Chuo Bohan SC

Avispa Fukuoka
アビスパ福岡
Full nameAvispa Fukuoka
Nickname(s)Avi, Hachi (Hornet, in Japanese), Meishu
Founded1982; 42 years ago (1982)
StadiumBest Denki Stadium
Hakata-ku, Fukuoka
Capacity22,563
ChairmanTakashi Kawamori
ManagerShigetoshi Hasebe
LeagueJ1 League
2023J1 League, 7th of 18
WebsiteClub website
Current season

Avispa Fukuoka (アビスパ福岡, Abisupa Fukuoka) is a Japanese professional football club based in Hakata, Fukuoka. They currently compete in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country.

History

Earlier years in Fujieda

The club were originally based in Fujieda, Shizuoka and was founded as Chūō Bōhan SC in 1982 by the workers of security company Chuo Bohan in Fujieda, Shizuoka. They were promoted to the Japan Soccer League Division 2 in 1991. The club then participated in the newly founded former Japan Football League Division 2 in 1992 and were promoted to Division 1 in 1993. They changed their name to Fujieda Blux with intention to be a J.League member. However, with difficulties to have a stadium that met J.League requirements, and with local competition from Júbilo Iwata and Shimizu S-Pulse, the football fan base in Shizuoka prefecture was already considered saturated.

Move to Fukuoka (1994)

As a result, in 1994, the club decided to move to Fukuoka where the community was eager to have a J.League club. They adopted new name Fukuoka Blux and became a J.League associate member, while the amateur club of Chūō Bōhan F.C. was active in Fujieda until 2006.

1995 (JFL)

The first season in Fukuoka saw them win the JFL championship with help from Argentine Hugo Maradona and they were promoted to J.League. After becoming the champions of 1995 Japan Football League as Fukuoka Blux the team was admitted to the J.League in 1996 season.

1996–1998 (J.League)

Fukuoka Blux eventually decided to change their name to Avispa Fukuoka, in order to avoid a potential trademark dispute with men's clothier Brooks Brothers. "Avispa" itself means "wasp" in Spanish. The club acquired experienced players such as former Japanese international Satoshi Tsunami and defender Hideaki Mori but they finished lowly 15th in the 1996 season.

They finished bottom of the league two seasons in a row from 1997 to 1998, but were able to narrowly avoid relegation. This was because J.League were building foundation of J.League 2 for 1999. Therefore, no clubs were relegated and there were relegation/promotion play-offs for the first time at the end of 1998 season, in which Avispa were involved. Around this time, forward Yoshiteru Yamashita and midfielder Chikara Fujimoto were chosen for the Japanese national team.

1999–2001 (J1)

In 1999, they again reinforced the squad by acquiring experienced players such as former internationals Nobuyuki Kojima and Yasutoshi Miura as well as Yugoslavian Nenad Maslovar. They won a fierce relegation battle and eventually stayed up. In 2000, Argentine David Bisconti and Romanian Pavel Badea were transferred to Fukuoka and they finished club record 6th in the second stage. In 2001, the club acquired former Korean international Noh Jung-Yoon and Yoshika Matsubara but they finished 15th and were relegated to J2.

2002–2005 (J2)

In 2002, they kept experienced players and released younger players such as Daisuke Nakaharai and Yoshiteru Yamashita but they finished 8th out of 10. In 2002, with new manager Hiroshi Matsuda, they decided to recruit and nurture young players who graduated from local high schools instead of acquiring experienced footballers from other clubs. They initially struggled but came back well and finished 4th. In 2004, they finished 3rd and qualified for the play-offs but Kashiwa Reysol dashed their promotion hope by beating them home and away (the scoreline was both 2–0). In 2005, they finished 2nd and gained an automatic promotion to J1. Avispa players Hokuto Nakamura and Tomokazu Nagira represented Japan for the 2005 World Youth Championship in the Netherlands.

2006 (J1)

They had been involved in a relegation battle from the beginning of the season. They finished 16th and were relegated to J2 after the promotion/relegation play-offs against Vissel Kobe, which they tied twice, 0–0 in Kobe, then 1–1 at their home game. Like many J2 teams this has led to financial issues. The Daily Yomiuri reported that in 2006 Avispa needed 535 million yen in loans from the local prefectural and municipal governments.

