Consadole Sapporo

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Consadole Sapporo
コンサドーレ札幌
logo
Full name Consadole Sapporo
Nickname(s) Consa コンサ
Founded 1935 (as Toshiba Horikawa-cho S.C.)
Ground Sapporo Dome
Toyohira-ku Sapporo, Hokkaidō
and
Sapporo Atsubetsu Park Stadium
Atsubetsu-ku Sapporo, Hokkaidō
(Capacity 42,831 and 20,005, respectively)
Chairman KODAMA Yoshiaki 児玉芳明
Manager MIURA Toshiya 三浦俊也 (2007 - )
League J. League Div.1
2007 1st (promoted)
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
 
Home colours
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
 
Away colours

Consadole Sapporo (コンサドーレ札幌 Konsadōre Sapporo?) is a Japanese professional football (soccer) club, currently playing in the J-league Division 1. The team is located in Sapporo, on the island of Hokkaidō.

The club name of "Consadole" is made from 'consado' as reverse of Japanese word Dosanko (DO-SA-N-KO, 道産子 = people of Hokkaidō) and 'Ole'. The name is to symbolize the strong feelings in their hearts that all citizens of Hokkaidō have for the club.

Contents

[edit] History

Toshiba S.C. (1935 - 1995)
Consadole's club tradition dates back to 1935 when Toshiba Horikawa-cho Soccer Club was founded in Kawasaki, Kanagawa. They were promoted to the now-defunct Japan Soccer League Division 2 in 1978. They adopted new name Toshiba Soccer Club in 1980 and were promoted to the JSL Division 1 in 1989. They joined the newly formed Japan Football League in 1992 and played the last season as Toshiba S.C. in 1995.

They sought to be a professional club but the owner Toshiba did not regard Kawasaki as an ideal hometown. This was because Verdy Kawasaki, one of the most prominent clubs at that time, was also based in the city, which Toshiba apparently believed was not big enough to accommodate two clubs. (Verdy has since crossed the Tama River to be based in Chōfu City in the west of Tokyo and has been renamed as Tokyo Verdy 1969; the only remaining professional club is Kawasaki Frontale, originally part of Fujitsu.)

They decided to move to Sapporo where the local government and community had been keen to provide a base for a professional soccer team as they awaited Sapporo Dome to be completed in 2001. The ownership was transferred from Toshiba to Hokkaido Football Club plc. before the start of the 1996 season.

Toshiba does not have financial interest in the club any more but Consadole still boasts their forerunner's red and black colours on their uniform.

Sapporo Dome, Consa's home ground
Sapporo Dome, Consa's home ground

Consadole Sapporo (1996 - )
Consadole Sapporo inherited the JFL status from Toshiba S.C.. Their debut season in 1996 was not overly successful as they finished 5th and missed promotion. However, they won the JFL championship in 1997 and were promoted to J. League.

In 1998, their first J. League season saw them finish 14th out of 18 but this didn't guarantee them staying up. From the 1999 season, the J. League would have 2 divisions and the play-offs involving 5 teams (four J. League sides and the champions of the JFL) were to be played. In order to decide who were involved in the play-offs, not only the results of the 1998 season but also those of the 1997 were taken account of. Consadole, who didn't play in the previous season, was placed 16th in the aggregate standing and forced to face the play-offs. They lost all 4 games, 2 against Vissel Kobe, and another 2 against Avispa Fukuoka, and became the first-ever J. League side that experienced relegation.

In 1999, Takeshi Okada, the former Japan national team coach, was appointed as head coach in an effort to make an immediate comeback to J1, but this attempt was failed as they finished 5th. Their heavy investment on players counted against them and, at this point, the debt owed by the club exceeded 3 billion yen (330 million USD). The bankruptcy looked a near-certainty.

In 2000, they cut down the cost dramatically. As a result, the team often included as many as 8 on-loan players in the starting line-up. However, this strategy paid off and the club won the J2 championship as well as promotion to J1. The club posted a single-year profit for the first time in their history this year.

In 2001, they finished 11th in J1. However, at the end of the season, the club failed to persuade Okada to renew the contract and several leading players also left the club. In 2002, they finished bottom and were relegated to J2 for a second time.

In 2003, they again tried to return to the top-flight immediately by investing heavily but the team didn't perform well on the pitch. They finished 9th and their debt again crossed the 3 billion yen mark.

