Kashima Antlers

The name 'Antlers' is derived from the city of Kashima (鹿嶋), which literally translates to 'Deer Island'. The club crest not only resembles deer antlers but it also reflects the image of rose thorn as it is the official flower of Ibaraki, the home prefecture of the club. Deer are amiable animals and are viewed in some religions as spiritual messengers. In fact, Kashima Shrine, one of the most famous shrines in Japan and located in close proximity to the club headquarters, have kept and raised deer for more than 1,300 years as spiritual symbol. Deer are affectionate animals but are also known for their courageous character as they battle each other head-to-head with lethal antlers.

Leonardo Araújo played for Kashima from 1994 to 1996.

Founded in 1947 as Sumitomo Metal Industries Factory Football Club in Osaka and moved to Kashima, Ibaraki in 1975. It played in the semi-professional Japan Soccer League (JSL). They were promoted to the JSL's top flight in 1984, but never made much of an impact, going down in 1985/86, returning in 1986/87 and going down again in 1988/89. Its last standing in the JSL was 2nd in the Second Division for 1991/92. In October 1991, Kashima Antlers FC Co., Ltd. was established with investment from 43 companies (at the time) from 5 local governments.

After the formation of the fully professional J.League, Sumitomo, like all other clubs, stripped the corporate brand from the club's name and reformed as the Kashima Antlers in April 1992. Kashima was essentially promoted to the new top flight, as many JSL First Division clubs decided to relegate themselves being unprepared for professionalism. (Of the original 10[lower-alpha 1] J.League founding member clubs, Kashima and Shimizu S-Pulse were newly promoted. Ironically, Kashima had defeated a forerunner of Shimizu's, Nippon Light Metal/Hagoromo Club, to earn its JSL Second Division place back in 1974).

Since the J.League's creation and introduction of professional Japanese football in 1993, Kashima have consistently been amongst the strongest clubs in the country, holding several distinctions and records. Led by former Brazil national team star and Japan national team coach Zico in the club's formative years, Kashima were the first club to win a J.League stage, claiming the 1st stage of the inaugural season in 1993. This laid a platform for continuous greatness and long after the Kashima icon had departed, in 2000 Kashima became the first J.League club to achieve the "treble", by winning all three major titles: J.League, J.League Cup, and Emperor's Cup in the same year.

In recent times, by clinching the 2007 J.League title they became the first and only club in Japan to have won ten domestic titles in the professional era. In 2008 they became the first and only club to successfully defend the J.League title on two occasions. In 2009 they became the first and only club to win three consecutive J.League titles. With victories in back to back J.League Cups in 2011, 2012 and most recently followed by their 2015 victory, Kashima extended their unmatched record of major domestic titles in the professional era to seventeen.

Kashima Antlers celebrate after winning the 2018 AFC Champions League at the Azadi Stadium vs Persepolis

To this day, Kashima has maintained strong ties with the football community in Brazil, a fact borne out of Zico's past affiliation with the club. Kashima's Brazilian connection has manifested itself in both the club's player transfer and coaching policy resulting in only three non-Brazilian foreign players and predominantly Brazilian managers signing for Kashima since the inception of the J.League.

The population of Kashima city is a mere 60,000 and for that reason club has also adopted the surrounding cities of Itako, Kamisu, Namegata and Hokota as its official hometowns, all in Ibaraki Prefecture. The combined population of five cities is 280,000. Antlers home games are played at Kashima Soccer Stadium, one of the 2002 FIFA World Cup venues with capacity of 40,000.

During the 2016 FIFA Club World Cup, Kashima became the first Asian club to reach the FIFA Club World Cup final and notably became the only club to qualified from the first round until the final following a 3–0 victory over South American winners, Atlético Nacional.[2] In the final, after a 2–2 draw against European champions Real Madrid after 90 minutes, they were beaten 4–2 after extra time.[3]

In the Captain Tsubasa manga series, two characters were players of Kashima Antlers. The Brazilian midfielders Luciano Leo (himself loosely based on Leonardo) and Pepe were colleagues of Flamengo's Carlos Santana and São Paulo's Tsubasa Ozora.

In 2017, Kashima established a base in New York where the club main objective is to investigate and apply advanced cases from the digital domain of the Major League Soccer while there are also opportunities to gather information in terms of player management and competition factors. Another reason comes in the form of establishing relationships to learn international strategy directly from the likes of FC Barcelona and Bayern Munich. The relationship building hasn’t solely been with European clubs, and for the past two years regular meetings have been held at the head offices of MLS in order to deepen ties with the league and its clubs.

Kashima Soccer Stadium

Kashima Soccer Stadium has been the home ground of Kashima since 26 March 1993. The Kashima Soccer Museum, opened in 2004 is set for wide-scale renewal, while the Wellness Plaza, established in 2006, is also in line for similar improvements, including the installation of a public bath. There is a real awareness of furthering stadium use on non-matchdays to ensure Kashima Stadium is a hub for the local region. On the other hand, the importance of Kashima Stadium as a sacred football ground will also increase. The stadium has been selected as a host venue for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, meaning it will international competition for the first time since the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Ahead of that, the stadium will also host the Ibaraki National Sports Festival this year, at which athletes will gather from all over the country.

In 2008 a 500-metre LED wraparound advertising board, the longest in Asia, was installed at the front of the second tier. In 2017, the latest large electronic screens were added to both the north and south stands as part of the commitment to improving the viewing environment for visitors.

As both Sumitomo Metal FC (1947–1991) and Kashima Antlers (1991–present)

2018 AFC Champions League champions

• J.League Player of the Year

• Jorginho (1996)
• Marquinhos (2008)
• Mitsuo Ogasawara (2009)

• J.League Top Scorer

• Marquinhos (2008)

• J.League Best Eleven

• Santos (1993)
• Shunzo Ono (1993)
• Yasuto Honda (1993)
• Naoki Soma (1995, 1996, 1997, 1998)
• Jorginho (1996)
• Bismarck (1997)
• Yutaka Akita (1997, 1998, 2000)
• Atsushi Yanagisawa (1998, 2001)
• Daijiro Takakuwa (2000)
• Akira Narahashi (2001)
• Mitsuo Ogasawara (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2009)
• Kōji Nakata (2001)
• Hitoshi Sogahata (2002)
• Daiki Iwamasa (2007, 2008, 2009)
• Marquinhos (2008)
• Atsuto Uchida (2008, 2009)
• Yuya Osako (2013)
• Gaku Shibasaki (2014)
• Mu Kanazaki (2015)
• Gen Shoji (2016, 2017)
• Daigo Nishi (2017, 2018)
• Everaldo (2020)

• J.League Rookie of the Year

• Atsushi Yanagisawa (1997)
• Gaku Shibasaki (2012)
• Caio (2014)
• Ryotaro Araki (2021)

• J.League Manager of the Year

• João Carlos (1997)
• Oswaldo de Oliveira (2007, 2008, 2009)
• Masatada Ishii (2016)

• List of world champion football clubs and vice-world champions in football

• Official Website (in Japanese)
• Official Website (in English)