Kyoto Sanga FC

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Kyoto Sanga
京都サンガ

Full name	Kyoto Sanga Football Club
Nickname(s)	Purple Sanga
Founded	1922; 102 years ago (1922), as Kyoto Shiko Club (京都紫光クラブ)
Ground	Sanga Stadium by Kyocera Kameoka, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Capacity	21,600
Owner	Kyoto Purple Sanga Co., Ltd.
Chairman	Masaaki Ito
Manager	Cho Kwi-jae
League	J1 League
2023	J1 League, 13th of 18
Website	http://www.sanga-fc.jp/english/
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Kyoto Purple Sanga Co., Ltd.

Company type	Public
Industry	Sports
Founded	January 13, 1994 (1994-01-13) in Kyoto, Japan[1]
Key people	Hiroshi Imai (Chairman) Kazuo Inamori (Honorary President)[1]
Products	Football club
Revenue	¥ 2140 million (2014)[1]
Owners	Kyocera (55.4%)[2] Nintendo (16.6%)[2]

Kyoto Sanga (京都サンガ) is a Japanese professional football club based in Kyoto. The club plays in the J1 League, the top tier of football in the country. Its name "Sanga" comes from the Sanskrit word sangha, a term meaning "group" or "club" and often used to denote the Buddhist priesthood, associating the club with Kyoto's many Buddhist temples.^[3]

The club was formerly known as Kyoto Purple Sanga with "purple", the colour of the team uniforms, an imperial colour reflecting Kyoto's status as Japan's ancient imperial capital city. It was decided that, from 2007, the team will simply be known as "Kyoto Sanga". They are the oldest club competing in the J.League.

Kyoto Sanga have won two J2 League titles and one Emperor's Cup.

The club was started as Kyoto Shiko Club, one of the few proper Japanese football clubs in the sense of being strictly dedicated to football and not being part of a company. Like Ventforet Kofu, it could not rise to a Japan Soccer League First Division dominated by company teams; in 1993, after the J.League was created, Kyoto Shiko Club, aided by funds from local new sponsors Kyocera and Nintendo, professionalized (though some players broke away and formed their own clubs, see below) and joined the former Japan Football League under the new name Kyoto Purple Sanga.

First joining the J.League in 1996, Kyoto Purple Sanga hold the dubious distinction of being the League's most relegated side, having been demoted on three separate occasions. Relegation to J2 League occurred at the end of the 2000, 2003 and 2006 seasons; more than any other team.^[3] The 2003 relegation happened despite having many national team players such as Park Ji-sung and Daisuke Matsui on its roster, and they eventually left for European clubs.

In December 2007, the club gained J1 League status for the fourth time in their history via the promotion/relegation playoff and therefore shorten its club name to Kyoto Sanga.^[4] A 0–2 home defeat to Urawa Reds on 14 November 2010 confirmed Sanga's relegation back to J2, bringing an end to their three-season spell in the top flight.^[5]

In the 2021 season, Kyoto Sanga returned to J1 League after an 11-year absence and finished as runner-up. In 2022, Kyoto Sanga remained in J1 League after draw 1–1 against Roasso Kumamoto in Promotion Relegation play-offs.

• Amitie SC (Kansai Soccer League Division 1) – broke away from the original Kyoto Shiko Club upon professionalization; amateur club
• Kyoto Shiko Club (Kansai Soccer League Division 2) – broke away from Kyoto BAMB 1993 (now Kyoto Amitie) in 1998; amateur club
• Shiko Club women's (Kansai Women's Soccer League) – linked with today's Kyoto Shiko Club

Kyoto Sanga is considered the main continuation of the Kyoto Shiko Club that competed in the Japan Soccer League Second Division. "Shiko" (紫光) means "brilliant purple" and is the colour that Shiko/Sanga have always worn.

Home Kit - 1st
1997 - 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	2024 -

Away Kit - 2nd
1997 - 1998	1999 - 2000	2001 - 2002	2003 - 2004	2005 - 2006
2007 - 2008 2nd	2007 - 2008 3rd	2009	2010	2011 - 2012
2013	2014	2015 - 2016	2017 - 2018	2019
2020	2021	2022	2023	2024 -

3rd choice
2007 - 2008 3rd	2019 Club 25th Anniversary	2022 September Home Limited	2023 August Home Limited

Kyoto Sanga played most of their home match at the Takebishi Stadium Kyoto since their interception. The stadium holds up to 20,588 capacity and was built in 1942. In 2019, Kyoto Sanga announced plans to move to Sanga Stadium by Kyocera, a new, football-specific stadium being built in Kameoka, in time for the 2020 season .

On 11 January 2020, Kyoto Sanga moved to their new stadium, the Sanga Stadium by Kyocera which is the first professional football-specific stadium in Kyoto. The naming rights were purchased by ceramic company Kyocera having signed a 20-years deal worth ¥2 billion.

