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| Full name | Vegalta Sendai | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1988; 38 years ago (1988) | ||
| Ground | Yurtec Stadium Sendai Izumi-ku,Sendai | ||
| Capacity | 19,694 | ||
| Chairman | Hideki Itabashi | ||
| Manager | Yoshiro Moriyama[1] | ||
| League | J2 League | ||
| 2025 | J2 League, 7th of 20 | ||
| Website | vegalta | ||
 Current season | |||
Vegalta Sendai (ベガルタ仙台,Begaruta Sendai) is a Japanese professionalfootball club based inSendai,Miyagi Prefecture. They currently play inJ2 League, the Japanese second tier of professional football.
Founded in 1988 asTohoku Electric Power Co., Inc. Soccer Club, the works team ofTohoku Electric Power, Vegalta Sendai joined the J-League in 1999 after playing a few seasons in theJFL, with the nicknameBrummell Sendai, to which they had been promoted in 1994 from the Tohoku Regional League. When joining the J-League, the name Vegalta was chosen as a homage to the famousTanabata festival in Sendai. The names of the two celestial stars of the Tanabata legend,Vega andAltair werecombined to formVegalta.[2]
They were first promoted to the top flight in 2002, but the team went back down the following season. They were promoted again for the 2010 season.
In 2011, despite theearthquake and tsunami, they achieved their highest position up to that time, 4th place in the top division.
In 2012, despite leading the table for most of the season,Sanfrecce Hiroshima's challenge proved too strong, and losing the penultimate week game to relegation battlerAlbirex Niigata cost them the title, rendering them second-place winners, their highest position in history.
In 2018, the Vegalta reached the final of theEmperor's Cup, losing 1-0 toUrawa Reds.[3]
After twelve years spent in theJ1 League, Vegalta returned to the J2 in 2022, after being relegated from the J1 at the end of 2021. After finishing in seventh place in the2022 J2 League, thus failing to reach the promotion play-offs.Ryang Yong-gi, a symbol of Sendai, retired at the end of the 2023 season.
For the 2024 season,Yoshiro Moriyama, who has a track record of developing players atSanfrecce Hiroshima's training age group and theU17 Japan National Team, was appointed as Manager.
Their home stadium isYurtec Stadium Sendai, inIzumi-ku, Sendai, although a few home games have also been played at nearbyMiyagi Stadium.
Sendai Stadium ranks among the top stadiums in Japan for its presence, comfort, and accessibility, and was once ranked second in an evaluation by a famous Japanese football media. It was also used by theItalian national football team as their basecamp during the2002 FIFA World Cup.
Miyagi Stadium is famous for the Japan national team, and for hosting matches of the Argentine national team in the2002 FIFA World Cup.
As with most football clubs, fans in Sendai sing and dance during matches. However, most of the songs used by fans from other clubs are avoided due to the more eclectic set. Club themes sung before each game areTake Me Home, Country Roads, and during the game.Toy Dolls,Blitzkrieg Bop and otherKiss andTwisted Sister songs.
Since Sendai is the hometown ofHirohiko Araki, who wroteJoJo's Bizarre Adventure, fans often wave flags with the same motifs of characters portrayed in Araki's manga.
Vegalta's traditional rivals areMontedio Yamagata fromYamagata Prefecture. The two have been rivals since meeting in theTohoku Football League in1991. Among the Tohoku derbies, this match is famous as the Michinoku derby.
This is the derby played by theTohoku region teams, currently the most important match is that of Vegalta Sendai andMontedio Yamagata. Other teams included in this classic includeBlaublitz Akita,Iwate Grulla Morioka,Iwaki FC.
