Shonan Bellmare

Early years as corporate team (1968–1992)

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. In 1975 they changed their name to "Fujita Kogyo SC" when Towa Estate Development gave up the ownership to their parent company Fujita Industries, which moved the club headquarters to Tokyo and their training ground to Hiratsuka one year later in 1976.

Fujita Kogyo won the JSL three times (including two doubles with the Emperor's Cup) between 1977 and 1981. They were nevertheless relegated to the JSL's Division 2 in 1990. Although they won the last JSL Division 2 season in 1991–92, the professionalisation and formation of the J.League meant they did not meet the new top flight league's criteria and the runners-up, Kashima Antlers (formerly Sumitomo), were promoted instead.

Golden era (1993–1997)

In 1993, The club was forced to change their name to Bellmare Hiratsuka because J.League required the participants to designate only one city or town as their hometown and include its name in the club names at that time. So the club adopted the new name and their application to the J.League Associate membership was accepted. Bellmare Hiratsuka played in the former Japan Football League Division 1 and won the league championship. After Hiratsuka City Council committed to finance the refurbishment of the Hiratsuka Stadium to meet the J.League requirements, J.League accepted the club to compete in the league.

The club initially struggled to cope with the J.League opponents and finished 11th out of 12 in the first stage of the 1994 season. 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 final. Hidetoshi Nakata joined the team in 1995 and they also successfully recruited Brazilian-born Wagner Lopes and influential Korean international Hong Myung-bo. This is arguably the most successful period of the club.^[3]

Difficult period (1998–1999)

Four Bellmare players were selected for the 1998 FIFA World Cup. They were Nakata, Lopes, Hong (for South Korea) and a goalkeeper Nobuyuki Kojima. However, as Nakata left for Italian club Perugia just after the World Cup, the club's fortune started to decline. The main sponsor Fujita decided to discontinue the financial support in 1999 due to their own financial 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.

J2 League (2000–2009)

The club made a new start. The ownership was transferred to a community-owned organisation. They also changed their name to Shonan Bellmare as J.League allowed them to enlarge their designated hometowns to include several cities and towns surrounding Hiratsuka.^[4] The club's performance on the pitch has not been strong and they have not been serious contenders for the promotion to J1 so far.

A J1 comeback in 2010, if they are able to achieve promotion, will be the first without Fujita as their sponsor. Although for a 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 site.

On 5 December 2009, Shonan returned to J1 as third-place finishers in 2009 seasons.

Return to J1 League (2010–2025)

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 record of J1 at that time. After that, the team will be repeatedly demoted to J2 and promoted to J1.

In recent years, the team has been steadily improving. In 2014, the team made good progress in the J2, winning 14 consecutive 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 draws, 3 losses and 101 points in the 2014 season. In 2016, in the J1, Shonan Bellmare was the final result in 8th place, and it was the first time for J1 to remain in history. In addition, at the EAFF E-1 Football Championship 2015 held in August, Wataru Endo, who was on the team at the time, participated as a representative of Japan. In 2018, the club 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 case the club itself could be dissolved (the actual amount 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 shareholder of Shonan Bellmare, established "Merudia RIZAP Shonan Sports Partners" in collaboration with RIZAP GROUP. The new company acquired a 50% stake in Shonan Bellmare.^[7] RIZAP GROUP intends to invest 1 billion yen in Bellmare over the next three years.^[8]

Relegation to J2 (2026–present)

Following a difficult season in the J1 League, Shonan Bellmare finished in the relegation zone and was subsequently relegated to the J2 League. The campaign was marked by inconsistent performances and defensive struggles, which ultimately resulted in the club being unable to secure enough points to maintain its top-flight status.

Name

Shōnan refers to a coastal area along Sagami Bay that includes Hiratsuka. Bellmare is a portmanteau of the Italian words bello and mare, meaning "beautiful sea".

Rivalries

Historically the Shonan area was part of a pre-modern province, Sagami Province, whereas Yokohama and Kawasaki were part 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.

Season

More information Year, Kit manufacturer ...

Year	Kit manufacturer	Main sponsor
1989–1992	Asics	Fujita
1993	Mizuno	No main sponsor
1994–1998		DDI
1999–2000	Kappa
2001		Bloomberg
2002		Rhythmedia Tribe
2003	Puma
2004		SANNO University
2005–2006	Piko
2007–2009	A-Line
2010		La Parler
2011		No main sponsor
2012	Penalty	Nippon Tanshi
2013–2014		Tri Terasu
2015		ENERES
2016–2022		Meldia
2023		RiPTy
2024		Meldia
2025–present		Fujita

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Kit evolution

Home Kits - 1st
1994 - 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 Kits - 2nd
1994 - 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 -

Former

• Davao Aguilas (2022–2024)
• ASIOP (2022–2025)
• Wolverhampton Wanderers (2024–2025) ^[11]

First-team squad

As of 31 March 2026.^[12]

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

More information No., Pos. ...

No. Pos. Nation Player 2 DF  JPN Sere Matsumura 3 DF  JPN Yūtarō Hakamata 4 DF  JPN Kōki Tachi 5 MF  JPN Hiroya Matsumoto 6 MF  JPN Shohei Takeda 7 MF  JPN Kōsuke Onose 8 DF  JPN Kazunari Ōno 9 FW  COL Fabián González 11 FW  JPN Yūtarō Oda 13 DF  JPN Wakaba Shimoguchi 14 DF  JPN Naoya Takahashi 15 MF  JPN Tomoya Fujii 16 MF  BRA Arthur Silva 17 MF  JPN Soki Tamura 18 MF  JPN Masaki Ikeda 20 MF  JPN Sena Ishibashi 21 GK  JPN Tatsunari Nagai

No. Pos. Nation Player 22 DF  JPN Kōdai Minoda 23 DF  JPN Kanaru Matsumoto 25 MF  JPN Hiroaki Okuno 27 DF  JPN Hayato Fukushima 28 FW  JPN Shusuke Ota 29 FW  JPN Keigo Watanabe 30 MF  JPN Gota Yamaguchi 31 GK  JPN Kota Sanada 34 FW  JPN Hiroto Yamada 37 DF  JPN Yūto Suzuki 41 GK  JPN Hikaru Iwase 50 DF  JPN Toru Shibata 55 DF  JPN Shuto Okaniwa 77 FW  JPN Hisatsugu Ishii 86 MF  JPN Naoki Kase 99 GK  JPN Naoto Kamifukumoto

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Out on loan

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

More information No., Pos. ...

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  JPN William Popp (at Beerschot) — MF  JPN Mirei Sugiura (at UE Sant Andreu U19)

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  JPN Kotaro Honda (at Vanraure Hachinohe)

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