Vegalta Sendai

Foundation and early development (1988–1998)

Founded in 1988 as Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc. Soccer Club, the company team of Tohoku Electric Power, Vegalta Sendai joined the J-League in 1999 after playing a few seasons in the JFL, with the nickname Brummell Sendai, to which they had been promoted in 1994 from the Tohoku Regional League. In the mid-1990s, the club began transitioning into a community-based professional club as part of the expanding structure of the J.League. In 1999, the club adopted the name Vegalta Sendai as a homage to the famous Tanabata festival in Sendai and joined the newly established J2 League.

Promotion to J1 and early top-flight years (2001–2003)

Vegalta achieved promotion to the J1 League in 2001 after finishing near the top of the J2 standings. The promotion marked the first time the club competed in Japan’s top division.

Vegalta performed strongly in its debut season and secured a respectable mid-table finish. However, the club went back down to J2 League due to the inconsistent performance.

Rebuilding and return to J1 (2004–2019)

Following relegation, Vegalta spent several years rebuilding in the J2 League while strengthening its squad and youth development system. The club gradually improved its performances and became a strong promotion contender.

In 2009, Vegalta won the J2 League title thus securing promotion back to the J1 League for the 2010 season.

In 2011, despite the earthquake and tsunami, Vegalta 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 battler Albirex Niigata cost them the title, rendering them runners-up in the league which is Vegalta best-ever league finish in the top flight division.

In 2018, Vegalta reached the final of the 2018 Emperor's Cup, however, lost 1–0 to Urawa Red Diamonds.^[2]

Recent seasons (2020–present)

After twelve years spent in the J1 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 the 2022 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 at Sanfrecce Hiroshima's training age group and the U17 Japan National Team, was appointed as Manager.

Name origin

The name “Vegalta” is derived from the names of two stars in the constellation Orion—Vega and Altair—a reference to the famous Tanabata festival held annually in Sendai. The names of the two celestial stars of the Tanabata legend, Vega and Altair were combined to form Vegalta.^[3]

Supporters

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 are Take Me Home, Country Roads, and during the game. Toy Dolls, Blitzkrieg Bop and other Kiss and Twisted Sister songs.

Since Sendai is the hometown of Hirohiko Araki, who wrote JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, fans often wave flags with the same motifs of characters portrayed in Araki's manga.

Rivalries

Mascot

• VEGATTA (Brother)
  • He has won "the J League mascot general election" many times and is quite popular.
  • The eagle, which is also used in the club emblem as a symbol of victory in Greek mythology, is associated with the Aquila constellation, to which Hikoboshi (Altair) belongs, which is the origin of the club's name. The name was decided by public submission. Vegatta's SNS (BLOG, Twitter), which is updated daily, is loved and popular among soccer fans in Japan, as the mascot loves mischief, and is by some fans, hard to believe it is a mascot.
• LTAANA (Sister)
  • From the Sendai summer tradition "Sendai Tanabata", which is the origin of the team name, "Luta" for Vega (Orihime) and Altair (Hikoboshi), and "Tana" for Tanabata, it was named as a girlish name by combining "na", on a 7 August, which is the date of the event and the birthday. Sometimes she tweet with [#ルターナ] (LTAANA written phonetically on Katakana) on Sendai's official Twitter.
  • When Vegalta wins any match, she expresses her joy on Twitter.

Cheerleaders

• The Vegalta Cheerleaders mainly support "Vegalta Sendai", participate in many events, and continue to work as a cheering group for people who are doing their best in the area. She has the longest history as a cheerleader for a professional sports team in Sendai, and has been active since 2003.

Kit evolution

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

First-team squad

As of 1 March 2026.^[4]

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 1 GK  JPN Daiki Hotta 2 DF  JPN Sena Igarashi 3 DF  JPN Masayuki Okuyama 4 MF  JPN Azuri Yutani 5 DF  JPN Masahiro Sugata 6 MF  JPN Renji Matsui 7 FW  JPN Shunta Araki 8 MF  JPN Hidetoshi Takeda 9 FW  JPN Ko Miyazaki 10 MF  JPN Hiromu Kamada 11 FW  JPN Kokoro Kobayashi 14 MF  JPN Ryunosuke Sagara 15 MF  JPN Sota Minami 17 MF  JPN Aoi Kudo 18 FW  JPN Tsubasa Umeki 19 DF  BRA Mateus Moraes 20 FW  JPN Yu Nakada

No. Pos. Nation Player 22 DF  JPN Ryota Takada 23 MF  JPN Keito Arita 24 DF  JPN Taiga Nagai 26 MF  JPN Sota Yokoyama 27 MF  JPN Hiroto Iwabuchi 29 GK  JPN Koki Matsuzawa 30 FW  JPN Minto Nishimaru 33 GK  JPN Akihiro Hayashi 34 FW  JPN Ayumu Furuya 37 MF  JPN Yota Sugiyama 38 GK  JPN Kosei Watanabe Type 2 40 FW  JPN Takumi Yasuno 41 GK  JPN Ippei Takahashi 42 DF  JPN Hayata Ishii 44 DF  JPN Shion Inoue 55 DF  KOR Han Ho-gang

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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 — DF  JPN Tetsuya Chinen (at Tochigi City) — GK  JPN Riku Umeda (at FC Ryukyu) — FW  BRA Gustavo (at Botafogo PB)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  JPN Manato Kudo (at Kochi United) — FW  JPN Ryunosuke Sugawara (at FC Osaka)

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International convention

J Chronicle Best

This is a project to select the J.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.

J30 BEST AWARDS

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's Yoshiaki Ota, who scored the equalizing goal against Kawasaki, 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.