 | |||
| Full name | JEF United Ichihara Chiba | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nicknames | JEF, Inu (The Dogs) | ||
| Founded | 1946; 79 years ago (1946) as Furukawa Electric SC | ||
| Stadium | Fukuda Denshi Arena Chiba | ||
| Capacity | 19,781 | ||
| Owner(s) | East Japan Railway Company (50%) Furukawa Electric (50%) | ||
| Chairman | Akira Shimada | ||
| Manager | Yoshiyuki Kobayashi | ||
| League | J2 League | ||
| 2024 | J2 League, 7th of 20 | ||
| Website | jefunited | ||
 Current season | |||
JEF United Chiba (ジェフユナイテッド千葉,Jefu Yunaiteddo Chiba), full nameJEF United Ichihara Chiba (ジェフユナイテッド市原・千葉,Jefu Yunaiteddo Ichihara Chiba) and also known asJEF Chiba (ジェフ千葉,Jefu Chiba), is a Japanese professionalfootball club based inChiba, capital ofChiba Prefecture. They currently play in theJ2 League, Japanese second tier ofprofessional football.
The club began as thecompany team,Furukawa Electric Soccer Club (古河電気工業サッカー部) in 1946. As the company team, it won theJapan Soccer League twice, theEmperor's Cup four times and the JSL League Cup three times. Furukawa also won the1986–87 Asian Club Championship, the top club honour inAsia; they were the first Japanese club to do so.
The club was a founding member ("Original Eight"[a]) of theJapan Soccer League (JSL) in 1965. Since the league's inception, the club had always played in the top flight in Japan and was the only Japanese club to never be relegated from the JSL Division 1, a record they kept into the J1 years. They did finish the1978 season in a relegation position (last of 10) but stayed up after beatingHonda FC 1–0 on aggregate in a two-legged playoff. The last place was not automatically relegated until the1980 season.
In 1991, it merged with the JR East's company team to becomeEast Japan JR Furukawa Football Club (東日本ジェイアール古河サッカークラブ) and rebranded itself as JEF United Ichihara upon the J.League's founding in 1993. JEF United Ichihara was an original member ("Original Ten"[b]) of the J.League in 1993. The club initially built itself around the formerGermany national football team playerPierre Littbarski.
From 1998 to 2000, the club struggled to stay in the J.League and it began a series of efforts to be a competitive team. Since the hiring ofIvica Osim in 2003, JEF United has contended for the league title each year despite limited resources and struggling attendance.
On 1 February 2005, the club changed its name fromJEF United Ichihara to the current name afterChiba city had joinedIchihara, Chiba as its hometown in 2003. Of its club name,JEF is taken from theJR East andFurukawa Electric companies andUnited is meant to represent the unity of the club and its home city. Also, JEF United is the only team in J.League which corporate name survived the transition from theJSL in 1992, as J.League mandated that "corporate teams are not allowed in the J.League", and that any corporate teams need to adapt a hometown and name themselves after it, rather than their owner companies.
On 16 July 2006, Osim left the club to take over the coach of theJapan national team and was succeeded byAmar Osim, his son and assistant coach.[1]On December 5, 2007, it was announced that Amar Osim had been sacked after the club's lowly 13th-place finish in the 2007 season.[2]
After 13 games in the 2008 seasonJosip Kuže was sacked as team manager. On 8 May 2008 it was announced that the new manager wasAlex Miller. Miller was First Team Coach atLiverpool F.C. alongsideRafael Benítez prior to joining JEF United.
TheFurukawa Electric is no longer the main sponsor of the club, a job these days taken over byFuji Electric.
On November 8, 2009, JEF United Chiba was relegated to J2 after 44 seasons in the Japanese top division; since 2010, JEF United Chiba is playing inJ.League Division 2.
JEF United Chiba was close to being promoted toJ.League Division 1 during the 2012 season. The club was considered one of the favorites to be directly promoted to J1. However, after defeats to clubs considered lesser than them such asFC Gifu andF.C. Machida Zelvia, JEF played the playoffs, making their road to the final. They defeatedYokohama FC by 4–0, but lost the final match toOita Trinita by 1–0, atTokyo National Stadium.
