FC Baleine Shimonoseki explained

Clubname:FC Baleine Shimonoseki
FCバレイン下関
Fullname:FC Baleine Shimonoseki
Ground:Nogihama Park;
Saving Athletic Stadium
Capacity:5,000 (NP)
23,939 (SAS)
Chairman:Koki Harada
Manager:Kazuma Yamane
League:Chūgoku Soccer League
Season:2023
Current:2023 Japanese Regional Leagues#Chūgoku
Position:3rd of 10
Website:http://fcbaleine.jp/

are a Japanese football club based on Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture.[1] [2] They play in the Chūgoku Soccer League, one of Japan's fifth tier leagues, which is part of Japanese Regional Leagues.[3]

Name origin

The name Baleine means whale in French. Whales are related with the club's hometown Shimonoseki, that was once a whaling base.[1]

History

The club was founded on 2006, starting from the 4th division of the Yamaguchi Prefecture League, one of the 10th-tier leagues of Japanese football. Baleine would only get out of prefectural football on 2018, after winning promotion to the Chugoku Soccer League, starting their journey on regional football. In their first season, on 2019, it finished on 4th place within 10 participating teams.[4]

Between 2020 and 2022, the club reached its peak so far, having finished two seasons as league runners-up, and qualified for the Emperor's Cup twice in the period. In the 2020 Emperor's Cup, the club made its debut at the second round, in a competition professional teams-shrunk due to the pandemic.[5] They ended up losing against fellow Chugoku region side Fukuyama City FC. In the following year, the club once again failed to win an Emperor's Cup match, losing against Mitsubishi Mizushima FC, also from the Chugoku region, on the first round of the competition.[6]

On 2023, Baleine qualified for the Emperor's Cup, winning their qualification as Yamaguchi representatives on 23 April, after beating Shunan University in the prefectural preliminaries' Final.[7] They were knocked out in the first round by Verspah Oita. On 2024, they repeated the feat of qualifying to the Emperor's Cup as Yamaguchi representatives over Shunan.[8] In the first round they defeated J3 League team Gainare Tottori in a tense penalty shoot-out by 4-3, with scores level at 1-1 after playing 120 minutes. In the second round of the competition, they lost heavily to Sanfrecce Hiroshima by 11–2. This is the first time Baleine have played official matches against professional sides.

League and cup record

bgcolor=goldChampionsbgcolor=silverRunners-upThird placebgcolor=palegreenPromotedbgcolor=pinkRelegated
League
Season Division Pos. P W D L F A GD Pts
2006Yamaguchi 4th Division B Blockbgcolor=silver2nd 8 6 0 2 39 7 +32 18 Did not qualify
2007bgcolor=gold1st 8 8 0 0 49 2 +47 24
2008 Yamaguchi 3rd Division B Blockbgcolor=gold1st 7 7 0 0 24 1 +23 21
2009 Yamaguchi 2nd Divisionbgcolor=gold1st 7 5 1 1 40 5 +35 16
2010Yamaguchi 1st Division3rd 10 5 1 4 32 18 +14 16
2011bgcolor=gold1st 12 10 1 1 40 14 +26 31
20125th 10 4 2 4 29 14 +15 14
20135th 12 2 3 7 23 35 -12 11
2014bgcolor=silver2nd 10 5 1 4 33 21 +12 16
2015bgcolor=silver2nd 14 10 2 2 45 12 +33 32
2016bgcolor=gold1st 10 8 2 0 33 5 +28 26
2017bgcolor=gold1st 12 9 2 1 41 8 +33 29
2018bgcolor=gold1st 12 11 1 0 64 9 +55 34
2019Chugoku Soccer League4th 18 10 2 6 45 23 +22 32
2020League season cancelled because of COVID-19 2nd round
2021bgcolor=silver2nd 16 11 2 3 35 16 +19 35 1st round
2022bgcolor=silver2nd 18 14 0 4 41 22 +19 42 Did not qualify
20233rd 18 12 1 5 47 26 +21 37 1st round
2024TBD 18 2nd round
Key

Honours

Honour !!scope=col
No. !scope=colYears
In chronological order-->scope=rowYamaguchi 4th Division B Block12007
scope=rowYamaguchi 3rd Division B Block12008
scope=rowYamaguchi 2nd Division12009
scope=rowYamaguchi Prefectural League 1st Division42011, 2016, 2017, 2018
scope=rowNogami Cup12011
scope=rowYamaguchi Football Championship12020, 2021, 2023

Players and staff

Current squad

[9]

Current staff

PositionName
Manager Kazuma Yamane
Assistant manager Kaito Kurogi
Staff manager Shuto Kondo
Akiko Matsumoto
Representant Kota Fukuhara
Chairman Koki Harada

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: クラブガイド. 4 May 2023. ja. FC Baleine Shimonoseki.
  2. Web site: goo 地図. 4 May 2023. Goo Map.
  3. Web site: FCバレイン下関. 4 May 2023. ja. Spocale.
  4. Web site: Japan 2019. 4 May 2023. en. RSSSF.
  5. News: 天皇杯 JFA 第100回全日本サッカー選手権大会 大会方式について. ja. Japan Football Association. 18 June 2020. 4 May 2023.
  6. Web site: 天皇杯 JFA 第101回全日本サッカー選手権大会 1回戦 【21】 . 4 May 2023. ja. Japan Football Association.
  7. Web site: 天皇杯 JFA 第103回全日本サッカー選手権大会 山形県など8県で代表決まる. ja. jfa.jp. 4 May 2023. 23 April 2023.
  8. Web site: 天皇杯 JFA 第104回全日本サッカー選手権大会 鳥取県など5県で代表決まる. ja. jfa.jp. 30 April 2024. 21 April 2024.
  9. Web site: 選手・スタッフ一覧. 30 April 2024. fcbaleine.jp. FC Baleine Shimonoseki.