 | |||
| Full name | Kagoshima United Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nicknames | Yokanise Eleven よかにせイレブン | ||
| Founded | 1959; 66 years ago (1959) asVolca Kagoshima 1994; 31 years ago (1994) asFC Kagoshima 2014; 11 years ago (2014) asKagoshima United | ||
| Stadium | Shiranami Stadium Kagoshima | ||
| Capacity | 19,934 | ||
| Chairman | Tsuyoshi Tokushige, Kenichiro Yuwaki (co-owners) | ||
| Manager | Naoki Soma | ||
| League | J3 League | ||
| 2024 | J2 League, 19th of 20 (relegated) | ||
| Website | kufc | ||
 Current season | |||
Kagoshima United FC (鹿児島ユナイテッドFC,Kagoshima Yunaiteddo Efushī) is a Japanese professionalfootball club based inKagoshima, Capital ofKagoshima Prefecture,Japan. That was formed from the merger ofVolca Kagoshima andFC Kagoshima. Both clubs played in theKyushu Soccer League before the merger. Their top team is set to play in theJ3 League from 2025, Japanese third tier of professional league football after relegation fromJ2 in2024. Their secondary team plays in the Kagoshima Prefectural League as Kagoshima United FC SECOND.
Volca Kagoshima was established in 1959 as Kagoshima Teachers' Soccer Club. The club was a founding member of theKyushu Soccer League in 1973. Since the league's inception, the club had always played in this league and never be relegated to the Prefectural Leagues until the merge with FC Kagoshima in 2014. They advanced to theRegional League promotion series five times, but never succeeded to promote to the upper tier,Japan Football League, known as the highest level for amateur club football in the country. The club changed the name from Kagoshima Teachers to Volca Kagoshima in 1995.
FC Kagoshima was established in 1994 as an affiliated club of theNational Institute of Fitness and Sports in Kanoya. They were promoted to theKyushu Soccer League as early as 2004 and changed the name toOsumi NIFS United FC.
Both of Volca and NIFS have been seeking the way to promote to theJFL separately. The idea of a merged club of Volca and FC Kagoshima (renamed from NIFS in 2010) had been discussed by the Kagoshima Prefectural Football Association as early as 2012, however, it was failed to reach an agreement at that time. Although Volca and FC Kagoshima had applied forJ.League Associate Membership separately, both sides restarted their talk about the merger, then finally agreed with merging their clubs to aim promotion to theJ.League, in response of the advisory by the J.League organization. As both clubs had advanced to the final round of theRegional League promotion series in2013, the merged club earned the promotion to theJFL of2014.
The two clubs, Volca Kagoshima and FC Kagoshima, were merged in 2014 to formKagoshima United. In November 2015, after finishing promotion zone in2015, they received J.League license to participate in theJ3 League.[1]
In 2018, Kagoshima United was promoted to theJ2 League for the first time in history from 2019 after five years at the J3.
In 2019, Kagoshima United was instantly relegated back to the J3, after a 21st-place finish in their J3 debut season.
On 2 December 2023, Kagoshima United secure promotion to J2 League from 2024 after draw againstGainare Tottori 1–1 and back to second tier after 4 years since 2019.
On 27 October 2024, Kagoshima United officially relegated to J3 League after defeat fromV-Varen Nagasaki 4-1 and ending one year in second tier.
The traditional rival of Kagoshima United isRoasso Kumamoto, the prefectural neighbours and formerKyushu Soccer League fellows since1983 until2005, except2001–2002. Matches between the two clubs are labelledHisatsu derby (肥薩ダービー,"Kumamoto-Kagoshima derby") and generate a lot of interest in both prefectures.
