| Clubname: | Albirex Niigata |
| Upright: | 0.7 |
| Fullname: | Albirex Niigata |
| Nickname: | Albi |
| Founded: | as Niigata Eleven SC |
| Ground: | Denka Big Swan Stadium, Niigata |
| Capacity: | 42,300 |
| Chairman: | Daisuke Korenaga |
| Manager: | Rikizo Matsuhashi |
| Current: | Albirex Niigata season |
| Website: | http://www.albirex.co.jp/ |
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is a professional football club based in Niigata, Japan. Formed in 1955 as Niigata Eleven SC, it was renamed Albireo Niigata FC in 1995, and Albirex Niigata in 1997. They currently play in J1 League after being promoted from J2 League as champions in 2022.
See also: List of Albirex Niigata seasons. 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.[1]
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 in 2001 and 2002 it came close to getting promoted to J1 and in 2003,[2] 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'.[3] In 1997, due to copyright issues, the team name was changed from Albireo Niigata to the current Albirex Niigata.
See main article: Denka Big Swan Stadium. Joining the J. League in 1999, its hometowns are Niigata and Seiro. 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,[4] it set a record for highest attendance in the J. League with the cumulative total of around 660,000.[5] Its practice grounds are Albirex's training facilities in Seiro Albillage and the in Shibata.
The club plays its home games in the Niigata Stadium "Big Swan", which is currently called Denka Big Swan Stadium through a sponsorship deal. The stadium was opened in 2001 and has a capacity of 42,300. Prior to this the club had played its matches in the Niigata City Athletic Stadium constructed in 1938 with a capacity of 18,000.
The stadium was the site of two first round matches and one Round of 16 match in the past 2002 FIFA World Cup. It was also the venue for the 2009 National Sports Festival.
See main article: List of Albirex Niigata players.
| Position [7] | Name | |
|---|---|---|
| Manager |  Rikizo Matsuhashi | |
| Assistant manager | Yusuke Ogura | |
| First-team coach | Toru Irie Tatsuya Tanaka Motoharu Watanabe | |
| Goalkeeping coach | Ryuji Ishizue | |
| Assistant goalkeeping coach | Yasuhiro Watanabe | |
| Technical coach | Mirai Morita Namito Ikezawa | |
| Fitness coach | Seiichi Narahara | |
| Assistant fitness coach | Tetsuo Hasegawa Koji Okamoto | |
| Chief doctor | Satoshi Watanabe | |
| Physiotherapist | Takeshi Iokawa | |
| Interpreter | Yu Kusayanagi  Yoshio Silvio Kanashiro Cantao | |
| Competent | Takaaki Onozaki | |
| Side affairs | Ryo Doi | |
| Equipment manager | Kota Tamakawa |
Correct as of 23 October 2022
| Manager | Nationality | Tenure | Managerial Record League | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start | Finish | P | W | D | L | W % | ||
| 1 February 1995 | 31 January 1998 [8] | |||||||
| 1 February 1998 | 31 December 2000 | |||||||
| 1 February 2001 | 31 January 2006 | |||||||
| 1 February 2006 | 31 January 2010 [9] [10] [11] | |||||||
| 1 February 2010 | 21 May 2012 [12] [13] [14] [15] | |||||||
| Nobuhiro Ueno (caretaker) | 22 May 2012 | 10 June 2012 [16] | ||||||
| 11 June 2012 | 31 January 2016 [17] | |||||||
| 1 February 2016 | 27 September 2016 [18] | |||||||
| Koichiro Katafuchi (caretaker) | 27 September 2016 | 31 January 2017 | ||||||
| 1 February 2017 | 7 May 2017 | |||||||
| Koichiro Katafuchi (caretaker) | 8 May 2017 | 10 May 2017 | ||||||
| 11 May 2017 | 31 December 2017 | |||||||
| 1 February 2018 | 7 August 2018 | |||||||
| 8 August 2018 | 13 April 2019 | |||||||
| 14 April 2019 | 31 January 2020 | |||||||
| 1 February 2020 | 31 January 2022 | |||||||
| 1 February 2022 | Current | |||||||
| bgcolor=gold | Champions | bgcolor=silver | Runners-up | Third place | bgcolor=palegreen | Promoted | bgcolor=pink | Relegated |
