Kashima Antlers

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Kashima Antlers
鹿島アントラーズ

Full name	Kashima Antlers F.C. Co., Ltd.
Founded	1947; 78 years ago (1947) as Sumitomo Metal FC
Ground	Kashima Soccer Stadium
Capacity	40,728[1]
Owner	Mercari
Chairman	Fumiaki Koizumi[2]
Manager	Toru Oniki
League	J1 League
2024	J1 League, 5th of 20
Website	www.antlers.co.jp/en
Home colours Away colours
Current season

The Kashima Antlers (鹿島アントラーズ, Kashima Antorāzu) are a professional football club based in Kashima, Ibaraki, Japan. They currently play in the J1 League, the top tier of Japanese professional football leagues. The club has financial backing from Mercari, a Japanese e-commerce company.^[3]

Since the J.League's creation and introduction of professional Japanese football in 1993, Kashima have proven themselves to be by far Japan's most successful football club in terms of trophies won, having won the J1 League title a record 8 times, the J.League Cup a record 6 times, the Emperor's Cup 5 times and the Japanese Super Cup a record 6 times for an unprecedented nineteen major domestic titles.^[4] Continentally, Kashima became Asian champions when they won the AFC Champions League in 2018.^[5] The club also won the J.League Cup / Copa Sudamericana Championship on 2 occasions in 2012 and 2013.

Internationally, Kashima has made two appearances in the FIFA Club World Cup where in the 2016 edition, the club qualified as the host of the tournament.^[6] Kashima notably became the only club to qualify from the first round until the final where they would go on to lose to 2015–16 UEFA Champions League winners, Real Madrid 4–2 after extra time with Gaku Shibasaki scoring both goals for Kashima.^[7]

Kashima are also one of only two clubs to have competed in Japan's top flight football every year since it was professionalized (the other being Yokohama F. Marinos, who has been playing in the top flight since 1982).

Namesake

The name 'Antlers' is derived from the city of Kashima (Japanese: 鹿嶋, lit. 'Deer Island').^[8]

The club crest not only resembles deer antlers but it also reflects the image of a rose thorn as it is the official flower of Ibaraki, the home prefecture of the club. Deer are amiable animals and are viewed in some religions as spiritual messengers.

In fact, Kashima Shrine, one of the most famous shrines in Japan and located in close proximity to the club headquarters, has kept and raised deer for more than 1,300 years as a spiritual symbol.

History

Founded in 1947 as Sumitomo Metal Industries Factory Football Club in Osaka and moved to Kashima, Ibaraki in 1975. It played in the semi-professional Japan Soccer League (JSL). They were promoted to the JSL's top flight in 1984, but never made much of an impact, going down in 1985/86,^[9] returning in 1986/87 and going down again in 1988/89.^[10] Its last standing in the JSL was 2nd in the Second Division for 1991/92.^[11] In October 1991, Kashima Antlers FC Co., Ltd. was established with investment from 43 companies (at the time) from 5 local governments.

After the formation of the fully professional J.League, Sumitomo, like all other clubs, stripped the corporate brand from the club's name and reformed as the Kashima Antlers in April 1992. Kashima was essentially promoted to the new top flight, as many JSL First Division clubs decided to relegate themselves being unprepared for professionalism. (Of the original 10^[a] J.League founding member clubs, Kashima and Shimizu S-Pulse were newly promoted. Ironically, Kashima had defeated a forerunner of Shimizu's, Nippon Light Metal/Hagoromo Club, to earn its JSL Second Division place back in 1974).

Since the J.League's creation and introduction of professional Japanese football in 1993, Kashima have consistently been amongst the strongest clubs in the country, holding several distinctions and records. Led by former Brazil national team star and Japan national team coach Zico in the club's formative years, Kashima were the first club to win a J.League stage, claiming the 1st stage of the inaugural season in 1993. This laid a platform for continuous greatness and long after the Kashima icon had departed, in 2000 Kashima became the first J.League club to achieve the "treble", by winning all three major titles: J.League, J.League Cup, and Emperor's Cup in the same year.

In recent times, by clinching the 2007 J.League title they became the first and only club in Japan to have won ten domestic titles in the professional era. In 2008 they became the first and only club to successfully defend the J.League title on two occasions. In 2009 they became the first and only club to win three consecutive J.League titles. With victories in back to back J.League Cups in 2011, 2012 and most recently followed by their 2015 victory, Kashima extended their unmatched record of major domestic titles in the professional era to seventeen.

