| Clubname: | Vegalta Sendai ベガルタ仙台 |
| Upright: | 0.87 |
| Fullname: | Vegalta Sendai |
| Ground: | Yurtec Stadium Sendai Izumi-ku, Sendai |
| Capacity: | 19,694 |
| Chairman: | Hideki Itabashi |
| Manager: | Yoshiro Moriyama[1] |
| Current: | 2024 Vegalta Sendai season |
| Website: | https://www.vegalta.co.jp/ |
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is a Japanese professional football club based in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. They currently play in J2 League, the Japanese second tier of professional football.
Founded in 1988 as Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc. Soccer Club, Vegalta joined the J-League in 1999 after playing a few years in the JFL, with the nickname Brummell Sendai, to which they had been promoted in 1995 from the Tohoku Regional League. When joining the J-League, the name Vegalta was chosen as a homage to the famous Tanabata festival in Sendai. The names of the two celestial stars of the Tanabata legend, Vega and Altair were combined to form Vegalta.[2]
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's challenge proved too strong, and losing the penultimate week game to relegation battler Albirex Niigata cost them the title, rendering them second-place winners, their highest position in history.
In 2018, the Vegalta reached vice place in the Emperor's Cup, losing the cup to the Urawa Reds.[3]
After twelve years spent at the J1 League, Vegalta returned to the J2 on 2022, after being relegated from the J1 on 2021. After finishing on 7th place at the 2022 J2 League, the club was not able to even play the promotion play-offs. Vegalta will play then, their 2nd consecutive season in the J2 on 2023. Ryang Yong-gi, a symbol of Sendai, retired at the end of the 2023 season.
From 2024, Yoshiro Moriyama, who has a track record of developing players in Sanfrecce Hiroshima's training age group and the U17 Japan National Team, will be appointed as Manager.
Their home stadium is Yurtec Stadium Sendai, in Izumi-ku, Sendai, although a few home games have also been played at nearby Miyagi Stadium.
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 as their basecamp during the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
Miyagi Stadium is famous for the Japan national team, and for hosting matches of the Argentine national team in the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
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, and during the game. Toy Dolls, Blitzkrieg Bop and other KISS and Twisted Sister.
Since Sendai is the hometown of Hirohiko Araki, who wrote JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, fans often wave flags with the same motifs of characters portrayed in Araki's manga.
Vegalta's traditional rivals are Montedio Yamagata from Yamagata Prefecture. The two have been rivals since meeting in the Tohoku Football League in 1991. Among the Tohoku derbies, this match is famous as the Michinoku derby.
This is the derby played by the Tohoku region teams, currently the most important match is that of Vegalta Sendai and Montedio Yamagata. Other teams included in this classic include Blaublitz Akita, Iwate Grulla Morioka, Iwaki FC.
| bgcolor=gold | Champions | bgcolor=silver | Runners-up | Third place | bgcolor=palegreen | Promoted | bgcolor=pink | Relegated |
| League | Emperor's Cup | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | League | Tier | Teams | Pos. | P | W (OTW / PKW) | D | L (OTL) | F | A | GD | Pts | Attendance | ||
