team in 2000. Although he played several matches as left side back, he co ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

* J.League Monthly MVP ** Shingo Akamine:

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

(May) ** Simão Mate:

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

(June) ** Ryoma Kida:

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

(May) * Monthly Best Manager ** Susumu Watanabe:

(June) ** Masato Harasaki:

(May) * Monthly Best Goal **

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

** Crislan:

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

* J.League Cup Award **

Takuma Nishimura was a Japanese army general in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II, active in the invasion and occupation of British Malaya. After the Japanese surrender, he was tried and convicted in British Singapore as a war criminal for his r ...

TAG Heuer TAG Heuer S.A., founded Heuer AG ( ) is a Swiss luxury watchmaker. Founded in 1860 by Edouard Heuer in St-Imier, Switzerland, it was acquired by Techniques d'Avant Garde (TAG) in 1985, which purchased a majority stake in the company, forming ' ...

YOUNG GUNS Award **

** Ko Itakura:

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

* J.League Cup Top Scorer ** Crislan:

Top Scorer **

Marcos Marcos may refer to: People with the given name ''Marcos'' *Marcos (given name) * Marcos family Sports ;Surnamed * Dayton Marcos, Negro league baseball team from Dayton, Ohio (early twentieth-century) * Dimitris Markos, Greek footballer * Né ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was 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. The United States led a Participan ...

Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo ( ; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known w ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

*Meritorious Player Award ** Norio Omura: 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 ...

: 2015 **

Hisato Satō is a Japanese people, Japanese former Association football, football player. He played as a Forward (association football), forward for the Japan national football team, Japan national team. His brother Yuto Sato is also a footballer. Club care ...

: 2021 ** Makoto Kakuda, Naoki Ishihara, Yoshiki Takahashi: 2022 ** Shingo Tomita, Shingo Akamine: 2023

Players

Current squad

Out on loan

Notable players and coaches

* Edmar 1995–1997 *

Pierre Littbarski Pierre Michael Littbarski (; born 16 April 1960) is a German professional football manager and former player of 1. FC Köln and the West Germany national team. Known for his dribbling abilities, he was mainly used as an attacking midfielder ...

1996–1997 * Frank Ordenewitz 1996 *

Branko Elsner Branko Elsner (23 November 1929 – 17 November 2012) was a Slovenian association football, football manager and player, most known for being the manager of the Austrian national football team, Austria national team twice. Elsner had his first s ...

1997 * Teruo Iwamoto 2001–2003 * Hajime Moriyasu 2002–2003 * Zdenko Verdenik 2003–2004 *

2004–2019, 2022–2023 * Goce Sedloski 2004 *

Joel Santana Joel Natalino Santana (born 25 December 1955) is a Brazilian football coach and former player. He was recently in charge of Vasco da Gama in 2014. Biography Born in Rio de Janeiro, Santana played his entire career as a central defender in his n ...

2006 *

Thiago Neves Thiago Neves Augusto (born 27 February 1985) is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Club career Born in Curitiba, Thiago Neves began his professional career with Paraná aged 20. His performa ...

2006 * Humberlito Borges 2006 * Makoto Teguramori 2008–2013, 2021 *

2011–2014 *

Graham Arnold Graham James Arnold (born 3 August 1963) is an Australian association football, professional football manager and former player who is currently the head coach of the Iraq national football team, Iraq national team. Arnold was first appointed ...

2014 * Danny Vukovic 2014 *

Michael McGlinchey Michael Ryan McGlinchey (born 7 January 1987) is a New Zealand former footballer who played as a midfielder. McGlinchey played youth football with Scottish club Celtic, where he made his professional debut. After spending time on loan to Dunf ...

2014 * Daniel Schmidt 2014–2019 *

2015–2018, 2020–2021 * Ko Itakura 2018 * Simão Mate Junior 2019–2021

International convention

;World Cup *

** Danny Vukovic (2014) *

** Daniel Schmidt (2014–2019) ** Ko Itakura (2018) ** Danny Vukovic ;World Cup (Manager) *

** Hajime Moriyasu (2002–2003) **

(2014) ;FIFA Confederations Cup *

** Danny Vukovic **

(2014) ;AFC Asian Cup *

(2004–2019, 2022-) *

** Daniel Schmidt
※Runner up ** Danny Vukovic ;AFC Asian Cup (Manager) *

** Hajime Moriyasu ** Graham Arnold ;Copa América *

** Ko Itakura ;OFC Nations Cup *

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

** Michael McGlinchey
※Winner ;EAFF E-1 Football Championship *

** Yuji Rokutan (2015–2016) *

(2015–2018, 2020–2021) ** Hajime Moriyasu
※Winner ;Summer Olympics (U-23) *

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 ...

