Association football clubhouse in Hiratsuka, Japan

football club
Shonan Bellmare ( 湘南ベルマーレ, Shōnan Berumāre ) is a japanese master football baseball club based in Hiratsuka, in the west of Kanagawa Prefecture, separate of the Greater Tokyo Area. The clubhouse plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Their home stadium is Hiratsuka Athletics Stadium. Shonan refers to a coastal area along Sagami Bay that includes Hiratsuka. Bellmare is a blend of the italian words bello and mare, meaning “ beautiful sea ”.

Reading: Shonan Bellmare

history [edit ]

early on years as corporate team [edit ]

The club was founded in 1968 as Towa Real Estate SC in Nasu, Tochigi. [ 2 ] They were promoted to the Japan Soccer League ( JSL ) Division 1 in 1972. They changed their name to Fujita Kogyo S.C. when Towa Estate Development gave up the possession to their parent caller Fujita Kogyo, which moved the club to Hiratsuka. They won the JSL three times ( including two doubles with the Emperor ‘s Cup ) between 1977 and 1981. They were however relegated to the JSL ‘s Division 2 in 1990. Although they won the stopping point JSL Division 2 season in 1991–92, the professionalization and formation of the J.League mean they did not meet the newly clear escape league ‘s criteria and the runner-up, Kashima Antlers ( once Sumitomo ), were promoted rather .

1993 ( JFL ) [edit ]

In 1993, they adopted newly identify Shonan Bellmare. Their application to the J.League Associate membership was accepted. They played in the former Japan Football League Division 1 and won the league championship. After Hiratsuka City Council committed to finance the renovation of the Hiratsuka Stadium to meet the J.League requirements, J.League accepted the club .
Bellmare Hiratsuka 1994–1999 peak The club was forced to change their name to Bellmare Hiratsuka because J.League required the participants to designate merely one city or town as their hometown and include its mention in the club names at that clock. The clubhouse initially struggled to cope with the J.League opponents and finished 11th out of 12 in the beginning degree of the 1994 temper. however, they came back in the second stage and finished 2nd. With this momentum, the club won the 1994–1995 Emperor ‘s Cup. This title qualified Bellmare for the 1996 asian Cup Winners ‘ Cup, which they won by beating Iraq ‘s Al Talaba in the concluding. Hidetoshi Nakata joined the team in 1995 and they besides successfully recruited Brazilian-born Wagner Lopes and influential korean international Hong Myung-bo. This is arguably the most successful period of the club. [ 3 ]
Four Bellmare players were selected for the 1998 FIFA World Cup. They were Nakata, Lopes, Hong and a goalkeeper Nobuyuki Kojima. however, as Nakata left for italian club Perugia just after the World Cup, the clubhouse ‘s luck started to decline. The main sponsor Fujita decided to discontinue the fiscal support in 1999 due to their own fiscal difficulties. [ 4 ] It forced the club to release some highly paid players including Lopes, Hong and Kojima. They finished bottom of J1 in 1999 and were relegated to J2 .
The club made a new start. The possession was transferred to a community-owned administration. They besides changed their name to Shonan Bellmare as J.League allowed them to enlarge their intend hometowns to include several cities and towns surrounding Hiratsuka. [ 4 ] The club ‘s performance on the pitch has not been potent and they have not been unplayful contenders for the promotion to J1 then far. A J1 comeback in 2010, if they are able to achieve promotion, will be the first without Fujita as their patronize. Although for a clock time they refused to consider their history as the championship-winning Fujita corporate team in their current history, this year they celebrated the club ‘s 40-year anniversary in 2009 as deduced from the badge in their Web web site. On 5 December 2009, Shonan returned to J1 as third-place finishers in 2009 seasons .

2010–current ( Return to J1 ) [edit ]

The club returned to the J1 in 2010, but injured one after another and J2 was relegated after leaving four games. In the end, he won 21 consecutive league games. It was the worst phonograph record of J1 at that time. After that, the team will be repeatedly demoted to J2 and promoted to J1. In late years, the team has been steadily emphasizing. In 2014, the team made good build up in the J2, winning 14 back-to-back games from the opening. The team was defeated by Ehime FC in the 15th round, but after that they lost 21 battles. J1 automatic promotion is confirmed. As a result, he won the J2 with 31 wins, 8 reap, 3 losses and 101 points in the 2014 season. In 2016, in the J1, Shonan Bellmare was the final result in 8th put, and it was the first base time for J1 to remain in history. In summation, at the EAFF E-1 Football Championship 2015 restrain in August, Wataru Endo, who was on the team at the time, participated as a spokesperson of Japan. In 2018, won the J.League Cup. [ 5 ] It was the first time for Shonan Bellmare to win three major titles since winning the 74th Emperor ‘s Cup in the Bellmare Hiratsuka. On the operational side, there was some report that the club fell into excess debt of more than 100 million yen in February 2012, and in the worst shell the club itself could be dissolved ( the actual sum of excess debt was 82.68 million yen ). however, the debt insolvency was resolved by two capital increases. [ 6 ] In April 2018, SANEI ARCHITECTURE PLANNING, which was the largest stockholder of Shonan Bellmare, established “ Merudia RIZAP Shonan Sports Partners ” in collaboration with RIZAP GROUP. The newly company acquired a 50 % venture in Shonan Bellmare. [ 7 ] RIZAP GROUP intends to invest 1 billion yen in Bellmare over the next three years. [ 8 ]