2007–2008 (J2)

With relegation came another new manager, the former German international Pierre Littbarski. "Litti" arrived from the Australian A-League, bringing with him several experienced players such as Mark Rudan, Joel Griffiths and Ufuk Talay, but he was unable to steer Avispa to any notable success. Having finished 7th in 2007, an inability to compete near the top of the league led to Littbarski's sacking in mid-2008. He was replaced by former Avispa player Yoshiyuki Shinoda.

2009 (J2)

The departure of Littbarski coincided with the departure of the club's Australian players, who were largely replaced with youngsters from a number of Kyushu-based universities. After a reasonable start, Avispa's form has tailed off sharply, with a recent five-game losing streak including 6–0 and 5–0 thrashings away at Ventforet Kofu and Mito HollyHock respectively. The club finished in the lower half of the J2 table with promotion hopes dashed for another year.

2010 (J2)

Yoshiyuki Shinoda bolstered his squad for the 2010 season by adding more players from local University teams, and picked up midfielders Kosuke Nakamachi and Genki Nagasato who had previously played together at Shonan Bellmare. The season started slowly with the team picking up only 1 point out of a possible 15 in March, but then saw a dramatic improvement in performance as they went on to win 17 of the next 25 games including a come from behind victory against promotion rivals JEF United. As JEF United went on to drop more points Avispa secured promotion back to J1 with 2 games of the season left to play.

Popular striker Tetsuya Okubo was released at the end of the season, along with 4 other players as the squad was prepared for J1.

2011 (J1)

The promotion to J1 saw some significant changes to the squad as Takuya Matsuura was brought in to replace Genki Nagasato who departed to Ventforet Kofu under a cloud, Shogo Kobara, Kim Min-je and Takumi Wada coming in to bolster defence, while Sho Naruoka and Kentaro Shigematsu arrived to try to score the goals to keep the club in the division.

Tipped by all pundits on the J-League After Game Show to finish the season in 18th position, the players struggled to gel and went for the first 13 games of the season without earning a point. Despite improving slightly towards the mid-season break manager Shinoda left the club to be replaced by head coach Tetsuya Asano.

While results continued to improve, culminating in a 6–0 away win to Montedio Yamagata, the club could not pull themselves out of the relegation zone and finished the season in 17th position to be relegated to J2. At the end of the season the manager was changed again with Koji Maeda being brought in to replace the departing Asano.

2012 (J2)

The team was looking to bounce straight back to J1 upon their return to the second tier but endured the worst season in the history of the club as they finished a lowly 18th in the table; only winning 9 games all season and conceding 68 goals (only Gainare Tottori would concede more in the season). The end of the season saw Koji Maeda part ways with the club as they looked to rebuild towards a better 2013.

2013 (J2)

The club returned to hiring a non-Japanese manager for the first time since Pierre Littbarski as Slovenian Marijan Pusnik arrived. His arrival saw a greater emphasis given towards the development of young players at the club as rookies Yuta Mishima and Takeshi Kanamori were given chances in the first team.

Results on the pitch immediately improved and the club were competing around the play-off positions until a slump in form mid-season coincided with the announcement that the club needed ¥50 million to remain solvent. The club finished in 14th position, but found the money to stay afloat, with Pusnik agreeing to remain as manager for another season.

2014 (J2)

Avispa finished in 16th place. Pušnik's contract was not renewed and he returned to Slovenia.

2015 (Promotion to J1)

The club hired new coach Masami Ihara[1] who twice handled Kashiwa Reysol in a caretaker capacity. They finished third and were promoted back to J1 in winning the promotion playoffs.

2016 (J1)

Avispa finished in 18th place and relegated to J2. League

2017 (J2)

Avispa finished in fourth place. In the "J1 promotion play-off", Avispa won the semi-final game 1–0 against Tokyo Verdy. In the final game however, the team had a scoreless draw, 0-0, with Nagoya Grampus leaving them in third place, meaning Avispa could not be promoted to J1.

2021–present (J1)

A second place finish in the 2020 J2 League saw Avispa returned to J1 League for the first time since 2016.

