Verspah Oita Explained

Clubname:Verspah Oita
ヴェルスパ大分
Fullname:Verspah Oita
Ground:Oita Sports Park
Capacity:16,000
Chairman:Sanu Toru
Manager:Takashi Yamahashi[1]
League:Japan Football League
Season:2023
Position:6th of 15
Website:http://verspah.jp/
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is a Japanese football club based in the city of Ōita, capital of Ōita Prefecture. They currently play in the Japan Football League, the fourth tier of Japanese league football.[2] The 2023 season is their 12th consecutive season in the JFL.

History

The club was formed in 2003 as Hoyo FC. In 2005 they changed their name to Hoyo Atletico Elan, the name in which they competed for many years in the Kyushu Football League. The club is backed by the Hoyo Group, a digital camera and auto parts manufacturer based in nearby Kunisaki. In 2010 they changed their name to Hoyo Atletico Elan Oita. In 2011, they changed their name to Hoyo AC Elan Oita, won the Kyushu Soccer League and earned third place in the Regional League promotion series, which gave them qualification to compete in the JFL from 2012. Ahead of a league jump, they changed their name to Hoyo Oita on 2012.

In December 2013, the club tried to get closer ties to the community and therefore made another name change, this time to, for the 2014 season onwards, which the club have kept untouched ever since.[3]

In 2020, Verspah won their first Japan Football League title. The title campaign was fairly unusual, as issues regarding COVID-19 prevented the league to be held normally. The clubs were only able to play the first half of the planned matches, 15 out of 30. The league decided to abandon the season and give the title to the 1st-placed team at that time, which was Verspah Oita. As the club did not have a J3 license at the time, the club was unable to receive promotion to professional league football, despite being a J.League 100 Year Plan club status holders.

In 2021, with the league operating normally with all matches being played, Verspah ended the league season in the 3rd place, but, the same issue was brought up. The club still was not a J3 license holder, and then, could not get promoted to the J3. Their J3 license was issued and granted only in the following 2022 season, which the club finished in 8th place, eight points off the promotion zone.

Team name

The current team's name, "Verspah", was coined by combining the Portuguese word "vermelho", which means "red", and the English word "spa", which represents hot springs (after famously known Beppu Onsen), and the initial letter "H" of the former team name Hoyo Oita.

Home Towns

The main home towns are Beppu and Yufu. On 28 June 2022, at a J.League Board of Directors meeting,[4] they approved the addition of the Ōita city.

League & cup record

bgcolor=goldChampionsbgcolor=silverRunners-upThird placebgcolor=palegreenPromotedbgcolor=pinkRelegated
League Emperor's
Cup
Season Division Tier Pos. P W (PK) D L (PK) F A GD Pts Att/G
Hoyo Atletico Elan
2007Oita Prefectural League
(Div. 1)
5 2nd10 8 1 1 53 5 48 25
20083rd10 7 1 2 44 11 33 22
20091st9 8 1 0 39 5 34 25
Hoyo Atletico Elan Oita
20104 1st 16 13 (2)1 (0)48 8 40 44 1st round
Hoyo AC Elan Oita
20114 1st 18 15 (2) 0 (1) 55 11 44 49 1st round
Hoyo Oita
2012JFL3 15th 32 9 8 15 40 57 -17 35 479 2nd round
201315th 34 9 5 20 32 45 -13 32 333 2nd round
Verspah Oita
20144 7th 26 8 9 9 30 28 2 33 333 2nd round
201510th 30 10 7 13 40 47 -7 37 488 2nd round
201613th 30 6 13 11 30 42 -12 31 488
201714th 30 5 12 13 27 46 -19 27 407 2nd round
20189th 30 11 6 13 29 38 -9 39 582 1st round
20197th 30 10 10 10 42 36 6 40 503 1st round
2020 1st 15 10 2 3 27 16 11 32 306 4th round
2021 3rd 32 19 5 8 46 24 22 62 386 Round of 16
20228th 30 12 7 11 40 44 -4 43 1,590 2nd round
20236th 28 10 10 8 28 29 -1 40 834 3rd round
2024TBD 30 Did not qualify
Key

Honours

Honour!scope=col
No.scope=colYears
In chronological order-->scope=rowOita Prefecture League 3rd Division12005
scope=rowOita Prefecture League 2nd Division12006
scope=rowOita Prefecture League 1st Division12009
scope=rowKyushu League22010, 2011
scope=rowJapan Football League12020

Current squad

As of 30 May 2024.[5]

Club staff

PositionStaff
Manager Takashi Yamahashi
Assistant manager Gen Nakamura
First-team coach Toyoki Hasegawa
Kazuya Sakamoto
Goalkeeper coach Masao Noda
Physical coach Shota Maki
Trainer Ryo Hanada
Kit man Ryota Sakamoto
Side affairs Chiharu Suzukawa

Managerial history

Manager Nationality Tenure <--!colspan="5"Managerial Record-->
Start Finish -->
1 January 1, 2012 31 December 2015-->
1 February 2016 31 January 2018-->
1 February 2018 31 January 2021-->
1 February 2021 Current-->

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: New Manager for 2021 . verspah.jp . 21 February 2021.
  2. Web site: Japan - Verspah Oita - Results, fixtures, squad, statistics, photos, videos and news - Soccerway. www.soccerway.com. 2 October 2017.
  3. Web site: ニュース一覧 HOYO大分 . hoyo-oita.com . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20131212104622/http://hoyo-oita.com/archives/infomation/6912.html . 2013-12-12.
  4. Web site: Addition of Oita City as Hometown . verspah.jp . 28 June 2022 . 28 June 2022.
  5. Web site: 選手紹介. verspah.jp. August 2, 2022.