To this day, Kashima has maintained strong ties with the football community in Brazil, a fact borne out of Zico's past affiliation with the club. Kashima's Brazilian connection has manifested itself in both the club's player transfer and coaching policy resulting in only three non-Brazilian foreign players and predominantly Brazilian managers signing for Kashima since the inception of the J.League.

The population of Kashima city is a mere 60,000 and for that reason club has also adopted the surrounding cities of Itako, Kamisu, Namegata and Hokota as its official hometowns, all in Ibaraki Prefecture. The combined population of five cities is 280,000. Antlers home games are played at Kashima Soccer Stadium, one of the 2002 FIFA World Cup venues with capacity of 40,000.

During the 2016 FIFA Club World Cup, Kashima became the first Asian club to reach the FIFA Club World Cup final and notably became the only club to qualify from the first round until the final following a 3–0 victory over South American winners, Atlético Nacional.^[12] In the final, after a 2–2 draw against European champions Real Madrid after 90 minutes, they were beaten 4–2 after extra time.^[13]

International affiliation

In 2017, Kashima established a base in New York where the club main objective is to investigate and apply advanced cases from the digital domain of the Major League Soccer while there are also opportunities to gather information in terms of player management and competition factors. Another reason comes in the form of establishing relationships to learn international strategy directly from the likes of FC Barcelona and Bayern Munich. The relationship building hasn't solely been with European clubs, and for the past two years regular meetings have been held at the head offices of MLS in order to deepen ties with the league and its clubs.

Kit and colours

Kit evolution

Home kits
1993–1994	1995–1996	1997	1998–1999	2000-2001
2002-2003	2004-2005	2006-2007	2008–2009	2010
2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
2021	2022	2023	2024	2025

Away kits
1993–1994	1995–1996	1997	1998–1999	2000–2001
2002–2003	2004–2005	2006–2007	2008–2009	2010
2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
2021	2022	2023	2024	2025

Alternative kits
1995 3rd	2008–2009 3rd 2009 ACL	2012 3rd	2017 3rd	2019 3rd
2021 3rd

Home stadium

Kashima Soccer Stadium has been the home ground of Kashima since 26 March 1993. The Kashima Soccer Museum, opened in 2004 is set for wide-scale renewal, while the Wellness Plaza, established in 2006, is also in line for similar improvements, including the installation of a public bath. There is a real awareness of furthering stadium use on non-matchdays to ensure Kashima Stadium is a hub for the local region. On the other hand, the importance of Kashima Stadium as a sacred football ground will also increase. The stadium has been selected as a host venue for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, meaning it will international competition for the first time since the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Ahead of that, the stadium will also host the Ibaraki National Sports Festival this year, at which athletes will gather from all over the country.

In 2008 a 500-metre LED wraparound advertising board, the longest in Asia, was installed at the front of the second tier. In 2017, the latest large electronic screens were added to both the north and south stands as part of the commitment to improving the viewing environment for visitors.

Current squad

As of 14 August 2025.^[14]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  JPN Tomoki Hayakawa 2 DF  JPN Koki Anzai 3 DF  KOR Kim Tae-hyeon 4 DF  JPN Kaito Chida 5 DF  JPN Ikuma Sekigawa (vice-captain) 6 MF  JPN Kento Misao 7 DF  JPN Ryoya Ogawa 9 FW  BRA Léo Ceará 10 MF  JPN Gaku Shibasaki (captain) 11 FW  JPN Kyosuke Tagawa 13 MF  JPN Kei Chinen (vice-captain) 14 MF  JPN Yuta Higuchi 17 MF  BRA Talles Brener (on loan from Rukh Lviv) 18 FW  BRA Élber 19 FW  JPN Shu Morooka 20 MF  JPN Yu Funabashi 21 GK  JPN Taiki Yamada 22 DF  JPN Kimito Nono 23 DF  JPN Keisuke Tsukui

No. Pos. Nation Player 25 DF  JPN Ryuta Koike 27 MF  JPN Yūta Matsumura 28 DF  JPN Shuhei Mizoguchi 29 GK  JPN Yuji Kajikawa 32 DF  JPN Haruto Matsumoto 33 MF  JPN Yoshihiro Shimoda 34 FW  JPN Homare Tokuda 36 DF  JPN Mihiro Sato 37 MF  JPN Haruki Hayashi DSP 38 GK  KOR Park Eui-jeong 40 FW  JPN Yuma Suzuki (vice-captain) 44 DF  JPN Yugo Okawa Type 2 45 FW  JPN Minato Yoshida Type 2 46 FW  JPN Hayate Cho Type 2 47 DF  JPN Anthony Udemba Motosuna Type 2 55 DF  JPN Naomichi Ueda (vice-captain) 71 MF  JPN Ryōtarō Araki 77 FW  SVK Aleksandar Čavrić