On 4 November 2023, Avispa won the J.League Cup by defeating two-time winners Urawa Red Diamonds 2–1 in the final match of 2023 edition.[2][3] It was the first major trophy in the history of the club.

League & cup record

Champions Runners-up Third place Promoted Relegated
League J.League Cup Emperor's
Cup
Season Div. Teams Pos. P W (ET/PK) D L (ET/PK) F A GD Pts Attendance/G
1996 J1 16 15th 30 9 (–/–) – 19 (–/2) 42 64 –22 29 9,737 Group stage Round of 16
1997 17 17th 32 6 (–/1) – 20 ((5/–) 29 58 –29 19 8,653 Group stage Round of 16
1998 18 18th 34 6 (1/1) – 22 ((2/2) 29 69 –40 21 10,035 Group stage Round of 16
1999 16 14th 30 7 (3/–) 1 18 (1/–) 41 59 –18 28 11,467 2nd round Round of 16
2000 16 12th 30 9 (4/–) 2 10 (5/–) 41 48 –7 37 13,612 2nd round Round of 16
2001 16 15th 30 7 (2/–) 2 14 (5/–) 35 56 –21 27 13,822 2nd round 3rd round
2002 J2 12 8th 44 10 12 22 58 69 –11 42 6,491 Not eligible Round of 16
2003 12 4th 44 21 8 15 67 62 5 71 7,417 3rd round
2004 12 3rd 44 23 7 14 56 41 15 76 8,743 4th round
2005 12 2nd 44 21 15 8 72 64 8 78 10,786 4th round
2006 J1 18 16th 34 5 12 17 32 56 –24 27 13,780 Group stage Round of 16
2007 J2 13 7th 48 22 7 19 77 61 16 73 9,529 Not eligible 4th round
2008 15 8th 42 15 13 14 55 66 –10 58 10,079 3rd round
2009 18 11th 51 17 14 20 52 71 –19 65 7,763 3rd round
2010 19 3rd 36 21 9 6 63 34 29 69 8,821 Quarter-finals
2011 J1 18 17th 34 6 4 24 34 75 –42 22 10,415 Group stage 3rd round
2012 J2 22 18th 42 9 14 19 53 68 –15 41 5,586 Not eligible 3rd round
2013 22 14th 42 15 11 16 47 54 –7 56 5,727 2nd round
2014 22 16th 42 13 11 18 52 60 –8 50 5,062 2nd round
2015 22 3rd 42 24 10 8 63 37 26 82 8,736 3rd round
2016 J1 18 18th 34 4 7 23 26 66 –40 19 12,857 Quarter-finals 2nd round
2017 J2 22 4th 42 21 11 10 54 36 18 74 9,550 Not eligible 3rd round
2018 22 7th 42 19 13 10 58 42 16 70 8,873 3rd round
2019 22 16th 42 12 8 22 39 62 –23 44 6,983 3rd round
2020 † 22 2nd 42 25 9 8 51 29 22 84 3,289 Did not qualify
2021 J1 20 8th 38 14 12 12 42 37 5 54 5,403 Group stage 3rd round
2022 18 14th 34 9 11 14 29 38 –9 38 7,150 Semi-finals Quarter-finals
2023 18 7th 34 15 6 13 37 43 -6 51 8,689 Winners Semi-finals
2024 20 TBA 38
Key
  • Pos. = Position in league; P = Games played; W = Games won; D = Games drawn; L = Games lost; F = Goals scored; A = Goals conceded; GD = Goals difference; Pts = Points gained
  • Attendance/G = Average home league attendance
  • † 2020 season attendance reduced due to COVID-19 pandemic in Japan
  • Source: J.League Data Site

Honours

Current players

As of 2 February 2024[4]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Club officials

For the 2024 season.