In the 2013 season they played in the promotion to J1 playoffs. They lost the semi-final match to Tokushima Vortis by 1–1(Chiba was 6th place and Tokushima was 3rd place in the league, regulation decides up high club can go final even draw.)
In the 2014 season they played in the promotion playoffs to J1 again. The club did not have to play in the semi-final (Chiba was 4th place but the 3rd place club named Giravanz Kitakyushu had a J League original stadium problem so Kitakyushu could not go to the promotion play off). In the final against Montedio Yamagata, they lost by 0–1, at Ajinomoto Stadium.
The club will play their 14th consecutive season at the J2 on 2023.
It had played its home matches atIchihara Seaside Stadium, but has since moved to the larger, football-specific and more conveniently locatedFukuda Denshi Arena, which opened in Chiba during the 2005 season. The club had initially practiced atUrayasu, Chiba planning to base itself inNarashino, Chiba before opposition by those living around AkitsuStadium forced it to be based in Ichihara. Since 2000, training has been held at Footpark Anesaki in Ichihara in normally.Since 1 October 2009, they made new practice place UNITED PARK near the Fukuda Denshi Arena.
JEF United Ichihara'smascot characters areAkita Inu brothers named Jeffy and Unity. Thesquad number of Jeffy is 2 and that of Unity is 9. They are also joined by a third mascot named Mina, or Mina-chan. Her backstory was that she one day came toSoga Station (the railway station nearest toFukuda Denshi Arena) and offered to work alongside Jeffy and Unity.[3] Her squad number is 12.
JEF United considers its philosophy to be encapsulated in its tagline "Win By All"[4] since 2001.
This was JEF'sreserve team during the JSL years. They were formed in 1967 and were first promoted to the JSL Second Division in 1975. They still exist, although they are no longer affiliated on paper, and play in the Kanto Regional League. In 2008 they renamed themselvesS.A.I. Ichihara and in 2011 they adopted the nameVonds Ichihara. Now separate from Furukawa Electric control, they aim to form its power base in Ichihara as JEF is now based in Chiba city.
JEF's reserve team played until 2011 in theJapan Football League, the third tier of Japanese football. But in 2011, the club announced the end of the B team because of financial problems.
Historically, JEF United's fiercest rivals have beenKashiwa Reysol andUrawa Reds, both close neighbors. The three were co-founders ("Original Eight") of theJapan Soccer League (JSL) in 1965, and spent most seasons in the top tier through the JSL era. Because of their former parent companies' headquarters being all based inMarunouchi,Tokyo, the three clubs were known as theMarunouchiGosanke (丸の内御三家) and fixtures among them were known as the Marunouchi derbies.
JEF United and Reysol first met in 1941 in ancientKanto regional football league. The two clubs both now based inChiba Prefecture, and their rivalry is known as theChiba derby. They annually contest a pre-season friendly match well known as theChibagin Cup (i.e.,Chiba Bank Cup) since 1995.
| Champions | Runners-up | Third place | Promoted | Relegated |
| Season | Division | Teams | Position | P | W(PKW / OTW) | D | L(PKL / OTL) | F | A | GD | Pts | Attendance/G | J.League Cup | Emperor's Cup |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JEF United Ichihara | ||||||||||||||
| 1992 | – | – | – | – | Group stage | Quarter final | ||||||||
| 1993 | J1 | 10 | 8th | 36 | 14 | - | 22 | 51 | 67 | -16 | - | 20,273 | Group stage | Quarter final |
