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| Full name | Kyoto Sanga Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | Sanga | ||
| Founded | 1922; 103 years ago (1922), asKyoto Shiko Club (京都紫光クラブ) | ||
| Ground | Sanga Stadium by Kyocera Kameoka,Kyoto Prefecture, Japan | ||
| Capacity | 21,600 | ||
| Owner(s) | Kyoto Purple Sanga Co., Ltd. | ||
| Chairman | Masaaki Ito | ||
| Manager | Cho Kwi-jae | ||
| League | J1 League | ||
| 2024 | J1 League, 14th of 18 | ||
| Website | sanga-fc | ||
 Current season | |||
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Sports |
| Founded | January 13, 1994 (1994-01-13) inKyoto, 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 professionalfootball club based inKyoto. The club plays in theJ1 League, the top tier of football in the country. Its name "Sanga" comes from theSanskrit wordsangha, 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 asKyoto 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, from2007, the team will simply be known as "Kyoto Sanga". They are the oldest club competing in theJ.League.
Kyoto Sanga have won twoJ2 League titles and oneEmperor's Cup.
The club was started asKyoto 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. LikeVentforet Kofu, it could not rise to aJapan 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 sponsorsKyocera andNintendo, professionalized (though some players broke away and formed their own clubs, see below) and joined theformer Japan Football League under the new nameKyoto Purple Sanga.
First joining the J.League in 1996, Kyoto Purple Sanga hold the dubious distinction of being the League'smost relegated side, having been demoted on three separate occasions. Relegation toJ2 League occurred at the end of the2000,2003 and2006 seasons; more than any other team.[3] The 2003 relegation happened despite having many national team players such asPark Ji-sung andDaisuke Matsui on its roster, and they eventually left for European clubs.
In December 2007, the club gainedJ1 League status for the fourth time in their history via thepromotion/relegation playoff and therefore shorten its club name toKyoto Sanga.[4] A 0–2 home defeat toUrawa 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 againstRoasso Kumamoto in Promotion Relegation play-offs.
Kyoto Sanga is considered the main continuation of the Kyoto Shiko Club that competed in theJapan 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 |    2025 - |
| 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 |
   2025 - | ||||
| 3rd choice | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
2007 - 2008 3rd |    2019 Club 25th Anniversary |      2022 September Home Limited |     2023 August Home Limited |  2024 Club Founding 30th Limited |
   2025 August, September Home Limited | ||||
Kyoto Sanga played most of their home matches at theTakebishi 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 toSanga Stadium by Kyocera, a new, football-specific stadium being built inKameoka, in time for the2020 season .
On 11 January 2020, Kyoto Sanga moved to their new stadium, theSanga Stadium by Kyocera which is the first professional football-specific stadium in Kyoto. Thenaming rights were purchased by ceramic companyKyocera having signed a 20-years deal worth ¥2 billion.
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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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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For the 2025 season.
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Manager |  Cho Kwi-jae |
| Assistant manager |  Koichi Sugiyama |
| Coach | Ryuji Ishikawa 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 |
| 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-final | 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 | 14th | 38 | 12 | 11 | 15 | 43 | 55 | -12 | 47 | 13,535 | 2nd Round | Semi-finals | |
| 2025 | 20 | TBA | 38 | 3rd round | 4th round | |||||||||
| 2026 | 20 | TBA | 38 | TBD | TBD | |||||||||
| Honour | No. | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Kansai Soccer League | 4 | 1969,1971,1979,1988 |
| Shakaijin Cup | 1 | 1988 |
| J2 League | 2 | 2001,2005 |
| Emperor's Cup | 1 | 2002 |
(As of 2025): 15 seasons in the top tier, 28 seasons in the second tier, 1 season in the third tier and 16 seasons in the Regional Leagues.
