Roasso Kumamoto (ロアッソ熊本, Roasso Kumamoto) is a Japanese football club based in Kumamoto, the capital city of Kumamoto Prefecture. The club currently plays in the J2 League, Japan's 2nd tier of professional league football.

Roasso Kumamoto
ロアッソ熊本
Full nameRoasso Kumamoto
Nickname(s)Roasso
Founded1969; 55 years ago (1969) as NTT Kumamoto SC
StadiumEgao Kenkō Stadium
Kumamoto, Kumamoto
Capacity32,000
ChairmanTomoyoshi Ikeya
ManagerTakeshi Oki
LeagueJ2 League
2023J2 League, 14th of 22
Websiteroasso-k.com
Current season

Name origin

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Roasso is a portmanteau of the Italian words rosso and asso, meaning "red ace".

History

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Early years (1969–2004)

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The club was founded as the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation (Den-Den Kōsha, current NTT) Kumamoto Soccer Club in 1969. The club was promoted to the Kyushu Soccer League in 1983.

According to the NTT's privatization in 1985, the club was renamed as NTT Kyushu Soccer Club in 1988. During the NTT Kyushu era, the club won five Kyushu Soccer League titles and one All Japan Senior Football Championship. The club changed their name again to NTT Kumamoto Football Club in 2000.

The club changed their name to NTT West Kumamoto Football Club in 2001 as the NTT was divided into NTT East and NTT West. The club was promoted to the JFL in 2000 after finishing 3rd in 24th JFL Promotion Tournament.[1] The NTT relinquished the ownership of the club in 2002 and community oriented Alouette Kumamoto Football Club was born. Alouette is a French word meaning skylark, the bird of Kumamoto Prefecture. The club finished at the 17th in this season and was relegated to the Kyushu Soccer League.

Roasso Kumamoto (2005–)

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The club name was changed again to Rosso Kumamoto in 2005. Rosso means red in Italian. After they won the Kyushu Soccer League and finished at the 3rd in the Regional League play-off tournament, the club was promoted to the JFL.

The club was recently[when?] featured in J.League program to introduce the club to followers of the professional league. Rosso's second-place finish in the 2007 JFL season was enough to earn promotion into the J.League (J2 League) for the 2008 season.

The club changed their name to current Roasso Kumamoto in 2008. The previous name Rosso was a registered trademark of another company, so the club could not use it due to a risk of copyright infringement.

After 11 years spent in the J2 League, Kumamoto was relegated to the J3 League on 2018.

After three years at J3 League, Kumamoto returned to J2, after being promoted as the J3 champions in 2021, just a point ahead of Iwate Grulla Morioka in the league table.

In 2022, Kumamoto finished in 4th place with 62 points and advanced to J1 promotion/relegation playoffs after an arguably surprising performance in the 2022 J2 League. Roasso played against the 4th and 5th-placed teams of the J2 season, Oita Trinita and Montedio Yamagata, in matches that ended 1–1 and 2–2, respectively. As the league gave the advantage for the higher-placed team in the league standings to qualify for the next round, Roasso were able to qualify for the play-off finals, despite not winning any match. This time, Kyoto Sanga, as the J1 League team in question, earned the seeding advantage, meaning that Roasso needed to win this match in order to earn promotion. The match ended in a 1–1 draw and Roasso were not promoted for the J1.

Rivalries

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The traditional rival of Roasso Kumamoto is Kagoshima United, the prefectural neighbours and former Kyushu Soccer League fellows since 1983 until 2005, except 20012002. Matches between the two clubs are labelled Hisatsu derby (肥薩ダービー, "Kumamoto-Kagoshima derby") and generate a lot of interest in both prefectures.

League & cup record

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Champions Runners-up Third place Promoted Relegated
League J.League
Cup
Emperor's
Cup
Season Div. Tier Teams Pos. P W (PK) D L (PK) F A GD Pts Attendance/G
as Alouette Kumamoto
2002 JFL 3 18 17th 17 3 4 10 16 28 -12 13 672 Not eligible 3rd round
2003 Kyushu Soccer League 4 12 5th 22 11 (3) - 6 (2) 47 35 12 41 - 1st round
2004 10 4th 18 10 (0) - 7 (1) 63 38 5 31 - 3rd round
as Rosso Kumamoto
2005 Kyushu Soccer League 4 10 1st 18 15 (0) - 1 (2) 45 11 34 47 - Not eligible 1st round
2006 Japan Football League 3 18 5th 34 20 6 8 64 39 25 66 3,765 3rd round
2007 18 2nd 34 21 6 7 65 34 31 69 3,569 1st round
as Roasso Kumamoto
2008 J2 2 15 12th 42 10 13 19 46 72 −26 43 5,279 Not eligible 3rd round
2009 18 14th 51 12 11 25 66 82 −16 58 6,006 2nd round
2010 19 7th 36 14 12 10 39 43 −4 54 6,907 3rd round
2011 20 11th 38 13 12 13 33 44 −11 51 6,928 2nd round
2012 22 14th 42 15 10 17 40 48 −8 55 5,855 4th round
2013 22 19th 42 10 13 19 40 70 −30 43 6,228 3rd round
2014 22 13th 42 13 15 14 45 53 −8 54 7,002 2nd round
2015 22 13th 42 13 14 15 42 45 −3 53 7,037 3rd round
2016 22 16th 42 12 10 20 38 53 −15 46 5,543 2nd round
2017 22 21st 42 9 10 23 36 59 −23 37 6,557 3rd round
2018 22 21st 42 9 7 26 50 79 −29 34 5,269 2nd round
2019 J3 3 18 5th 34 16 9 9 45 39 6 57 5,533 2nd round
2020 18 8th 34 16 6 12 56 47 9 54 1,422 Did not qualify
2021 15 1st 28 15 9 4 39 20 19 54 3,342 2nd round
2022 J2 2 22 4th 42 18 13 11 58 48 10 67 4,039 3rd round
2023 22 14th 42 13 10 19 52 53 −1 49 6,278 Semi-finals
2024 20 12th 38 13 7 18 53 62 -9 46 9,814 2nd round 2nd round
2025 20 TBD 38 TBD TBD