| 1994 | 12 | 9th | 44 | 19 | - | 25 | 69 | 85 | -16 | - | 22,262 | 2nd round | 2nd round | |
| 1995 | 14 | 5th | 52 | 28(0 / -) | - | 20(4 / -) | 97 | 91 | 6 | 88 | 15,418 | – | 1st round | |
| 1996 | 16 | 9th | 30 | 13(0 / -) | - | 16(1 / -) | 45 | 47 | -2 | 40 | 12,008 | Group stage | 3rd round | |
| 1997 | 17 | 13th | 32 | 6(0 / 5) | - | 17(1 / 3) | 43 | 66 | -23 | 28 | 5,693 | Quarter-final | 4th round | |
| 1998 | 18 | 16th | 34 | 8(1 / 0) | - | 20(1 / 4) | 49 | 75 | -26 | 25 | 5,365 | Final | 3rd round | |
| 1999 | 16 | 13th | 30 | 6(0 / 4) | 2 | 14(0 / 4) | 41 | 56 | -15 | 28 | 5,774 | 2nd round | 3rd round | |
| 2000 | 16 | 14th | 30 | 8(0 / 1) | 2 | 14(0 / 5) | 37 | 49 | -12 | 28 | 6,338 | 2nd round | Quarter final | |
| 2001 | 16 | 3rd | 30 | 14(0 / 3) | 2 | 9(0 / 2) | 60 | 54 | 6 | 50 | 7,818 | Quarter-final | Quarter final | |
| 2002 | 16 | 7th | 30 | 12(- / 1) | 3 | 14 | 38 | 42 | -4 | 41 | 7,897 | Quarter-final | Semi-final | |
| 2003 | 16 | 3rd | 30 | 15 | 8 | 7 | 57 | 38 | 19 | 53 | 9,709 | Group stage | Quarter final | |
| 2004 | 16 | 4th | 30 | 13 | 11 | 6 | 55 | 45 | 10 | 50 | 10,012 | Group stage | 4th round | |
| JEF United Chiba | ||||||||||||||
| 2005 | J1 | 18 | 4th | 34 | 16 | 11 | 7 | 56 | 42 | 14 | 59 | 9,535 | Winner | 5th round |
| 2006 | 18 | 11th | 34 | 13 | 5 | 16 | 57 | 58 | -1 | 44 | 13,393 | Winner | 4th round | |
| 2007 | 18 | 13th | 34 | 12 | 6 | 16 | 51 | 56 | -5 | 42 | 14,149 | Group stage | 4th round | |
| 2008 | 18 | 15th | 34 | 10 | 8 | 16 | 36 | 53 | 17 | 38 | 14,084 | Quarter final | 4th round | |
| 2009 | 18 | 18th | 34 | 5 | 12 | 17 | 32 | 56 | -24 | 27 | 14,730 | Group stage | 4th round | |
| 2010 | J2 | 19 | 4th | 36 | 18 | 7 | 11 | 58 | 37 | 21 | 61 | 11,689 | Not eligible | 4th round |
| 2011 | 20 | 6th | 38 | 16 | 10 | 12 | 46 | 39 | 7 | 58 | 9,680 | Quarter final | ||
| 2012 | 22 | 5th | 42 | 21 | 9 | 12 | 61 | 33 | 28 | 72 | 9,281 | Quarter final | ||
| 2013 | 22 | 5th | 42 | 18 | 12 | 12 | 68 | 49 | 19 | 66 | 10,004 | 3rd round | ||
| 2014 | 22 | 3rd | 42 | 18 | 14 | 10 | 55 | 44 | 11 | 68 | 9,333 | Semi-final | ||
| 2015 | 22 | 9th | 42 | 15 | 12 | 15 | 50 | 45 | 5 | 57 | 10,725 | 3rd round | ||
| 2016 | 22 | 11th | 42 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 52 | 53 | -1 | 53 | 10,292 | 3rd round | ||
| 2017 | 22 | 6th | 42 | 20 | 8 | 14 | 70 | 58 | 12 | 68 | 9,983 | 3rd round | ||
| 2018 | 22 | 14th | 42 | 16 | 7 | 19 | 72 | 72 | 0 | 55 | 9,858 | 3rd round | ||
| 2019 | 22 | 17th | 42 | 10 | 13 | 19 | 46 | 64 | -18 | 43 | 9,701 | 2nd round | ||
| 2020† | 22 | 14th | 42 | 15 | 8 | 19 | 47 | 51 | -4 | 53 | 2,778 | Did not qualify | ||
| 2021† | 22 | 8th | 42 | 17 | 15 | 10 | 48 | 36 | 12 | 66 | 4,068 | 3rd round | ||
| 2022 | 22 | 10th | 42 | 17 | 10 | 15 | 44 | 42 | 2 | 61 | 5,775 | 2nd round | ||
| 2023 | 22 | 6th | 42 | 19 | 10 | 13 | 61 | 53 | 8 | 67 | 8,523 | 2nd round | ||
| 2024 | 20 | 7th | 38 | 19 | 4 | 15 | 67 | 48 | 19 | 61 | 10,431 | 1st round | Quarter final | |
| 2025 | 20 | TBD | 38 | 1st round | 2nd round | |||||||||
As Furukawa Electric SC (1946–1992), JEF United Ichihara (1992–2004), and JEF United Chiba (2005–present)
| Honour | No. | Years |
|---|---|---|
| JSL Division 1 | 2 | 1976,1985 |
| All Japan Works Football Championship | 3 | 1959, 1961, 1962 (shared) |
| All Japan Inter-City Football Championship | 4 | 1959, 1960, 1961, 1964 |
| Emperor's Cup | 4 | 1960,1961,1964 (shared),1976 |
| JSL Cup /J.League Cup | 5 | 1977,1982,1986,2005,2006 |
| Japanese Super Cup | 1 | 1977 |
| Asian Club Championship | 1 | 1986 |
As of 22 August 2025.[5]Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
|
Club officials for 2025.