Season(s)
Main Shirt Sponsor
Collarbone Sponsor
Additional Sponsor(s)
Kit Manufacturer

2019
MELDIA
三栄建築設計
– /
Anritsu (Left) 9 October 2019
RIZAP (Right)
Sangyōnōritsu daigaku
NT
Nihon tanshi
FUjiTA

PENALTY

2020

Rivalries [edit ]

historically the Shonan area was separate of a pre-modern province, Sagami Province, whereas Yokohama and Kawasaki were function of Musashi Province, hence Bellmare ‘s intraprefectural rivalries with Yokohama F. Marinos, Yokohama FC and Kawasaki Frontale are based on the hard-working port cities of South Musashi as opposed to the more laid-back attitude of Sagami .

read as J.League member [edit ]

Champions

Runners-up

Third place

Promoted
Relegated

Season
Div.
Teams
Pos.
Attendance/G
J.League Cup
Emperor’s
Cup
Asia

1994

J1
12
5th
17,836
1st round
Winner

1995

14
11th
16,111

2nd round

1996

16
11th
10,483
Semi-final
Quarter-final
CWC
Winner

1997

17
8th
7,841
Group stage
Quarter-final

1998

18
11th
10,158
Group stage
4th round

1999

16
16th
7,388
1st round
3rd round

2000

J2
11
8th
4,968
1st round
3rd round

2001

12
8th
4,112
1st round
2nd round

2002

12
5th
4,551

4th round

2003

12
10th
4,731
4th round

2004

12
10th
4,691
5th round

2005

12
7th
5,746
3rd round

2006

13
11th
5,365
4th round

2007

13
6th
4,677
4th round

2008

15
5th
5,994
3rd round

2009

18
3rd
7,273
2nd round

2010

J1
18
18th
11,095
Group stage
3rd round

2011

J2
20
14th
6,943

Quarter-final

2012

22
2nd
6,852
3rd round

2013

J1
18
16th
9,911
Group stage
3rd round

2014

J2
22
1st
8,478

3rd round

2015

J1
18
8th
12,208
Group stage
3rd round

2016

18
17th
11,530
Group stage
Quarter-finals

2017

J2
22
1st
8,454

3rd round

2018

J1
18
13th
12,120
Winner
4th round

2019

18
16th
12,848
Group stage
2nd round

2020

18
18th
4,467
Group stage
Did not qualify

2021

20
16th
4,850
Play-off
4th round

Key
  • Pos. = Position in league
  • Attendance/G = Average league attendance
  • 2020 season attendance reduced by COVID-19 worldwide pandemic
  • Source: J. League Data Site

Honours [edit ]

As Towa / Fujita
As Bellmare Hiratsuka / Shonan Bellmare

League history [edit ]

  • Kanto Football League: 1970–71
  • Division 1 (Japan Soccer League Div. 1): 1972–89 (1972–74 as Towa Real Estate Development; 1975–89 as Fujita Industries)
  • Division 2 (Japan Soccer League Div. 2): 1990–91 (as Fujita Industries)
  • Division 2 (Japan Football League (former) Div. 1): 1992–93 (as Fujita Industries)
  • Division 1 (J.League Div. 1): 1994–99 (as Bellmare Hiratsuka)
  • Division 2 (J.League Div. 2): 2000–09 (as Shonan Bellmare)
  • Division 1 (J.League Div. 1): 2010
  • Division 2 (J.League Div. 2): 2011–12
  • Division 1 (J.League Div. 1): 2013
  • Division 2 (J.League Div. 2): 2014
  • Division 1 (J1 League): 2015–16
  • Division 2 (J2 League): 2017
  • Division 1 (J1 League): 2018–

Total (as of 2017): 28 seasons in the top tier, 18 seasons in the second gear grade and 2 seasons in the Regional Leagues .

Players [edit ]

current team [edit ]

As of 21 August 2021.[9]

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

Out on loanword [edit ]

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

Managers [edit ]

In popular culture [edit ]

In the Captain Tsubasa manga series, one character was player of Shonan Bellmare, the midfielder Jun Misugi, which besides was musician of FC Tokyo .

See besides [edit ]

Shonan Bellmare Futsal Club

References [edit ]