Matsumoto Yamaga FC

Matsumoto Yamaga Football Club (松本山雅フットボールクラブ, Matsumoto Yamaga Futtobōru Kurabu) or simply Matsumoto Yamaga (松本山雅FC, Matsumoto Yamaga Efu Shī) is a Japanese football (soccer) club based in the city of Matsumoto, located in the Nagano Prefecture. The club currently plays in the J3 League, Japanese third tier of professional football.

Matsumoto Yamaga
松本山雅

Full name	Matsumoto Yamaga Football Club
Nickname(s)	Ptarmigans, Gans
Founded	1965 (1965) as Yamaga Club 2004 (2004) as Matsumoto Yamaga
Stadium	Matsumoto Stadium (Alwin) Matsumoto, Nagano
Capacity	20,396
Chairman	Fumiyuki Kanda
Manager	Masahiro Shimoda
League	J3 League
2023	J3 League, 9th of 20
Website	http://www.yamaga-fc.com/
Home colours Away colours

History

The club was founded in 1965 by the players who represented Nagano Prefecture. The players frequented a cafe called Yamaga in front of Matsumoto railway station and initially they were simply called Yamaga Club. In 2004, they were renamed as Matsumoto Yamaga when nonprofit organisation Alwin Sports Project were set up to support the club with the intention of promotion to J. League. The very coffee shop where they founded the club no longer exists, but the club opened a new one in 2017.

In the 2007 and 2008 season they finished respectively 1st and 4th in the Hokushin'etsu First Division, but failed to gain the promotion to the Japan Football League as they exited at the group stage of the Regional League promotion series against other regional champions. 2008 also brought a crucial Emperor's Cup run, where they defeated former Japanese champions Shonan Bellmare in the third round by penalty kicks, only to be eliminated 8–0 by Vissel Kobe.

The 2009 season brought inconsistency, as they took 4th place in the regional league but knocked Urawa Red Diamonds out of the Emperor's Cup in the second round, their biggest giant-killing ever.

By virtue of winning the Shakaijin Cup, they earned a berth in the Regional League promotion series, and won the series at home to earn promotion to the Japan Football League for 2010. They earned 7th place on their first season in the third tier.

In 2011, despite a season thrown off by the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and the resulting inability of Sony Sendai to play a full schedule, Yamaga earned 4th place and were promoted to J. League Division 2. After three seasons they earned their first ever promotion to J1 League, only to be relegated after one season.

After failing to secure promotion in 2016 and 2017, Yamaga finished their 2018 season at the top of the J2 table, winning their first ever league title and securing automatic promotion to J1 in the process.

This began the downfall of Matsumoto Yamaga, due to the club's bad idea of high player turnover. Ahead of the 2020 J2 League, Yamaga turned over more than 20 players, in which began a slow start in 2020, as the club also went through many winless runs, including 5 losses in a row, which at the time was a record number of defeats for the club in J2. Eventually, in September 2020, manager Keiichiro Nuno was sacked, and the club finished 13th that season. Things were about to get worse as they continued high player turnover, with twenty-seven players leaving and twenty-four coming to the club before the 2021 J2 League. In June that year, Nuno's replacement, Kei Shibata, was fired from the club, and was replaced with Hiroshi Nanami, who couldn't help the club escape relegation after finishing dead last that season.

In 2022, Matsumoto played its first season on the J3. Matsumoto failed to be promoted back to the J2 League, as it finished on fourth place in the final standings of the 2022 J3 League season. The club ended tied on points with Kagoshima United, with both having earned 66 points in 34 matches. However, the goal difference stood out in Kagoshima's favour. The club will play its third consecutive season at the J3 during 2024.

Rivalry

The biggest rival of Matsumoto Yamaga are the prefectural neighbours and former Hokushin'etsu League fellows Nagano Parceiro. Matches between those teams are labelled "Shinshū derby" and generate a lot of interest in both cities. For 2011 season, Parceiro joined their rivals in JFL bringing the derby to the national level.

Stadium

Matsumoto Stadium (Alwin)

Main article: Matsumoto Stadium

Matsumoto Yamaga's home ground is Matsumoto Stadium (popularly known as Alwin) located in the Kambayashi area of Matsumoto city. The stadium has a capacity of 20,000 (16,000 seats and 4,000 standings). It is the third largest Sport venue in Nagano Prefecture.

Mascot

The mascot of the club is named "Gans-kun" (ガンズくん), who is a Ptarmigan (ターミガン, Tāmigan), the symbol bird of Nagano Prefecture.

Theme song

The club's theme song is "wanna be a superstar" by local rock band ASIAN2.