As of 9 August 2024.^[6]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 2 DF  JPN Shinnosuke Fukuda 3 DF  JPN Shogo Asada 4 DF  JPN Keita Matsuda 5 DF  JPN Hisashi Appiah Tawiah 6 DF  JPN Yuto Misao 7 MF  JPN Sota Kawasaki 8 MF  JPN Koki Tsukagawa (on loan from FC Tokyo) 9 FW  BRA Marco Túlio 10 MF  JPN Shimpei Fukuoka 13 FW  JPN Takumi Miyayoshi 14 FW  JPN Taichi Hara 16 MF  JPN Shohei Takeda 17 FW  JPN Yuto Anzai 18 MF  JPN Temma Matsuda 19 MF  JPN Daiki Kaneko 20 DF  JPN Kazunari Kita 21 GK  SUR Warner Hahn 23 FW  JPN Yuta Toyokawa

No. Pos. Nation Player 24 DF  JPN Yuta Miyamoto (on loan from Urawa Reds) 26 GK  JPN Gakuji Ota 28 DF  JPN Toichi Suzuki 31 FW  JPN Sora Hiraga 36 GK  JPN Akira Fantini 37 MF  JPN Takuji Yonemoto (on loan from Nagoya Grampus) 39 MF  JPN Taiki Hirato 44 MF  JPN Kyo Sato 45 DF  JPN Kotaro Kanda Type 2 46 MF  JPN Taiga Ishimoto Type 2 47 FW  JPN Yuma Nishioka Type 2 48 MF  JPN Ryuma Nakano DSP 50 DF  JPN Yoshinori Suzuki 77 MF  BRA Murilo Costa 88 GK  JPN Kentaro Kakoi 94 GK  KOR Gu Sung-yun 96 DF  BRA Lucas Oliveira (on loan from Cruzeiro) 99 FW  BRA Rafael Elias (on loan from Cruzeiro)

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 25 MF  JPN Teppei Yachida (on loan to FC Anyang) 30 DF  JPN Rikuto Iida (on loan to Nara Club) — GK  JPN Tomoya Wakahara (on loan to V-Varen Nagasaki) — DF  JPN Takahiro Iida (on loan to Ventforet Kofu)

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  JPN Yuta Ueda (on loan to Omiya Ardija) — FW  JPN Yudai Kimura (on loan to Tokyo Verdy) — FW  JPN Fuki Yamada (on loan to Tokyo Verdy)

For the 2024 season.

Position	Name
Manager	Cho Kwi-jae
First-team coach	Ryuji Ishikawa Koichi Sugiyama Naomichi Wakamiya Shuto Wakui
Goalkeeping coach	Yasuhiro Tominaga
Physical coach	Hirokazu Nishigata
Chief Trainer	Minoru Kimoto
Trainer	Yoshiaki Shirai Masaki Dozono Takuya Kawada
Interpreter	Taketo Okamoto Hiroki Kimura
Competent	Naoya Omae
Side Affairs	Ryusei Ishikura
Kit man	Noriyuki Matsuura

Kyoto Sanga honours

Honour	No.	Years
Kansai Soccer League	4	1969, 1971, 1979, 1988
All Japan Senior Football Championship	1	1988
J2 League	2	2001, 2005
Emperor's Cup	1	2002

Manager	Nationality	Tenure
		Start	Finish
Bunji Kimura	Japan	1 January 1983	30 June 1990
George Yonashiro	Japan	1 February 1994	31 January 1995
Oscar	Brazil	1 February 1995	10 June 1996
George Yonashiro	Japan	11 June 1996	31 January 1997
Pedro Rocha	Uruguay	1 January 1997	31 December 1997
Hans Ooft	Netherlands	1 February 1998	1 June 1998
Hidehiko Shimizu	Japan	2 June 1998	30 June 1999
Shū Kamo	Japan	1 July 1999	31 May 2000
Gert Engels	Germany	1 June 2000	31 May 2003
Bunji Kimura	Japan	1 June 2003	30 June 2003
Pim Verbeek	Netherlands	1 July 2003	31 December 2003
Akihiro Nishimura	Japan	1 February 2004	13 June 2004
Kōichi Hashiratani	Japan	14 June 2004	4 October 2006
Naohiko Minobe	Japan	5 October 2006	11 October 2007
Hisashi Katō	Japan	12 October 2007	27 July 2010
Yutaka Akita	Japan	27 July 2010	31 January 2011
Takeshi Ōki	Japan	1 February 2011	31 January 2014
Valdeir Vieira	Brazil	1 January 2014	18 June 2014
Ryōichi Kawakatsu	Japan	29 June 2014	31 January 2015
Masahiro Wada	Japan	1 February 2015	10 July 2015
Kiyotaka Ishimaru	Japan	11 July 2015	6 December 2016
Takanori Nunobe	Japan	1 January 2017	10 May 2018
Boško Gjurovski	North Macedonia	11 May 2018	31 January 2019
Ichizō Nakata	Japan	1 February 2019	31 January 2020
Noritada Saneyoshi	Japan	1 February 2020	31 January 2021
Cho Kwi-jae	South Korea	1 February 2021	Current