** Ko Itakura ;Summer Olympics (U-23 Manager) *

** Makoto Teguramori (

Manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

) *

** Graham Arnold ;AFC U-23 Asian Cup *

** Makoto Teguramori
※Winner *

** Graham Arnold
※3rd place ;Asian Games (U-23) *

** Ko Itakura
※Runner up ;Asian Games (U-23 Manager) *

** Makoto Teguramori ;Toulon Tournament (U-22) *

** Keiya Shiihashi (2016–2020)
※Runner up,Best XI ;FIFA U-20 World Cup (Manager) *

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

** Kim Eun-jung (2003)

Club Officials

For the 2024 season.

Managerial history

Mascot and cheerleaders

Mascot

*VEGATTA (Brother) ** He has won "the J League mascot general election" many times and is quite popular. ** The eagle, which is also used in the club emblem as a symbol of victory in Greek mythology, is associated with the Aquila constellation, to which Hikoboshi (

) belongs, which is the origin of the club's name. The name was decided by public submission. Vegatta's SNS
BLOGTwitter
, which is updated daily, is loved and popular among soccer fans in Japan, as the mascot loves mischief, and is by some fans, hard to believe it is a mascot. * LTAANA (Sister) ** From the Sendai summer tradition " Sendai Tanabata", which is the origin of the team name, "Luta" for

( Orihime) and

( Hikoboshi), and "Tana" for Tanabata, it was named as a girlish name by combining "na", on a 7 August, which is the date of the event and the birthday. Sometimes she tweet with ルターナ(LTAANA written phonetically on

Katakana is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji and in some cases the Latin script (known as rōmaji). The word ''katakana'' means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana characters are derived fr ...

) o
Sendai's official Twitter
** When Vegalta wins any match, she expresses her joy o
Twitter

Cheerleaders

*The Vegalta Cheerleaders mainly support "Vegalta Sendai", participate in many events, and continue to work as a cheering group for people who are doing their best in the area. She has the longest history as a cheerleader for a professional sports team in Sendai, and has been active since 2003.

Best Match

① and ② were selected as "that game I want to see again" on the J League official YouTube channel, and 2 was also selected as "10 Best Matches" by J Chronicle Best. ② was also selected as the "Best Match" of the J30 Best Awards.

J Chronicle Best

This is a project to select the J.League "Best Eleven", "Best Goal" and "Best Match" over the past 20 years. A project held in 2013 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Japan Professional Soccer League. The mentioned two game is often featured as a legendary game in each media.

J30 BEST AWARDS

A project to select the "MVP", "Best Eleven", "Best Goal", "Best Match", and "Best Scene" of the J League over the past 30 years. An award hosted by the J.League to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the J.League in 2023. Even in "Soccer Digest" (Japan's famous football media),the two were selected as "the best 3 selected J.League matches" by the reporter in charge of Sendai. Sendai's Yoshiaki Ota, who scored the equalizing goal against Kawasaki, said, "I think it was a goal that everyone worked together, including the thoughts of my teammates." *The notation of the match card and the stadium where the match was held is at the time of the match.

Continental record

Sendai also participated in the ACL for the first time in 2013. It was a tournament with many challenges other than matches, such as long-distance travel, overcrowded schedule with the J.League and local climate, but they did not lose in the extreme cold of

Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...

and the intense heat of

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

and the final match was a draw or better in the qualifying. It was a good point to leave the possibility of breaking through.

Kit evolution

Asian clubs ranking

Vegalta House

" Shichigashuku Town's Empty House Revitalization Project: Let's Build a Vegalta House" will start in July 2021 with the support of 143 crowdfunding people and a total of 78 local workers. It is involved in a social collaboration activity, in line with Goal 11 "Sustainable cities and communities" and Goal 17 "Partnership for the goals" of the

SDGs The ''2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development'', adopted by all United Nations (UN) members in 2015, created 17 world Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The aim of these global goals is "peace and prosperity for people and the planet" – wh ...

basic guidelines.

References

External links

* {{commons category, Vegalta Sendai Sports clubs and teams in Sendai J.League clubs Football clubs in Japan Association football clubs established in 1988 1988 establishments in Japan Japan Football League (1992–1998) clubs