| Brummell Sendai | |||||||||||||||
| 1995 | 2 | 16 | 15th | 30 | 9 | - | 21 | 40 | 79 | -39 | 27 | ||||
| 1996 | 16 | 6th | 30 | 18 | - | 12 | 67 | 52 | 15 | 56 | |||||
| 1997 | 16 | 8th | 30 | 12 (1 / 2) | - | 15 | 37 | 43 | -6 | 40 | 2nd round | ||||
| 1998 | 16 | 7th | 30 | 1 (5 / 3) | - | 12 | 55 | 53 | 2 | 43 | 4th round | ||||
| Vegalta Sendai | |||||||||||||||
| 1999 | 2 | 10 | 9th | 36 | 7 (3) | 4 | 18 (4) | 30 | 58 | -28 | 31 | 134,462 | 2nd round | ||
| 2000 | 11 | 5th | 40 | 15 (4) | 2 | 15 (4) | 60 | 69 | -9 | 55 | 177,967 | 1st round | |||
| 2001 | 12 | 2nd | 44 | 24 (3) | 5 | 9 (3) | 78 | 56 | 22 | 83 | 308,243 | 3rd round | |||
| 2002 | 1 | 16 | 13th | 30 | 9 (2) | 1 | 18 | 40 | 57 | -17 | 32 | 327,925 | 4th round | ||
| 2003 | 16 | 15th | 30 | 5 | 9 | 16 | 31 | 56 | -25 | 24 | 325,621 | 3rd round | |||
| 2004 | J2 | 2 | 12 | 6th | 44 | 15 | 14 | 15 | 62 | 66 | -4 | 59 | 356,359 | Not eligible | 4th round |
| 2005 | 12 | 4th | 44 | 19 | 11 | 14 | 66 | 47 | 19 | 68 | 350,544 | 4th round | |||
| 2006 | 13 | 5th | 48 | 21 | 14 | 13 | 75 | 43 | 32 | 77 | 346,868 | 4th round | |||
| 2007 | 13 | 4th | 48 | 24 | 13 | 11 | 72 | 54 | 18 | 83 | 352,432 | 3rd round | |||
| 2008 | 15 | 3rd | 42 | 18 | 16 | 8 | 62 | 47 | 15 | 70 | 295,679 | 4th round | |||
| 2009 | 18 | 1st | 51 | 32 | 10 | 9 | 87 | 39 | 48 | 106 | 336,719 | ||||
| 2010 | J1 | 1 | 18 | 14th | 34 | 10 | 9 | 15 | 40 | 46 | -6 | 39 | 294,644 | 2nd round | |
| 2011 | 18 | 4th | 34 | 14 | 14 | 6 | 39 | 25 | 14 | 56 | 266,144 | 4th round | |||
| 2012 | 18 | 2nd | 34 | 15 | 12 | 7 | 59 | 43 | 16 | 57 | 282,200 | 3rd round | |||
| 2013 | 18 | 13th | 34 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 41 | 38 | 3 | 45 | 252,725 | ||||
| 2014 | 18 | 14th | 34 | 9 | 11 | 14 | 35 | 50 | -15 | 38 | 257,949 | 2nd round | |||
| 2015 | 18 | 14th | 34 | 9 | 8 | 17 | 44 | 48 | -4 | 35 | 234,442 | ||||
| 2016 | 18 | 12th | 34 | 13 | 4 | 17 | 39 | 48 | -9 | 43 | 262,937 | 2nd round | |||
| 2017 | 18 | 12th | 34 | 11 | 8 | 15 | 44 | 53 | -9 | 41 | 250,677 | 2nd round | |||
| 2018 | 18 | 11th | 34 | 13 | 6 | 15 | 44 | 54 | -10 | 45 | 242,791 | bgcolor=silver | Runners up | ||
| 2019 | 18 | 11th | 34 | 12 | 5 | 17 | 38 | 45 | -7 | 41 | 254,503 | 4th round | |||
| 2020 † | 18 | 17th | 34 | 6 | 10 | 18 | 36 | 61 | -25 | 28 | 36,113 | Not eligible | |||
| 2021 | 20 | 19th | 38 | 5 | 13 | 20 | 31 | 62 | -31 | 28 | 116,884 | 2nd round | |||
| 2022 | J2 | 2 | 22 | 7th | 42 | 18 | 9 | 15 | 67 | 59 | 8 | 63 | 188,810 | Not eligible | 3rd round |
| 2023 | 22 | 16th | 42 | 12 | 12 | 18 | 48 | 61 | -13 | 48 | 235,521 | 3rd round | |||
| 2024 | 20 | TBD | 38 | 1st round | 2nd round | ||||||||||
| No. ! | scope=col | Years ! | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| In chronological order--> | scope=row | Tohoku Soccer League | 1 | 1994 | Tohoku Electric Power |
| scope=row | Japanese Regional Football League Competition | 1 | 1994 | Tohoku Electric Power | |
| scope=row | J.League Division 2 | 1 | 2009 | ||
Wilson: 2012
Shingo Akamine: 2014 (May)
Simão Mate: 2019 (June) Ryoma Kida: 2022 (May) Susumu Watanabe: 2019 (June) Masato Harasaki: 2022 (May) Norio Omura: 2009 Atsushi Yanagisawa: 2015 Hisato Satō: 2021 Makoto Kakuda, Naoki Ishihara, Yoshiki Takahashi: 2022 Shingo Tomita, Shingo Akamine: 2023.[4]
Edmar 1995–1997 Teruo Iwamoto 2001–2003 Hajime Moriyasu 2002–2003
Ryang Yong-gi 2004–2019, 2022–2023
Goce Sedloski 2004 Joel Santana 2006 Thiago Neves 2006 Humberlito Borges 2006 Makoto Teguramori 2008–2013, 2021 Atsushi Yanagisawa 2011–2014
