Albirex Niigata

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Albirex Niigata
アルビレックス新潟
logo
Full name Albirex Niigata
Nickname(s) Albi
Founded 1955
Ground Niigata Stadium Big Swan
Niigata, Niigata
(Capacity 42,300)
Chairman Yukio Nakano
Manager Jun Suzuki(2006 - )
League J. League Div.1
2007 6th Place
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
 
Home colours
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
 
Away colours

Albirex Niigata (アルビレックス新潟?) is a Japanese J. League football team. Despite the club's relative youth, only joining the J. League in 1999, Albirex are one of Japan's best supported teams. In 2003, while still playing in the second tier of Japanese football (J2), Albirex attracted the best average crowd in the country of over 30000. Since promotion to J1 in 2004 they have recorded an average crowd of over 38000, and in 2005 Albirex were the first ever club in Japan to record an average gate of over 40,000.

Contents

[edit] Outline

For many years it had been a local autonomous amateur club, Niigata 11, that could never hope to see the light of day in an old Japan Soccer League dominated almost entirely by company teams. The creation of the J. League spurred the club to rise, and in the 1990s it began climbing fast through the divisions.

Joining the J. League in 1999, its home towns are Niigata, Niigata and Seiro, Niigata. Until 2003, it used Niigata Perfectural Sport Ground as the home ground but since 2004, the team began using Niigata Stadium Big Swan as well and now plays most of its games there. In 2003, it set a record for highest attendance in the J. League with the cumulative total of around 660,000. Its practice grounds are Albirex's training facilities in Seiro and the Ijimino Sports Park (五十公野運動公園 Ijimino Undō Kōen?) in Shibata.

In 1998, Albirex Niigata joined the Japan Football League, and was merged into the J2 league after its creation in 1999. The team gradually became competitive and on 2001 and 2002 it came close to getting promoted to J1 and in 2003, it became the champion of J2 and finally joined the top flight.

The team name is made from combining the star Albireo of the constellation Cygnus (the Swan) and the Latin word Rex meaning 'king'. In 1997, due to copyright issues, the team name was changed from Albireo Niigata to the current Albirex Niigata.

In 2007, the uniform color will change. Until 2006, the color was orange - blue - orange, but from 2007 the color will be orange - orange - orange. This coordinate has not been adopted since 1996 when the team professionalized.

Since 2004, Albirex Niigata has selected a number of players for its satellite team in the S.League in Singapore, called Albirex Niigata Singapore. Albirex also has a women's team and joined L2 league (an equivalent of J2) in 2004. Albirex Ladies won the L2 title in 2006, and it is going to join L1 in 2007.

[edit] History

[edit] Team name transition

  • Niigata eleven SC(Soccer club) in 1955
  • Albireo Niigata FC in 1995
  • Albirex Niigata in 1997

[edit] Titles

  • 2003 J2 Championship

[edit] Season by season results and managers

Year League Pld Pt W L D Place Manager General Manager
1998 JFL 30 34 12 18 11th Flag of JapanYoshikazu Nagai
1999 J2 36 58 20 14 2 4th
2000 40 46 15 20 5 7th
2001 44 78 26 14 4 4th Flag of JapanYasuharu Sorimachi
2002 44 82 23 8 13 3rd
2003 44 88 27 10 7 Champions
2004 J1, 1st stage 15 14 3 7 5 14th
J1, 2nd stage 15 23 7 6 2 7th
J1 total 30 37 10 13 7 10th
2005 J1 34 42 11 14 9 12th
2006 J1 34 42 12 16 6 14th Flag of JapanJun Suzuki
2007 J1 34 51 15 13 6 6th

[edit] Current players

As of February 16, 2008

No. Position Player
1 Flag of Japan GK Takashi Kitano
2 Flag of Japan DF Hiroshi Nakano
3 Flag of Japan MF Kazuhiko Chiba
5 Flag of Japan DF Mitsuru Chiyotanda
6 Flag of Japan DF Mitsuru Nagata
7 Flag of Japan MF Toshihiro Matsusita
9 Flag of Brazil FW Alessandro Nunes
10 Flag of Brazil MF Marcio Richardes
11 Flag of Japan FW Kisho Yano
13 Flag of Japan MF Fumiya Kogure
15 Flag of Japan MF Isao Homma
16 Flag of Japan MF Yoshito Terakawa
No. Position Player
17 Flag of Japan DF Jun Uchida
18 Flag of Japan FW Kengo Kawamata
19 Flag of Japan DF Keiji Kaimoto
20 Flag of Japan FW Kazuhisa Kawahara
21 Flag of Japan GK Yosuke Nozawa
22 Flag of Japan GK Takaya Kurokawa
23 Flag of Japan MF Atomu Tanaka
24 Flag of Japan MF Ayato Hasebe
25 Flag of Japan DF Kazunari Ohno
26 Flag of Japan DF Daisuke Suzuki
27 Flag of New Zealand DF Fitzgerald Michael James
28 Flag of Japan DF Naoto Matsuo

[edit] Former players

[edit] Topics

[edit] Influence by success of Albirex

The success in Albireccs Niigata gave a big impact to the entire Japanese sporting world including the professional baseball. It is because commercial correctness of structure of professional sports, and a regional sticking (effectiveness in Japan) was proven also in the local mainstay city. Moreover, it came for clarifying the possession of energy that it was farther larger than the expectation of the sports market in the local city without the population of the metropolitan area in the past, and local city citizens' localism feelings are very bigger to influence other a lot of sports and municipality.

[edit] The Spread of the Albirex brand

In addition to the J-1 Albirex Niigata football team, there is an Niigata Albirex basketball club in the bj league, as well as a ski, snowboard, and track and field team. Alberex also fields a soccer team in the S-league in Singapore and a ladies team in the L-league in Japan. There are also plans to have a baseball team. Though the teams share the same name, management and finances are completely separate for each team.

[edit] International match and friendly match

[edit] See also

[edit] External links