| Champions | Runners-up | Third place | Promoted | Relegated |
| League | J.League Cup | Emperor's Cup | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | League | Tier | Teams | Pos. | P | W(OTW / PKW) | D | L(OTL) | F | A | GD | Pts | Attendance | ||
| Brummell Sendai | |||||||||||||||
| 1995 | Former JFL | 2 | 16 | 15th | 30 | 9 | - | 21 | 40 | 79 | -39 | 27 | 2nd round | ||
| 1996 | 16 | 6th | 30 | 18 | - | 12 | 67 | 52 | 15 | 56 | 3rd round | ||||
| 1997 | 16 | 8th | 30 | 12(1 / 2) | - | 15 | 37 | 43 | -6 | 40 | Group stage | 2nd round | |||
| 1998 | 16 | 7th | 30 | 1(5 / 3) | - | 12 | 55 | 53 | 2 | 43 | Group stage | 4th round | |||
| Vegalta Sendai | |||||||||||||||
| 1999 | J2 | 2 | 10 | 9th | 36 | 7(3) | 4 | 18(4) | 30 | 58 | -28 | 31 | 7,470 | 1st round | 2nd round |
| 2000 | 11 | 5th | 40 | 15(4) | 2 | 15(4) | 60 | 69 | -9 | 55 | 8,885 | 1st round | 1st round | ||
| 2001 | 12 | 2nd | 44 | 24(3) | 5 | 9(3) | 78 | 56 | 22 | 83 | 14,011 | 1st round | 3rd round | ||
| 2002 | J1 | 1 | 16 | 13th | 30 | 9(2) | 1 | 18 | 40 | 57 | -17 | 32 | 21,862 | Group stage | 4th round |
| 2003 | 16 | 15th | 30 | 5 | 9 | 16 | 31 | 56 | -25 | 24 | 21,646 | Group stage | 3rd round | ||
| 2004 | J2 | 2 | 12 | 6th | 44 | 15 | 14 | 15 | 62 | 66 | -4 | 59 | 16,198 | Not eligible | 4th round |
| 2005 | 12 | 4th | 44 | 19 | 11 | 14 | 66 | 47 | 19 | 68 | 15,934 | 4th round | |||
| 2006 | 13 | 5th | 48 | 21 | 14 | 13 | 75 | 43 | 32 | 77 | 14,453 | 4th round | |||
| 2007 | 13 | 4th | 48 | 24 | 13 | 11 | 72 | 54 | 18 | 83 | 14,685 | 3rd round | |||
| 2008 | 15 | 3rd | 42 | 18 | 16 | 8 | 62 | 47 | 15 | 70 | 14,080 | 4th round | |||
| 2009 | 18 | 1st | 51 | 32 | 10 | 9 | 87 | 39 | 48 | 106 | 12,951 | Semi final | |||
| 2010 | J1 | 1 | 18 | 14th | 34 | 10 | 9 | 15 | 40 | 46 | -6 | 39 | 17,332 | Quarter final | 2nd round |
| 2011 | 18 | 4th | 34 | 14 | 14 | 6 | 39 | 25 | 14 | 56 | 15,656 | 2nd round | 4th round | ||
| 2012 | 18 | 2nd | 34 | 15 | 12 | 7 | 59 | 43 | 16 | 57 | 16,603 | Quarter final | 3rd round | ||
| 2013 | 18 | 13th | 34 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 41 | 38 | 3 | 45 | 14,866 | Quarter final | Quarter final | ||
| 2014 | 18 | 14th | 34 | 9 | 11 | 14 | 35 | 50 | -15 | 38 | 15,173 | Group stage | 2nd round | ||
| 2015 | 18 | 14th | 34 | 9 | 8 | 17 | 44 | 48 | -4 | 35 | 14,907 | Group stage | Quarter final | ||
| 2016 | 18 | 12th | 34 | 13 | 4 | 17 | 39 | 48 | -9 | 43 | 15,050 | Group stage | 2nd round | ||
| 2017 | 18 | 12th | 34 | 11 | 8 | 15 | 44 | 53 | -9 | 41 | 14,746 | Semi final | 2nd round | ||
| 2018 | 18 | 11th | 34 | 13 | 6 | 15 | 44 | 54 | -10 | 45 | 15,408 | Round of 16 | Runners up | ||
| 2019 | 18 | 11th | 34 | 12 | 5 | 17 | 38 | 45 | -7 | 41 | 14,971 | Play-off stage | 4th round | ||
| 2020† | 18 | 17th | 34 | 6 | 10 | 18 | 36 | 61 | -25 | 28 | 4,163 | Group stage | Not eligible | ||
| 2021 | 20 | 19th | 38 | 5 | 13 | 20 | 31 | 62 | -31 | 28 | 5,926 | Group stage | 2nd round | ||
| 2022 | J2 | 2 | 22 | 7th | 42 | 18 | 9 | 15 | 67 | 59 | 8 | 63 | 8,991 | Not eligible | 3rd round |
| 2023 | 22 | 16th | 42 | 12 | 12 | 18 | 48 | 61 | -13 | 48 | 11,215 | 3rd round | |||
| 2024 | 20 | 6th | 38 | 18 | 10 | 10 | 50 | 44 | 6 | 64 | 13,331 | 1st round | 2nd round | ||
| 2025 | 20 | 7th | 38 | 16 | 14 | 8 | 47 | 36 | 11 | 62 | 13,760 | 1st round | 2nd round | ||
| 2026 | 10 | TBD | 18 | N/A | N/A | ||||||||||