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  JPN Yusuke Ogawa (on loan at FC Ryukyu)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  JPN Naoki Sutoh (on loan at Kochi United)

Club officials

Role[15][16]	Name
Technical advisor	Zico
Manager	Toru Oniki
Assistant manager	Masaki Chugo
Coaches	Atsushi Yanagisawa Makoto Tanaka
Goalkeeping coach	Hitoshi Sogahata
Technical staff	Suguru Arie Tomofumi Kuriyama
Physical coach	Ryosuke Ito
Conditioning coach	Hiroyuki Furuta
Physiotherapists	Yoshihiko Nakagawa Atsushi Inaba
Athletic trainers	Toshihiro Hashimoto Kenichi Nakata Tsukasa Ohashi
Interpreters	Kenta Kasai Kentaro Seki Masaya Kawakubo Kim Young-ha
Competent	Yuji Takada
Side affairs	Keisuke Okawa Shinpei Okiji
Dietitian	Aya Ishibashi
Team doctors	Hiroshi Jonouchi Jun Seki Ryo Matsunaga Takashi Sando Tomoo Ishii Toshiaki Nagamine Hiroshi Kimura

Honours

As both Sumitomo Metal FC (1947–1991) and Kashima Antlers (1991–present)

Personnel awards

• J.League Player of the Year

• Jorginho (1996)
• Marquinhos (2008)
• Mitsuo Ogasawara (2009)

• J.League Top Scorer

• Marquinhos (2008)

• J.League Best Eleven

• Santos (1993)
• Shunzo Ono (1993)
• Yasuto Honda (1993)
• Naoki Soma (1995, 1996, 1997, 1998)
• Jorginho (1996)
• Bismarck (1997)
• Yutaka Akita (1997, 1998, 2000)
• Atsushi Yanagisawa (1998, 2001)
• Daijiro Takakuwa (2000)
• Akira Narahashi (2001)
• Mitsuo Ogasawara (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2009)
• Kōji Nakata (2001)
• Hitoshi Sogahata (2002)
• Daiki Iwamasa (2007, 2008, 2009)
• Marquinhos (2008)
• Atsuto Uchida (2008, 2009)
• Yuya Osako (2013)
• Gaku Shibasaki (2014)
• Mu Kanazaki (2015)
• Gen Shoji (2016, 2017)
• Daigo Nishi (2017, 2018)
• Everaldo (2020)

• J.League Rookie of the Year

• Atsushi Yanagisawa (1997)
• Gaku Shibasaki (2012)
• Caio (2014)
• Ryotaro Araki (2021)

• J.League Manager of the Year

• João Carlos (1997)
• Oswaldo de Oliveira (2007, 2008, 2009)
• Masatada Ishii (2016)

Manager history

Manager	Nationality	Tenure
		Start	Finish
Masakatsu Miyamoto	Japan	January 1992	June 1994
Edu	Brazil	June 1994	December 1995
João Carlos	Brazil	January 1996	July 1998
Takashi Sekizuka (interim)	Japan	July 1998
Zé Mário	Brazil	July 1998	August 1999
Takashi Sekizuka (interim)	Japan	August 1999
Zico (interim)	Brazil	20 August 1999	31 December 1999
Toninho Cerezo	Brazil	1 January 2000	30 December 2005
Paulo Autuori	Brazil	31 December 2005	29 November 2006
Oswaldo de Oliveira	Brazil	1 January 2007	31 December 2011
Jorginho	Brazil	1 January 2012	31 December 2012
Toninho Cerezo	Brazil	1 January 2013	22 July 2015
Masatada Ishii	Japan	23 July 2015	31 May 2017
Go Oiwa	Japan	31 May 2017	1 January 2020
Antônio Carlos Zago	Brazil	2 January 2020	3 April 2021
Naoki Soma (interim)	Japan	7 April 2021	5 December 2021[17]
René Weiler	Switzerland	10 December 2021	7 August 2022[18]
Daiki Iwamasa	Japan	8 August 2022[19]	4 December 2023[20]
Ranko Popović	Serbia	21 December 2023[21]	6 October 2024[22]
Masaki Chugo	Japan	9 October 2024[23]	8 December 2024
Toru Oniki	Japan	12 December 2024[24]	Present

Record as J.League member

Former players

Slogans

See also

• List of world champion football clubs and vice-world champions in football

Notes

References

External links

• Official Website (in Japanese)
• Official Website (in English)