Champions

Runners-up

Third place

Promoted

Relegated

Season	Div.	Teams	Pos.	P	W (OTW / PKW)	D	L (OTL / PKL)	F	A	GD	Pts	Attendance/G	J.League Cup	Emperor's Cup
Kyoto Purple Sanga
1996	J1	16	16th	30	8	0	22	22	54	-32	24	9,404	Group stage	Quarter-finals
1997		17	14th	32	9 (0 / 0)	-	18 (3 / 2)	40	70	-30	27	7,881	Group stage	Round of 16
1998		18	13th	34	10 (4 / 1)	-	16 (3 / 0)	47	63	-16	39	8,015	Group stage	3rd round
1999		16	12th	30	9 (2)	0	15 (4)	38	58	-20	31	8,859	2nd round	Round of 16
2000		16	15th	30	7 (1)	2	15 (5)	39	66	-27	25	7,253	Semi-finals	3rd round
2001	J2	12	1st	44	23 (5)	5	11 (0)	79	48	31	84	3,808	1st round	Round of 16
2002	J1	16	5th	30	11 (6)	1	12	44	42	2	46	10,352	Group stage	Winner
2003		16	16th	30	6	5	19	28	60	-32	23	10,850	Group stage	3rd round
2004	J2	12	5th	44	19	12	13	65	53	12	69	7,807	Not eligible	4th round
2005		12	1st	44	30	7	7	89	40	49	97	7,857		4th round
2006	J1	18	18th	34	4	10	20	38	74	-36	22	9,781	Group stage	4th round
Kyoto Sanga
2007	J2	13	3rd	48	24	14	10	80	59	21	86	6,629	Not eligible	3rd round
2008	J1	18	14th	34	11	8	15	37	46	-9	41	13,687	Group stage	Round of 16
2009		18	12th	34	11	8	15	35	47	-12	41	11,126	Group stage	3rd round
2010		18	17th	34	4	7	23	30	60	-30	19	10,510	Group stage	3rd round
2011	J2	20	7th	38	17	7	14	50	45	5	58	6,294	Not eligible	Runners-up
2012		22	3rd	42	23	5	14	61	45	16	74	7,273		3rd round
2013		22	3rd	42	20	10	12	68	46	22	70	7,891		3rd round
2014		22	9th	42	14	18	10	57	52	5	60	7,520		3rd round
2015		22	17th	42	12	14	16	45	51	-6	50	7,491		3rd round
2016		22	5th	42	18	15	9	50	37	13	69	6,524		2nd round
2017		22	12th	42	14	15	13	55	47	8	57	6,748		2nd round
2018		22	19th	42	12	7	23	40	58	-18	43	5,663		3rd round
2019		22	8th	42	19	11	12	59	56	3	68	7,850		2nd round
2020 †		22	8th	42	16	11	15	47	45	2	59	2,924		Did not qualify
2021 †		22	2nd	42	24	12	6	59	31	28	84	5,207		Round of 16
2022	J1	18	16th	34	8	12	14	30	38	-8	36	11,692	Play-off stage	Semi-finals
2023		18	13th	34	12	4	18	40	45	-5	40	12,141	Group stage	2nd round
2024		20	TBA	38									2nd Round	Semi-finals

Key

• Kansai Soccer League: 1966–1971 (as Kyoto Shiko Club)
• Division 2 (JSL Division 2): 1972–1978 (as Kyoto Shiko Club)
• Kansai Soccer League: 1979–1988 (as Kyoto Shiko Club)
• Division 2 (JSL Division 2): 1989–1991 (as Kyoto Shiko Club)
• Division 3 (Old JFL Division 2): 1992 (as Kyoto Shiko Club)
• Division 2 (Old JFL Division 1): 1993–1995 (as Kyoto Shiko Club 1993; Kyoto Purple Sanga afterwards)
• Division 1 (J1 League): 1996–2000 (as Kyoto Purple Sanga)
• Division 2 (J2 League): 2001 (as Kyoto Purple Sanga)
• Division 1 (J1 League): 2002–2003 (as Kyoto Purple Sanga)
• Division 2 (J2 League): 2004–2005 (as Kyoto Purple Sanga)
• Division 1 (J1 League): 2006 (as Kyoto Purple Sanga)
• Division 2 (J2 League): 2007
• Division 1 (J1 League): 2008–2010
• Division 2 (J2 League): 2011–2021
• Division 1 (J1 League): 2022–present

(As of 2023): 13 seasons in the top tier, 28 seasons in the second tier, 1 season in the third tier and 16 seasons in the Regional Leagues.

• Official website