| 2026-27 | 20 | TBD | 38 | TBD | TBD | ||||||||||
| Honour | No. | Years | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tohoku Soccer League | 1 | 1994 | Tohoku Electric Power |
| Japanese Regional Football League Competition | 1 | 1994 | Tohoku Electric Power |
| J.League Division 2 | 1 | 2009 |
Wilson: 2012
Shingo Akamine:2014 (May)
Simão Mate:2019 (June)Ryoma Kida:2022 (May)Susumu Watanabe:2019 (June)Masato Harasaki:2022 (May)Norio Omura: 2009Atsushi Yanagisawa: 2015Hisato Satō: 2021Makoto Kakuda,Naoki Ishihara,Yoshiki Takahashi: 2022Shingo Tomita,Shingo Akamine: 2023Note: 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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Edmar 1995–1997
Pierre Littbarski 1996–1997Frank Ordenewitz 1996
Branko Elsner 1997Teruo Iwamoto 2001–2003Hajime Moriyasu 2002–2003Zdenko Verdenik 2003–2004
Ryang Yong-gi 2004–2019, 2022–2023
Goce Sedloski 2004Joel Santana 2006Thiago Neves 2006Humberlito Borges 2006Makoto Teguramori 2008–2013, 2021Atsushi Yanagisawa 2011–2014
Graham Arnold 2014
Danny Vukovic 2014
Michael McGlinchey 2014Daniel Schmidt 2014–2019Takuma Nishimura 2015–2018, 2020–2021Ko Itakura 2018Simão Mate Junior 2019–2021
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Yuji Rokutan (2015–2016)Takuma Nishimura (2015–2018, 2020–2021) Hajime MoriyasuFor the 2024 season.[5]
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Manager | Yoshiro Moriyama |
| First-team coach | Koichiro KatafuchiAkira Konno Yōsuke Nishi |
| Goalkeeper coach | Motoki Ueda |
| Physical coach | Makoto Muraoka |
| Analyst & coach | Takuma Deguchi |
| Chief trainer | Yakuya Matsuda |
| Trainer | Tomoki Takeda Taisuke Ikoma |
| Physiotherapist | Masaaki Taira |
| Interpreter | Rodrigo Simões |
| Competent | Shinya Naganuma |
| Deputy officer | Yutaro Miura Hiroki Ito |
| Manager | Nationality | Tenure | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start date | Finish date | ||
| Takekazu Suzuki |  Japan | 1 July 1990 | 31 December 1995 |
| Choei Sato | Japan | 1 January 1996 | 31 December 1996 |
| Branko Elsner | Slovenia | 1 February 1997 | 31 December 1997 |
| Toshiya Miura | Japan | 1 January 1998 | 31 January 1998 |
| Takekazu Suzuki | Japan | 1 February 1998 | 24 July 1999 |
| Hidehiko Shimizu | Japan | 27 July 1999 | 14 September 2003 |
| Hajime Ishii | Japan | 15 September 2003 | 20 September 2003 |
| Zdenko Verdenik | Slovenia | 21 September 2003 | 31 December 2004 |
| Satoshi Tsunami | Japan | 1 January 2005 | 30 November 2005 |
| Joel Santana | Brazil | 1 December 2005 | 31 December 2006 |
| Tatsuya Mochizuki | Japan | 1 January 2007 | 31 December 2007 |
| Makoto Teguramori | Japan | 1 February 2008 | 14 November 2013 |
| Graham Arnold | Australia | 14 November 2013 | 9 April 2014 |
| Susumu Watanabe | Japan | 10 April 2014 | 31 January 2020 |
| Takashi Kiyama | Japan | 1 February 2020 | 31 January 2021 |
| Makoto Teguramori | Japan | 1 February 2021 | 22 November 2021 |
| Masato Harasaki | Japan | 23 November 2021 | 5 September 2022 |
| Akira Ito | Japan | 6 September 2022 | 12 July 2023 |
| Takafumi Hori | Japan | 13 July 2023 | 13 November 2023 |
| Yoshiro Moriyama | Japan | 1 January 2024 | Current |
① and ② were selected as "that game I want to see again" on the J League official YouTube channel, and 2 was also selected as "10 Best Matches" byJ Chronicle Best. ② was also selected as the "Best Match" of the J30 Best Awards.