Position Staff
Manager Japan Shigetoshi Hasebe
Head coach Japan Ryotaro Tanaka
First-team coach Japan Kazuno Nakashima
Japan Shinya Tsukahara
Goalkeeping coach Japan Hideki Tsukamoto
Conditioning coach Japan Sotaro Higuchi
Chief trainer Japan Eiji Miyata
Athletic trainer Japan Naoki Yoshioka
Japan Naoki Nagai
Japan Toshiki Okuno
Interpreter Japan Atsushi Kamiyama
Brazil Gustavo De Marco
Kit manager Japan Ryuya Muto
Japan Takuna Nakano
Competent Japan Eishi Nakamura
Sporting director Japan Nobuaki Yanagida
Strengthening department Japan Yoshitaka Fujisaka
Japan Kim Dong-hyun
Scout Japan Hidetoshi Hayashida
Japan Rikihiro Sugiyama

Managerial history

Manager Nationality Tenure
Start Finish
Yoshio Kikugawa  Japan 1 January 1982 31 December 1994
Jorge Olguín  Argentina 1 July 1993 31 December 1995
Hidehiko Shimizu  Japan 1 February 1996 31 January 1997
Carlos Pachamé  Argentina 1 January 1997 31 December 1997
Takaji Mori  Japan 1 February 1998 31 January 1999
Yoshio Kikugawa  Japan 1 January 1999 31 December 1999
Nestor Omar Piccoli  Argentina 1 January 2000 31 December 2001
Masataka Imai  Japan 1 February 2002 28 July 2002
Tasuya Mochizuki  Japan 29 July 2002 14 August 2002
Shigekazu Nakamura  Japan 15 August 2002 31 January 2003
Hiroshi Matsuda  Japan 1 February 2003 7 May 2006
Ryōichi Kawakatsu  Japan 8 May 2006 31 January 2007
Hitoshi Okino  Japan 11 December 2006 31 January 2007
Pierre Littbarski  Germany 1 February 2007 11 July 2008
Yoshiyuki Shinoda  Japan 15 July 2008 3 August 2011
Tetsuya Asano  Japan 3 August 2011 31 December 2011
Kōji Maeda  Japan 1 January 2012 28 October 2012
Futoshi Ikeda  Japan 29 October 2012 31 January 2013
Marijan Pušnik  Slovenia 1 January 2013 31 December 2014
Masami Ihara  Japan 1 February 2015 31 January 2019
Fabio Pecchia  Italy 1 February 2019 3 June 2019
Kiyokazu Kudō  Japan 4 June 2019 31 January 2020
Shigetoshi Hasebe  Japan 1 February 2020 Current

Colour, sponsors and manufacturers

Season(s) Main Shirt Sponsor Collarbone Sponsor Additional Sponsor(s) Kit Manufacturer
2018 FJ.
Fukuoka Estate		 Hakata Green Hotel (Left) - Shin Nihon Seiyaku PIETRO Hakata Nakasu Fukuya BIKEN TECHNO Before the ban is lifted YONEX
2019
2020 Plantel EX PIETRO
2021 Shin Nihon Seiyaku Japan Park (Right) DMM Hoken Yupiesu -/
BYBIT
2022 DMM Hoken BYBIT KIRIN Beverage -
2023 Agekke DMM TV - Hakata Nakasu Fukuya

Kit evolution

Home 1st
1996 - 1998
1999 - 2000
2001 - 2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023 -
Away 2nd
1996 - 1998
1999 - 2000
2001 - 2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023 -
Alternate 3rd / Special
2015
20th Anniversary
2017
Bee Festival Memorial
2018
Bee Festival Memorial
2019
Hachimatsuri Memorial
2020
25th Anniversary
2021
Autumn Formation
2022
SP

References

  1. ^ Avispa hires head coach Masami Ihara Archived 19 December 2015 at the Wayback Machine (in Japanese)
  2. ^ "Avispa Fukuoka reign supreme in J.League YBC Levain Cup triumph". JLeague.co. J.League. 4 November 2023. Archived from the original on 6 November 2023. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
  3. ^ "2023 J.League YBC Levain Cup Final - Avispa Fukuoka vs Urawa Red Diamonds". JLeague.co. J.League. 4 November 2023. Archived from the original on 4 November 2023. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  4. ^ "２０２４シーズン新体制 および 選手背番号決定のお知らせ". アビスパ福岡公式サイト | AVISPA FUKUOKA Official Website (in Japanese). 12 January 2024. Archived from the original on 16 January 2024. Retrieved 17 January 2024.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Avispa Fukuoka.