Sagan Tosu Explained

Nickname:Sagan
Stadium:Ekimae Real Estate Stadium
Tosu, Saga
Capacity:24,130
Clubname:Sagan Tosu
サガン鳥栖
Fullname:Sagan Tosu Football Club
Chairman:Minoru Takehara
Manager:Kosuke Kitani
Mgrtitle:Head coach
Website:http://www.sagan-tosu.net/
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Current: Sagan Tosu season

is a Japanese professional football club based in Tosu, Saga Prefecture. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country.

Sagan is a coined word with a couple of meanings behind it. One of its homophones is in Japanese. This symbolises many small elements uniting to form one formidable object, for example as a metaphor for a team. Also, Sagan Tosu can be interpreted as in the area's dialect.

History

In February 1997, Sagan was established as a new club which virtually took over Tosu Futures, which became insolvent in the previous month, and were admitted to participate Japan Football League from 1997 to 1998, as well as J. League Cup in 1997 as a preferential measure, although J. League Associate Membership status was not awarded to Sagan. In 1999 they were admitted to the new J. League Division 2 (J2) as one of the "Original Ten", which were the ten first members of the J2. They remained at the league until their promotion to J1 at the end of the 2011 season. Little by little, Sagan Tosu started to establish itself as one of the top clubs in the country with the new President & Chief Operating Officer Minoru Takehara, who is also part owner of the club.[1]

In their first season at the J1 League in 2012, confounding the prediction of many critics about their immediate relegation to J2, they have been maintaining their position between 5th and 11th places all the way through the season, except on Matchweek 2, in which they were ranked 13th. They were ranked third after the 33rd week, having a chance to qualify for the 2013 AFC Champions League if they hadn't lost to Yokohama F. Marinos in the last match of the season. However, they have lost to Yokohama by 0–1, wrapping up the season in 5th place, while Urawa Red Diamonds defeated Nagoya Grampus and were ranked 3rd. They also became the first club in Asia to sign a partnership with Warrior Sports,[2] who sponsor many overseas clubs, including English side Liverpool.

In 2013, they made it to the semi-finals of the Emperor's Cup for the first time in the club's history, becoming the first club based in Kyushu to make it to the semi-finals of the Emperor's Cup since Nippon Steel Yawata had done in the 1981 edition. In 2013, they invited A-League team Sydney FC along with the former Italian international player Alessandro Del Piero, for a Japan Tour for the first time.[3]

In 2014, the club had been in their most successful season in the J1 League, being ranked on the top of 2014 J1 League on the 1st, 2nd, 13th, and 18th matchweek. However, the club made an announcement on 8 August which announced the termination of contract with the head coach Yoon Jung-Hwan all of a sudden, despite the apparently good season.[4] During the course of the year, they continued on its international expansion and started a partnership with Italian side Juventus, for its Juventus Under-16 Japan Tour 2014.[5] On 10 July 2018, the club reached an agreement with former FIFA World Cup, UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League winner, Fernando Torres. The aging star would play 35 games for the side, netting 5 goals before finally hanging up his boots on his star-studded career.

Kit and colours

Kit evolution

Current squad

[6]

Sagan Tosu U-18

The main U-18 team of Sagan Tosu currently plays in the Prince Takamado U-18 Premier League, the top-flight league for U-18 clubs in the country. Only the registered players for the competition will be displayed.[7]

Retired number

Club officials

Role[8] Name
Manager Kosuke Kitani
Assistant manager Naoya Kikuchi
First-team coach
Goalkeeping coach Takuya Muro
Physical coach Tadashi Noda
Analyst Shota Tamaki
Yutaro Hamada
Chief trainer Toru Kawaguchi
Athletic trainer Atsushi Shiga
Trainer Daisuke Adachi
Masahiro Hirano
Masashi Maeda
Interpreter Alesso Mariani
Lee Kang-haeng
Naoto Muramatsu
Competent Yoshito Tsuichihara
Side affairs Naoki Egawa
Ayaki Goto
Equipment manager Yoshiki Sugimoto
Chief doctor Kyota Nishifuru