Graham Arnold 2014
Danny Vukovic 2014
Michael McGlinchey 2014 Daniel Schmidt 2014–2019 Takuma Nishimura 2015–2018, 2020–2021 Ko Itakura 2018 Simão Mate Junior 2019–2021For the 2024 season.[5]
| Position | Staff | |
|---|---|---|
| Manager | Yoshiro Moriyama | |
| First-team coach | Koichiro Katafuchi Akira Konno Yōsuke Nishi | |
| Goalkeeper coach | Motoki Ueda | |
| Physical coach | Makoto Muraoka | |
| Analyst & coach | Takuma Deguchi | |
| Chief trainer | Yakuya Matsuda | |
| Trainer | Tomoki Takeda Taisuke Ikoma | |
| Physiotherapist | Masaaki Taira | |
| Interpreter | Rodrigo Simões | |
| Competent | Shinya Naganuma | |
| Deputy officer | Yutaro Miura Hiroki Ito |
| Manager | Nationality | Tenure < | --!colspan="5" | Managerial Record--> | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start date | Finish date | P | W | D | L | W %--> |
| 1 July 1990 | 31 December 1995 | --> | ||||
| 1996 | --> | |||||
| 1 February 1997 | 31 December 1997 | --> | ||||
| 1 January 1998 | 31 January 1998 | --> | ||||
| 1 February 1998 | 24 July 1999 | --> | ||||
| 27 July 1999 | 14 September 2003 | --> | ||||
| 15 September 2003 | 20 September 2003 | --> | ||||
| 21 September 2003 | 31 December 2004 | --> | ||||
| 1 January 2005 | 30 November 2005 | --> | ||||
| 1 December 2005 | 31 December 2006 | --> | ||||
| 1 January 2007 | 31 December 2007 | --> | ||||
| 1 February 2008 | 14 November 2013 | --> | ||||
| 14 November 2013 | 9 April 2014 | --> | ||||
| 10 April 2014 | 31 January 2020 | --> | ||||
| 1 February 2020 | 31 January 2021 | --> | ||||
| 1 February 2021 | 22 November 2021 | --> | ||||
| 23 November 2021 | 5 September 2022 | --> | ||||
| 6 September 2022 | 12 July 2023 | --> | ||||
| 13 July 2023 | 13 November 2023 | --> | ||||
| Yoshiro Moriyama | 1 January 2024 | Current | --> | |||
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.
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.
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.
| Game | Date/Stadium | Overview | Match data | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ① | 2001 J League Division 2 Round 44Kyoto Purple Sanga FC 0-1 Vegalta Sendai | November 18, 2001Takebishi Stadium Kyoto | The long-awaited J1 first promotion match.Head-to-head competition between leader Kyoto and 3rd place Sendai in the final round. The first promotion to J1 as a club in the Tohoku region is decided. | Official record | |
| ② | 2011 J League Division 1 Round 7Kawasaki Frontale 1-2 Vegalta Sendai | April 23, 2011Kawasaki Todoroki Stadium | The first match after the suspension of the league match due to the Great East Japan Earthquake.Sendai, who suffered severe damage to the club itself, came from behind to win. Recorded the club's first victory with Todoroki Stadium. | Official 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 and the intense heat of Thailand, and the final match was a draw or better in the qualifying.
It was a good point to leave the possibility of breaking through.
| Season | Competition | Round | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 4th | |||
| 1–2 | 0–0 | |||||
| 1–0 | 2–1 |
.[6]
| Current Rank | Country | Team | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 175 |  | 1290 | ||
| 176 |  | 1290 | ||
| 177 |  | 1290 | ||
| 178 |  | 1288 | ||
| 179 | | Vegalta Sendai | 1288 | |
| 180 | | 1288 |
"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.[7] 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 basic guidelines.[8] [9] [10]