Tokushima Vortis

Founded in 1955 as Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Soccer Club, VORTIS joined the J-League in 2005. They are still sponsored by Otsuka's best-known brand, Pocari Sweat sports drink.[1]

They were first promoted to the old Japan Soccer League Division 2 in 1989, but the company's reluctance to professionalize the team forced it to compete in the former JFL and current JFL. In the 1997 old JFL season, they first sported a Vortis Tokushima name, but the lack of fan interest at the time forced them to go back to the corporate identity. They finally adopted the Tokushima Vortis name for good after winning the new JFL championship in 2004 and being promoted.[2]

The first season in J2 was naturally a difficult one for Vortis, but they surprised many sceptics with their determination and quality of play. The team rose as high as fourth place, at one point, before slipping down the table later in the season to finish ninth. In 2006, the team was forced to rebuild, as the players who took the team into the J.League began to hit the ceiling of their abilities, and made way for younger replacements. As a result, despite the encouragement of a local rivalry with Ehime FC, Tokushima drifted down-table, and they followed it up with a last-place finish in 2007 and 2008.[2]

In 2013 they earned fourth place in J2, matching the same placement they had two years before in the division and twenty years before in the old JFL Division 1; this time they won the playoff, defeating Kyoto Sanga F.C. in the final round at the National Stadium in Tokyo, thus becoming the first professional Shikoku football club to compete in the top division of their national league.[3]

Until their promotion, they were the only former JSL member currently a member of the J.League which has never competed in the top tier of Japanese football. With promotion and the creation of the J3 League in 2014, the distinction was taken over by Blaublitz Akita.

In the 2019 season they finished 4th again and were one win away from a return to J1 in the playoffs, but ultimately failed to beat Shonan Bellmare away in the final game. In 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, they did one better and were promoted as J2 champions.

Key

• Pos. = Position in league
• Attendance/G = Average league home attendance
• Source: J. League Data Site

• J2 League: 1

2020

• Japan Football League: 2

2003, 2004

• Shikoku Football League: 4

1978, 1979, 1981, 1989

As of 4 July 2020.[4]

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 Takuya Seguchi 2 DF  JPN Taiki Tamukai 3 DF  SRB Dušan Cvetinović 4 DF  BRA Diego 5 DF  JPN Hidenori Ishii 6 MF  JPN Kohei Uchida 7 MF  JPN Yudai Konishi 8 MF  JPN Ken Iwao 9 FW  JPN Atsushi Kawata 10 MF  JPN Masaki Watai 11 MF  JPN Yatsunori Shimaya 13 MF  JPN Koki Kiyotake 14 FW  JPN Yuki Oshitani 15 MF  JPN Takeru Kishimoto 16 MF  JPN Daiki Enomoto 17 MF  JPN Genta Omotehara 18 FW  JPN Akihiro Sato 19 FW  JPN Yuki Kakita

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 DF  JPN Shota Fukuoka 21 GK  JPN Naoto Kamifukumoto 22 MF  JPN Seiya Fujita 23 MF  JPN Tokuma Suzuki 24 MF  JPN Kazuki Nishiya 25 DF  JPN Takashi Abe 26 DF  JPN Takuya Akiyama 27 DF  JPN Noriki Fuke 29 GK  JPN Koki Matsuzawa 30 FW  JPN Taichi Takeda 31 GK  JPN Toru Hasegawa 32 DF  JPN Yudai Okuda 33 MF  JPN Shiryu Fujiwara 34 MF  JPN Chie Edoojon Kawakami 37 MF  JPN Akira Hamashita 38 MF  JPN Ryota Kajikawa 41 MF  JPN Rin Morita 45 MF  JPN Koki Sugimori

• Kunio Yamade 1988–1992
• Hajime Ishii 1993–1995
• Edinho 1996–1998
• Shinji Tanaka 1999–2006
• Yutaka Azuma 2006
• Masataka Imai 2007
• Naohiko Minobe 2008–2011
• Shinji Kobayashi 2012–2015
• Hiroaki Nagashima 2016
• Ricardo Rodríguez 2016–

• (in Japanese) Tokushima Vortis Official Web Site