Managerial history

Manager Nationality Tenure
Start FinishP W D L W %-->
1 February 199331 January 1995-->
1 February 199731 January 2000-->
Kazuhiro Kōso 1 February 200031 January 2002-->
1 February 200231 January 2003-->
1 February 200331 January 2004-->
1 February 200431 January 2007-->
1 February 200731 January 2010-->
1 February 201031 January 2011-->
Yun Jeong-hwan 1 February 20117 August 2014-->
8 August 201431 January 2015-->
1 February 201531 January 2016-->
1 February 201618 October 2018-->
19 October 201831 January 2019-->
1 February 20194 May 2019-->
4 May 201920 December 2021-->
1 February 20228 August 2024-->
9 August 2024present-->

League & cup record

bgcolor=goldChampionsbgcolor=silverRunners-upThird placebgcolor=palegreenPromotedbgcolor=pinkRelegated
League Emperor's Cup
Season Div. Teams Pos. P W (OTW/PKW)D L (OTL/PKL)F A GD Pts Attendance/G
1997JFL 16 11th 30 12 (1/0) - 17 38 54-16 38 - Not eligible3rd round
199816 bgcolor=palegreen8th 30 11 (3) - 16 40 55 -15 39 - 3rd round
1999J2 10 8th 36 11 (1) 2 20 (2) 52 64 -12 37 3,385 3rd round
200011 6th 40 13 (2) 5 15 (5) 41 52 -11 48 3,714 3rd round
200112 10th 44 8 (2) 4 28 (2) 45 82 -37 32 3,479 Round of 16
200212 9th 44 9 14 21 41 64 -23 41 3,890 Not eligible 3rd round
200312 12th 44 3 11 30 40 89 -49 20 3,172 1st round
200412 11th 44 8 11 25 32 66 -34 35 3,610 4th round
200512 8th 44 14 10 20 58 58 0 52 7,855 4th round
200613 4th 48 22 13 13 64 49 15 79 7,465 4th round
200713 8th 48 21 9 18 63 66 -3 72 6,114 Round of 16
200815 6th 42 19 7 16 50 51 -1 64 7,261 Quarter-finals
200918 5th 51 25 13 13 71 51 20 88 5,939 Round of 16
201019 9th 36 13 12 11 42 41 1 51 6,633 3rd round
201120 bgcolor=silver2nd 38 19 12 7 68 34 34 69 7,731 2nd round
2012J1 18 5th 341581148399 53 11,991 2nd round
201318 12th 34 13 7 14 54 63 -9 46 11,515 Semi-finals
201418 5th 34 19 3 12 41 33 8 60 14,137 Round of 16
201518 11th 34 9 13 12 37 54 -17 40 13,450 Quarter-finals
201618 11th 34 12 10 12 36 37 -1 46 12,636 Round of 16
201718 8th 34 13 8 13 41 44 -3 47 14,194 3rd round
201818 14th 34 10 11 13 29 34 -5 41 15,000 Quarter-finals
201918 15th 34 10 6 18 32 53 -21 36 15,050 Quarter-finals
2020 18 13th 34 7 15 12 37 43 -6 36 4,675 Did not qualify
2021 20 7th38 16 11 11 53 35 8 59 7,276 Round of 16
202218 11th34 9 15 10 45 44 1 42 9,358 Round of 16
202318 14th34 9 11 14 43 47 -4 38 10,230 3rd round
202420 TBD38 TBD
Key

Notes and References

  1. サガン、竹原氏が社長就任 「J1昇格と健全な経営」 http://www1.saga-s.co.jp/news/saga.0.1913106.article.html
  2. Warrior Football – Sagan Tosu http://www.warriorfootball.com/teams/sagan-tosu
  3. Sagan Tosu outlast Sydney FC in J-League friendly https://www.sbnation.com/2013/7/24/4551614/sydney-sagan-tosu-j-league
  4. News: 2014-08-08 . 尹晶煥監督 契約解除のお知らせ . Annulment of the contract with Head Coach Yoon Jung-Hwan . Sagan Tosu . 2014-08-08 . dead . https://archive.today/20140807233533/http://www.sagantosu.jp/news_detail.asp?c_idx=10002244&contents_code=100100 . 2014-08-07 .
  5. The Bianconeri Allievi fly to Japan https://web.archive.org/web/20141021182836/http://www.juventus.com/juve/en/news/18%20june%202014%20allievi%20japan
  6. Web site: TOP TEAM PLAYERS. Sagan Tosu. 14 June 2022.
  7. Web site: サガン鳥栖 U-18. 5 May 2023. ja.
  8. Web site: TOP TEAM STAFF. ja. 18 April 2024. sagan-tosu.net.