| Champions | Runners-up | Third place | Promoted | Relegated |
| League | J. League Cup | Emperor's Cup | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Div. | Teams | Tier | Pos. | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | Attendance/G | ||
| AsKagoshima United | |||||||||||||||
| 2014 | JFL | 14 | 4 | 3rd | 26 | 18 | 3 | 5 | 45 | 19 | 26 | 57 | 1,825 | Not eligible | 2nd round |
| 2015 | 16 | 3rd | 30 | 18 | 6 | 6 | 46 | 25 | 21 | 60 | 2,624 | 1st round | |||
| 2016 | J3 | 16 | 3 | 5th | 30 | 15 | 5 | 10 | 39 | 29 | 10 | 50 | 3,665 | 1st round | |
| 2017 | 17 | 4th | 32 | 17 | 4 | 11 | 49 | 37 | 12 | 55 | 3,508 | 2nd round | |||
| 2018 | 17 | 2nd | 32 | 16 | 9 | 7 | 46 | 35 | 11 | 57 | 4,040 | 2nd round | |||
| 2019 | J2 | 22 | 2 | 21st | 42 | 11 | 7 | 24 | 41 | 73 | -32 | 40 | 5,783 | 2nd round | |
| 2020† | J3 | 18 | 3 | 4th | 34 | 18 | 4 | 12 | 55 | 43 | 12 | 58 | 2,214 | Did not qualify | |
| 2021† | 15 | 7th | 28 | 11 | 7 | 10 | 34 | 35 | -1 | 40 | 3,737 | 2nd round | |||
| 2022 | 18 | 3rd | 34 | 21 | 3 | 10 | 55 | 39 | 16 | 66 | 4,740 | 2nd round | |||
| 2023 | 20 | 2nd | 38 | 18 | 8 | 12 | 58 | 41 | 17 | 62 | 5,567 | 1st round | |||
| 2024 | J2 | 20 | 2 | 19th | 38 | 7 | 9 | 22 | 35 | 59 | -24 | 30 | 6,596 | 2nd round | 2nd round |
| 2025 | J3 | 20 | 3 | TBD | 38 | 1st round | 2nd round | ||||||||
Volca Kagoshima (1959–2013) FC Kagoshima (1994–2013) Kagoshima United (2014–)
| Honour | No. | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Kyushu Soccer League | 4 | 1974,1986,2012,2013 |
| Kagoshima Prefectural Football Championship and Emperor's Cup Kagoshima Prefectural Qualifiers | 9 | 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025 |
As of 24 July 2025.[2]Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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KUFC Coaching staff for 2025.
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Manager | Naoki Soma |
| Coaches | Naotsugu Obata Daisuke Asahi Naoaki Morinaga |
| Goalkeeper coach | Masataka Sasaki |
| Physical coach | Yuki Shimizu |
| Chief trainer | Tomoaki Mikiya |
| Trainer | Ryuki Takee Sota Watanabe |
| Interpreter & Chief manager | Tsuyoshi Tame |
| General manager | Sena Abematsu Suguru Shibahara |
| Manager | Nationality | Tenure | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start | Finish | ||
| Takeshi Okubo |  Japan | 1 February 2014 | 31 January 2015 |
| Tetsuya Asano | Japan | 1 January 2015 | 31 December 2016 |
| Yasutoshi Miura | Japan | 1 January 2017 | 31 January 2019 |
| Kim Jong-song |  North Korea | 1 February 2019 | 31 January 2021 |
| Arthur Papas |  Australia | 1 February 2021 | 28 May 2021 |
| Yasuaki Ōshima | Japan | 28 May 2021 | 3 July 2021 |
| Nobuhiro Ueno | Japan | 4 July 2021 | 31 January 2022 |
| Naoto Otake | Japan | 1 February 2022 | 22 August 2023 |
| Yasuaki Oshima | Japan | 23 August 2023 | 26 May 2024 |
| Tetsuya Asano | Japan | 28 May 2024 | present |
The club crest has the illustrations ofSakurajima andKagoshima Bay, both symbolizeKagoshima Prefecture, on its background design, with red colour, which represents Volca, and light blue colour, represents FC Kagoshima.
Kagoshima United's club colours arewhite andnavy.
| Home kit – 1st | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
        2014 |    2015 |      2016 |      2017 |      2018 |
     2019 |      2020 |      2021 |      2022 |      2023 |
     2024 |      2025 - | |||
| Away kit – 2nd | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
     2014 |    2015 |      2016 |      2017 |      2018 |
     2019 |      2020 |      2021 |      2022 |      2023 |
     2024 |      2025 - | |||