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Manager |  Yoshiyuki Kobayashi |
| Assistant manager | Masataka Sakamoto |
| Coaches | Masashi OwadaShunta Nagai |
| Goalkeeper coach | Motoki Kawahara |
| Physical coach | Ryota Mizuguchi |
| Analyst | Shunsuke Nakano |
| Interpreter |  Fabricio |
| Chief trainer | Yusuke Nakao |
| Athletic trainer | Yuya Okamoto Toshifumi Goto |
| Physiotherapist | Naoki Akiyoshi |
| Competent | Yuma Fukushima |
| Side affairs | Yusuke Hata |
| Kit man | Kosuke Tomitani |
| Manager | Nationality | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| Yoshikazu Nagai | Japan | 1992–1993 |
| Eijun Kiyokumo | Japan | 1994–1995 |
| Yasuhiko Okudera | Japan | 1996 |
| Jan Versleijen |  Netherlands | 1997–1998 |
| Gert Engels |  Germany | 1999 |
| Nicolae Zamfir |  Romania | 1999–2000 |
| Sugao Kambe (interim) | Japan | 2000 |
| Zdenko Verdenik |  Slovenia | 2000–2001 |
| Sugao Kambe (interim) | Japan | 2001 |
| Jozef Vengloš |  Slovakia | 2002 |
| Ivica Osim |  Bosnia and Herzegovina | 2003–2006 |
| Amar Osim | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 2006–2007 |
| Josip Kuže |  Croatia | 2008 |
| Shigeo Sawairi (interim) | Japan | 2008 |
| Alex Miller |  Scotland | 2008–2009 |
| Atsuhiko Ejiri | Japan | 2009–2010 |
| Dwight Lodeweges | Netherlands | 2011 |
| Sugao Kambe | Japan | 2011 |
| Takashi Kiyama | Japan | 2012 |
| Jun Suzuki | Japan | 2013–2014 |
| Kazuo Saito (interim) | Japan | 2014 |
| Takashi Sekizuka | Japan | 2014–2016 |
| Shigetoshi Hasebe (interim) | Japan | 2016 |
| Juan Esnáider |  Argentina | 2017–2019 |
| Atsuhiko Ejiri | Japan | 2019 |
| Yoon Jong-hwan |  South Korea | 2020–2022 |
| Yoshiyuki Kobayashi | Japan | 2023– |
The club colours of JEF United Chiba areyellow,green andred.
| Home - 1st | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
          1993 - 1996 |      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 - 2nd | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
     1993 - 1995 |    1996 |    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 - | ||
| Other Kits - 3rd | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
     20123rd |      2015 10th Anniversary of Fukuda Denshi Arena |      2016 25th Anniversary |    2018 15th Anniversary of Hometown Expansion |      2019 Factory Night View Ver. |
     2022 Osimzhev Legend |      2022 OSIM Japan Legend |    20th Anniversary of Hometown Expansion |      2024 SP | |
(in Japanese)| Achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Champions of Asia 1986–87 | Succeeded by |
| 8 titles | |
|---|---|
| 7 titles | |
| 5 titles | |
| 4 titles | |
| 3 titles | |
| 2 titles | |
| 1 title | |
| |||||||||
| |||||||||
| |||||||||
| |||||||||