The deficit-ridden club realized they needed a drastic restructuring and released highly paid leading players including mainstay Yasuyuki Konno. The rejuvenated but inexperienced team finished bottom of J2 in 2004. The bright side was their improved financial situation where the debt was sharply reduced to less than 100 million yen.

In 2005 and 2006, they finished 6th. In 2007 they finally earned promotion as champions and play in J1 in the 2008 season.

[edit] Current players

As of March 5, 2008

No. Position Player
1 Flag of Japan GK Yuya Sato 佐藤優也
2 Flag of Japan DF Mitsuyuki Yoshihiro 吉弘充志
3 Flag of Japan DF Junji Nishizawa 西澤淳二
4 Flag of Japan DF Yushi Soda 曽田雄志
5 Flag of Japan DF Tomohiko Ikeuchi 池内友彦
6 Flag of Japan DF Hiroyuki Nishijima 西嶋弘之
7 Flag of Japan MF Seiya Fujita 藤田征也
8 Flag of Japan MF Makoto Sunakawa 砂川誠
9 Flag of Japan FW Kengo Ishii 石井謙伍
10 Flag of Brazil FW Davi ダヴィ
11 Flag of Brazil FW Nonato ノナト
13 Flag of Japan FW Genki Nakayama 中山元気
14 Flag of Japan MF Tomoki Suzuki 鈴木智樹
15 Flag of Brazil MF Claiton クライトン
16 Flag of Japan MF Shinji Otsuka 大塚真司
17 Flag of Japan MF Yasuaki Okamoto 岡本賢明
No. Position Player
18 Flag of Japan MF Hironobu Haga 芳賀博信
19 Flag of Japan DF Shusuke Tsubouchi 坪内秀介
20 Flag of Japan MF Kazumasa Uesato 上里一将
21 Flag of Japan DF Yasuhiro Hiraoka 平岡康裕
22 Flag of Japan MF Daigo Nishi 西大伍
23 Flag of Japan MF Shunsuke Iwanuma 岩沼俊介
24 Flag of Japan MF Masaya Nishitani 西谷正也
25 Flag of Japan FW Hiroki Miyazawa 宮澤裕樹
26 Flag of Japan GK Yasuhiro Tominaga 富永康弘
27 Flag of Japan FW Junki Yokono 横野純貴
28 Flag of Japan GK Takahiro Takagi 高木貴弘
29 Flag of Japan MF Jun Marques Davidson ディビッドソン純マーカス
30 Flag of Japan DF Syuhei Hotta 堀田秀平
31 Flag of Japan GK Toshiyasu Takahara 髙原寿康
32 Flag of Japan DF Itacare 柴田慎吾
33 Flag of South Korea MF Chung Yong-Dae 鄭容台
34 Flag of Brazil FW Edson エジソン

[edit] Season by season results and managers

Year League Pld Pt W L D Place Manager General Manager
1992 Former JFL Div. 1 18 23 6 7 5 5th Flag of JapanTakeo Takahashi
1993 18 11 7 3rd
1994 Former JFL 30 11 19 11
1995 30 46 15 15 8th
1996 30 62 20 10 5th
1997 30 76 26 4 Champions Flag of UruguayHugo Fernandez
1998 J.1st 17 11 4 13 16th
J.2nd 17 24 8 9 10th Flag of UruguayHugo Fernandez/Flag of JapanHajime Ishii
1999 J2 36 55 17 13 6 5th Flag of JapanTakeshi Okada
2000 40 94 31 4 5 Champions
2001 J1.1st 15 21 6 6 3 8th
J1.2nd 15 13 4 9 2 14th
2002 J1.1st 15 6 2 13 0 16th Flag of JapanTetsuji Hashiratani/Flag of YugoslaviaRadmilo Ivancevic
J1.2nd 15 9 3 11 1 16th Flag of YugoslaviaRadmilo Ivancevic/Flag of South KoreaChang Woe-Ryong
2003 J2 44 52 13 18 13 9th Flag of BrazilJoão Carlos/Flag of South KoreaChang Woe-Ryong
2004 J2 44 30 5 24 15 12th Flag of JapanMasaaki Yanagishita
2005 J2 44 63 17 15 12 6th
2006 J2 48 72 20 16 12 6th
2007 J2 48 91 27 11 10 Champions Flag of JapanToshiya Miura

[edit] Former players

[edit] External links