Affiliated clubs

• Geylang International (2016–present)

On 23 November 2016, Matsumoto Yamaga and Geylang International signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in a press event which was held at the Marina Bay Floating Platform. This MOU will enable both clubs to establish a platform to exchange expertise and knowledge with the objective of promoting cohesion and development of football between the two clubs. The MOU spells out possible areas of collaboration such as the exchange of players and technical staff for training attachments and loans. Geylang will be looking to select promising players from its Active SG-GIFC Soccer Academy and junior teams to send on short training stints with Matsumoto Yamaga while the Japanese club is also looking into the possibility of sending players from their junior team to Singapore for pre-season training stints. Amongst the key initiatives of the partnership with Matsumoto Yamaga is the exchange programmes for head coach, Mohd Noor Ali, who had a one-year attachment with the club in 2018, where he guided the club U18 B team to the Japan FA's Under-18 Football League Nagano prefecture title while on 17 August 2018, Anders Aplin become the first Singaporean football player to sign for a J.League team signing on loan until the end of the 2018 J2 League season in November.

On 30 October 2022, both clubs reaffirmed their close and long-standing relationship as Geylang International officials went to Japan to explore future collaborations going into the seventh year of partnership since 2016. Geylang International has a memorandum of understanding with J.League outfits, Matsumoto Yamaga that was signed in 2016, while Epson's relationship with the club also dates back to the same year when it became the club's platinum sponsor. In the last seven years, Epson has enjoyed premium hospitality access to the club's home matches and has also supported the Singaporean football community and youths with the staging of the Epson Youth Cup.

League & cup record

Champions

Runners-up

Third place

Promoted

Relegated

League												J. League Cup	Emperor's Cup
Season	Division	Tier	Pos	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1975	Hokushin'etsu	3	6th	8	3	1	4	14	13	1	7	Not eligible	Did not qualify
1976			6th	9	2	4	3	17	14	3	8
1977			8th	9	2	3	4	17	22	−5	7
1978			10th	9	1	0	8	9	27	−18	2
1979			2nd	9	6	1	2	18	11	7	13
1980			4th	9	6	2	1	19	8	11	14
1981			3rd	9	5	1	3	15	9	6	11
1982			5th	9	4	1	4	11	10	1	9
1983			7th	9	2	3	4	12	14	−2	7
1984			7th	9	2	3	4	13	15	−2	7
1985			1st	9	7	1	1	23	7	16	15
1986			4th	9	4	2	3	21	13	8	10
1987			4th	9	4	2	3	12	11	1	10
1988			3rd	9	4	3	2	19	8	11	11
1989			2nd	9	6	1	2	17	10	7	13
1990			4th	9	3	4	2	16	14	2	10
1991			5th	9	4	1	4	17	12	5	9
1992		4	5th	9	4	3	2	15	12	3	11
1993			6th	9	3	3	3	15	17	−2	9
1994		3	5th	9	2	5	2	11	13	−2	9
1995			6th	9	2	2	5	8	14	−6	8
1996			5th	9	3	2	4	9	19	−10	11
1997			8th	9	2	1	6	11	23	−12	7		1st round
1998			3rd	8	4	-	4	17	24	−7	12		Did not qualify
1999		4	9th	9	2(1)	-	7	4	29	−25	4
2000			8th	8	1	0	7	6	18	−12	3
2001			9th	8	0	2	6	4	24	−20	2
2002			8th	9	3	1	5	12	18	−6	9
2003			9th	12	1	4	7	13	42	−29	7
2004	Hokushin'etsu (Div. 2)	5	6th	14	4	2	8	16	27	−11	14
2005			1st	13	8	3	2	36	11	25	27
2006	Hokushin'etsu (Div. 1)	4	2nd	14	11	1	2	34	10	24	34		2nd round
2007			1st	14	10	1	3	47	15	32	31		Did not qualify
2008			4th	14	7	3	4	31	18	13	24		4th round
2009			4th	14	9	2	3	40	14	26	29		3rd round
2010	JFL	3	7th	34	15	7	12	48	41	7	52		2nd round
2011			4th	34	17	8	8	60	38	22	59		4th round
2012	J2 League	2	12th	42	15	14	13	46	43	3	59		2nd round
2013			7th	42	19	9	14	54	54	0	66		3rd Round
2014			2nd	42	24	11	7	65	35	30	83		3rd round
2015	J1 League	1	16th	34	7	7	20	30	54	−24	28	Group stage	4th round
2016	J2 League	2	3rd	42	24	12	6	62	32	30	84	Not eligible	2nd round
2017			8th	42	19	9	14	61	45	16	66		4th round
2018			1st	42	21	14	7	54	34	20	77		3rd round
2019	J1 League	1	17th	34	6	13	15	21	40	-19	31	Group stage	2nd round
2020	J2 League	2	13th	42	13	15	14	44	52	-8	54	Group stage	Did not qualify
2021			22nd	42	7	13	22	36	71	-35	34	Not eligible	3rd round
2022	J3 League	3	4th	34	20	6	8	46	33	13	66		2nd round
2023			9th	38	15	9	14	51	47	4	54		Did not qualify
2024			TBD	38								2nd round	Did not qualify