This is a project to select theJ.League "Best Eleven", "Best Goal" and "Best Match" over the past 20 years. A project held in 2013 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Japan Professional Soccer League. The mentioned two game is often featured as a legendary game in each media.
A project to select the "MVP", "Best Eleven", "Best Goal", "Best Match", and "Best Scene" of the J League over the past 30 years. An award hosted by the J.League to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the J.League in 2023.
Even in "Soccer Digest" (Japan's famous football media),the two were selected as "the best 3 selected J.League matches" by the reporter in charge of Sendai. Sendai'sYoshiaki Ota, who scored the equalizing goal againstKawasaki, said, "I think it was a goal that everyone worked together, including the thoughts of my teammates."
*The notation of the match card and the stadium where the match was held is at the time of the match.
| Game | Date/Stadium | Overview | Match data | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ① | 2001 J League Division 2 Round 44 Kyoto Purple Sanga FC 0-1 Vegalta Sendai | November 18, 2001 | The long-awaited J1 first promotion match. Head-to-head competition between leader Kyoto and 3rd place Sendai in the final round. The first promotion to J1 as a club in the Tohoku region is decided. | Official record |
| ② | 2011 J League Division 1 Round 7 Kawasaki Frontale 1-2 Vegalta Sendai | April 23, 2011 | The first match after the suspension of the league match due tothe Great East Japan Earthquake. Sendai, who suffered severe damage to the club itself, came from behind to win. Recorded the club's first victory with Todoroki Stadium. | Official record |
Sendai also participated in theACL for the first time in 2013.
It was a tournament with many challenges other than matches, such as long-distance travel, overcrowded schedule with the J.League and local climate, but they did not lose in the extreme cold ofNanjing and the intense heat ofThailand and the final match was a draw or better in the qualifying.
It was a good point to leave the possibility of breaking through.
| Season | Competition | Round | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | AFC Champions League | Group E |  Buriram United | 1–1 | 1–1 | 4th |
 Jiangsu Sainty | 1–2 | 0–0 | ||||
 FC Seoul | 1–0 | 2–1 |
| Home - 1st kits | ||||
          1999-2001 |      2002-2003 |      2004-2006 |      2007-2008 |      2009-2010 |
     2011-2012 |      2013-2014 |      2015 |      2016 |      2017 |
     2018 |      2019 |     2020 |      2021 |    2022 |
    2023 |      2024 |    2025 - | ||
| Away - 2nd kits | ||||
    1999-2001 |     2002-2003 |      2004-2006 |      2007-2008 |     2009-2010 |
     2011-2012 |      2013-2014 |      2015 |      2016 |      2017 |
     2018 |      2019 |      2020 |      2021 |      2022 |
     2023 |      2024 |      2025 - | ||
| Other - 3rd kits | ||||
     2009 15th Anniversary |      2014 20th Anniversary |      2016 Great East Japan Earthquake 5th Anniversary Reconstruction |      2017 SUMMER |      2018 SUMMER |
     2019 25th Anniversary |      2021 Limited |      2022 Limited |     2024 30th Anniversary |      2025 Limited |
| Current Rank | Country | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 175 |  | Nantong Zhiyun FC | 1290 |
| 176 | | Qingdao Jonoon | 1290 |
| 177 |  | Kitchee | 1290 |
| 178 |  | Pas Hamedan | 1288 |
| 179 | | Vegalta Sendai | 1288 |
| 180 | | V-Varen Nagasaki | 1288 |
"Shichigashuku Town's Empty House Revitalization Project: Let's Build a Vegalta House" will start in July 2021 with the support of 143 crowdfunding people and a total of 78 local workers.[7] It is involved in a social collaboration activity, in line withGoal 11 "Sustainable cities and communities" andGoal 17 "Partnership for the goals" of theSDGs basic guidelines.[8][9][10]