| League | Emperor's Cup | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Div. | Teams | Pos. | P | W (OTW) | D | L (OTL) | F | A | GD | Pts | Attendance/G | ||
| 1999 | 10 | 4th | 36 | 16 (4) | 2 | 13 (1) | 46 | 40 | 6 | 58 | 4,211 | 3rd round | ||
| 2000 | 11 | 7th | 40 | 11 (4) | 5 | 18 (2) | 54 | 63 | 9 | 46 | 4,007 | Round of 16 | ||
| 12 | 4th | 44 | 22 (4) | 4 | 7 (7) | 79 | 47 | 32 | 78 | 16,659 | Round of 16 | |||
| 2002 | 12 | 7th | 44 | 23 | 13 | 8 | 75 | 47 | 28 | 82 | 21,478 | Not eligible | 3rd round | |
| 2003 | 12 | 1st | 44 | 27 | 7 | 10 | 80 | 40 | 40 | 88 | 30,339 | Round of 16 | ||
| 2004 | 16 | 10th | 30 | 10 | 7 | 13 | 47 | 58 | -11 | 37 | 37,689 | 4th round | ||
| 2005 | 18 | 12th | 34 | 11 | 9 | 14 | 47 | 62 | -15 | 42 | 40,114 | Round of 16 | ||
| 2006 | 18 | 14th | 34 | 12 | 6 | 16 | 46 | 65 | -19 | 42 | 38,709 | Round of 16 | ||
| 2007 | 18 | 6th | 34 | 15 | 6 | 13 | 48 | 47 | 1 | 51 | 38,276 | 4th round | ||
| 2008 | 18 | 13th | 34 | 11 | 9 | 14 | 32 | 46 | -14 | 37 | 34,490 | Round of 16 | ||
| 2009 | 18 | 8th | 34 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 42 | 31 | 11 | 50 | 33,446 | Quarter-finals | ||
| 2010 | 18 | 9th | 34 | 12 | 13 | 9 | 48 | 45 | 3 | 49 | 30,542 | Round of 16 | ||
| 2011 | 18 | 14th | 34 | 10 | 9 | 15 | 38 | 46 | -8 | 39 | 26,049 | 3rd round | ||
| 2012 | 18 | 15th | 34 | 10 | 10 | 14 | 29 | 34 | -5 | 40 | 25,018 | 3rd round | ||
| 2013 | 18 | 7th | 34 | 17 | 4 | 13 | 48 | 42 | 6 | 55 | 26,112 | 3rd round | ||
| 2014 | 18 | 12th | 34 | 12 | 8 | 14 | 30 | 36 | -6 | 44 | 22,979 | 3rd round | ||
| 2015 | 18 | 15th | 34 | 8 | 10 | 16 | 41 | 58 | -17 | 34 | 21,936 | 3rd round | ||
| 2016 | 18 | 15th | 34 | 8 | 6 | 20 | 33 | 49 | -16 | 30 | 21,181 | Round of 16 | ||
| 2017 | 18 | 17th | 34 | 7 | 7 | 20 | 28 | 60 | -32 | 28 | 22,034 | 3rd round | ||
| 2018 | 22 | 16th | 42 | 15 | 8 | 19 | 48 | 56 | -8 | 53 | 14,913 | 3rd round | ||
| 2019 | 22 | 10th | 42 | 17 | 11 | 14 | 71 | 52 | -19 | 62 | 14,497 | Not eligible | 2nd round | |
| 2020 † | 22 | 11th | 42 | 14 | 15 | 13 | 55 | 55 | 0 | 57 | 5,361 | Did not qualify | ||
| 2021 † | 22 | 6th | 42 | 18 | 14 | 10 | 61 | 40 | 21 | 68 | 10,879 | 3rd round | ||
| 2022 | 22 | 1st | 42 | 25 | 9 | 8 | 73 | 35 | 38 | 84 | 14,954 | 2nd round | ||
| 2023 | J1 | 18 | 10 | 34 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 36 | 40 | -4 | 45 | 21,731 | Quarter-finals | |
| 2024 | 20 | TBA | 38 | |||||||||||
| No. ! | scope=col | Years | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| In chronological order--> | scope=row | Hokushinetsu Football League | 3 | 1986, 1996, 1997 |
| scope=row | J2 League | 2 | 2003, 2022 | |
In 2007, the uniform colour changed. Until 2006, the uniform was orange – blue – orange, but in 2007 the color became orange – orange – orange. This coordinate has not been adopted since 1996 when the team professionalized.
The success of Albirex Niigata had a big impact on the entire Japanese sporting world, including professional baseball. It showed people were more excited than expected for sports in local cities without the population of the metropolitan area in the past, and local citizens feelings influenced many other sports in the region.
Since 2004, Albirex Niigata has selected a number of players for its satellite team in the Singapore Premier League. 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,[19] and went on to join L1 in 2007.
Albirex Niigata Singapore (Singapore Premier League)In addition to the J1 Albirex Niigata football team, there is a Niigata Albirex basketball club in the B.League, as well as a ski, snowboard, baseball, and track and field team. Even though the teams share the same name, the management and finances are completely separate for each team.