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
• Source: J.League Data Site

Honours

Matsumoto Yamaga FC Honours

Honour	No.	Years
Hokushin'etsu Football League Div. 1	2	1985, 2007
Hokushin'etsu Football League Div. 2	1	2005
Shakaijin Cup	1	2009
Regional League promotion series	1	2009
J2 League	1	2018

Current squad

As of 7 August 2024.

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	Issei Ouchi
2	DF	JPN	Taiki Miyabe
4	DF	JPN	Shohei Takahashi
5	DF	JPN	Masato Tokida
6	MF	JPN	Kazuma Yamaguchi
7	DF	JPN	Kazuaki Mawatari
8	MF	JPN	Sho Sumida
9	FW	JPN	Kazuma Takai
10	MF	JPN	Yusuke Kikui
11	FW	JPN	Hayato Asakawa
13	DF	JPN	Yuya Hashiuchi
14	FW	JPN	Tsubasa Ando
15	MF	JPN	Kosuke Yamamoto
16	GK	JPN	Tomohiko Murayama
17	DF	JPN	Ryuhei Yamamoto
20	MF	JPN	Rio Maeda

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
21	GK	ESP	Víctor Ibáñez
22	DF	JPN	Kazuaki Saso
23	MF	JPN	Yuta Taki
25	MF	JPN	Jiro Nakamura (on loan from Gamba Osaka)
27	DF	JPN	Jiyo Ninomiya
30	MF	JPN	Ryuji Kokubu
32	MF	JPN	Shusuke Yonehara
33	FW	JPN	Naoto Arai
35	GK	JPN	Shoma Kanda
36	MF	JPN	Gen Matsumura DSP
40	DF	JPN	Daiki Higuchi
41	MF	JPN	Kaiga Murakoshi
42	FW	JPN	Sora Tanaka
44	DF	JPN	Takato Nonomura
46	MF	JPN	Reo Yasunaga
48	DF	JPN	So Fujitani

Out on loan

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

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
28	DF	JPN	Yuya Fujimoto (at ReinMeer Aomori)
—	GK	JPN	Haruto Usui (at Sanfrecce Hiroshima)
—	DF	JPN	Ko Shimura (at Briobecca Urayasu)

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	MF	JPN	Taku Inafuku (at Veertien Mie)
—	FW	JPN	Mao Hamana (at Atletico Suzuka)
—	FW	BRA	Lucas Rian (at Ceará)

Club officials

Position	Name
Manager	Masahiro Shimoda
Assistant manager	Tomonobu Hayakawa
Development coach	Nozomu Kato
Technical coach	Kohei Takeishi
Goalkeeper coach	Tetsuro Yoshimoto
Physical Coach	Rui Kokubo
Interpreter	Felipe
Doctor	Takashige Momose
Chief trainer	Koji Inoue
Trainer	Chisato Chiba Fumiya Sugiuchi
Competent	Makoto Shiraki
Side affairs	Kazumasa Hirabayashi Kumpei Saito

Managerial history

Manager	Nationality	Tenure
		Start	Finish
Katsua Kobayashi	Japan	2004
Keiju Karashima	Japan	1 February 2005	31 January 2008
Hideo Yoshizawa	Japan	21 February 2008	8 June 2011
Yoshiyuki Katō	Japan	9 June 2011	31 January 2012
Yasuharu Sorimachi	Japan	1 February 2012	31 January 2020
Keiichirō Nuno	Japan	1 February 2020	24 September 2020
Kei Shibata	Japan	25 September 2020	20 June 2021
Hiroshi Nanami	Japan	21 June 2021	31 January 2023
Masahiro Shimoda	Japan	1 February 2023	Current

Kit evolution

First kit - home
2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
2010	2011	2012	2013	2014
2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
2020	2021	2022	2023	2024 -

Second kit - away
2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
2021	2022	2023	2024 -

Third kit
2015 Club 50th anniversary	2016 Mountain Day	2017 3rd	2017 Mountain Day	2018 Mountain Day
2019 Mountain Day	2020 Club 55th anniversary	2021 SP	2022 Summer	2023 Summer
2024 Summer

External links

• Official website (in Japanese)