Key

  • Pos. = Position in league; P = Games played; W = Games won; D = Games drawn; L = Games lost; F = Goals scored; A = Goals conceded; GD = Goals difference; Pts = Points gained
  • W (PK) = Games Won on penalty kicks; L (PK) = Games Lost on penalty kicks
  • Attendance/G = Average home league attendance
  • 2020 & 2021 seasons attendances' reduced by COVID-19 worldwide pandemic
  • Source: J.League Data Site
  • KSL = Kyushu Soccer League (regional league)

Honours

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Roasso Kumamoto honours
Honour No. Years
Kyushu Soccer League 7 1991, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2005
All Japan Senior Football Championship 2 1998, 2005 (shared)
J3 League 1 2021

League history

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  • Regional (Kyushu): 1983–2000
  • Division 3 (JFL): 2001–2002
  • Regional (Kyushu): 2003–2005
  • Division 3 (JFL): 2006–2007
  • Division 2 (J2): 2008–2018
  • Division 3 (J3): 2019–2021
  • Division 2 (J2): 2022–

Current squad

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As of 2 August 2024.[2]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK   JPN Ryuga Tashiro
2 DF   JPN Kohei Kuroki
3 MF   JPN Ryotaro Onishi
4 MF   JPN Itto Fujita
5 DF   JPN Kaito Abe
7 MF   JPN Yuhi Takemoto
8 MF   JPN Shuhei Kamimura
9 MF   JPN Yuki Omoto
10 MF   JPN Shun Ito
11 FW   KOR Bae Jeong-min
13 DF   JPN Wataru Iwashita (on loan from Kashiwa Reysol)
15 MF   JPN Shohei Mishima
16 MF   JPN Rimu Matsuoka
17 MF   JPN Koya Fujii
No. Pos. Nation Player
18 FW   JPN Daiki Ishikawa
19 MF   JPN Chihiro Konagaya
20 FW   JPN Shun Osaki
21 MF   JPN Ayumu Toyoda
23 GK   JPN Yuya Sato
24 DF   JPN Takuro Ezaki
28 FW   JPN Keito Kumashiro
30 MF   JPN Tatsuki Higashiyama
31 GK   JPN Shibuki Sato
38 DF   JPN Yamato Okada (on loan from Consadole Sapporo)
41 GK   JPN Tetsuhiro Miyamoto Type 2
42 GK   JPN Tomoki Uemura Type 2
48 FW   JPN Shoji Toyama (on loan from Gamba Osaka)

Out on loan

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
6 DF   JPN Makoto Okazaki (at FC Gifu)
14 DF   JPN Takumi Sakai (at Fukushima United)
25 MF   JPN Tsubasa Togo (at FC Tokushima)
26 DF   JPN Kaito Miyazaki (at FC Kariya)
No. Pos. Nation Player
29 FW   JPN Yutaka Michiwaki (at   SK Beveren)
DF   JPN Yuya Aizawa (at Criacao Shinjuku)
MF   JPN Yuto Taniyama (at FC Tokushima)

Coaching staff

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Name Role
Manager   Takeshi Oki
Assistant manager   Chikara Fujimoto
First-team coach   Yasushi Takahashi
  Shinya Masushima
Goalkeeper coach   Ryuichi Ito
Chief trainer   Ryoichi Yamamoto
Athletic trainer   Shumpei Kawamura
Physiotherapist   Keigo Manabe
Physical advisor   Fumihiko Nagasaki
Competent   Satoshi Sekigami
Side affairs   Taichi Nakayama
  Kenta Shioikawa

Managerial history

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Manager Nationality Tenure
Start Finish
Tomoyoshi Ikeya   Japan 1 February 2005 31 January 2009
Makoto Kitano   Japan 1 February 2009 31 January 2010
Takuya Takagi   Japan 1 February 2010 31 January 2013
Yasushi Yoshida   Japan 1 February 2013 10 July 2013
Tomoyoshi Ikeya   Japan 10 July 2013 31 January 2014
Takeshi Ono   Japan 1 February 2014 25 November 2015
Hiroyuki Kiyokawa   Japan 28 November 2015 14 June 2017
Tomoyoshi Ikeya   Japan 14 June 2017 31 January 2018
Hiroki Shibuya   Japan 1 February 2018 31 January 2020
Takeshi Ōki   Japan 1 February 2020 Current

Kit and colours

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Colour, sponsors and manufacturers

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Roasso Kumamoto's club colour is red, representing burning passion and desire for victory.

Season(s) Main Shirt Sponsor Collarbone Sponsor Additional Sponsor(s) Kit Manufacturer
2018 Hirata - - Mynavi Shiratake (1st)
Shiratake White (2nd)
Kumamoto Electric Power - Puma
2019 サトウロジック
2020 Shiratake (1st)
Shiratake White (2nd)
- -
2021 - -
2022 RKKCS Out-Sourcing Technology
2023 Higo Bank -


Kit evolution

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Past seasons

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References

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  1. ^ "Promotion to JFL". www.rsssf.org/. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
  2. ^ "選手・スタッフ". roasso-k.com. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
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