V-Varen Nagasaki

They currently play in J2 League, the Japanese second tier professional in football league.

V-Varen Nagasaki
V・ファーレン長崎

Full name	V-Varen Nagasaki
Nickname(s)	VVN
Founded	2004; 20 years ago (2004)
Stadium	Transcosmos Stadium Nagasaki, Isahaya, Nagasaki
Capacity	20,246
Owner	Japanet Holdings
Chairman	Hideki Iwashita
Manager	Takahiro Shimotaira
League	J2 League
2023	J2 League, 7th of 22
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours
Current season

The club was established in 1985 as Ariake SC until the club decided to merge with Kunimi FC in 2004. The merger led the club to adopt the new name V-Varen Nagasaki in 2005, which has been used ever since.

V-Varen Nagasaki, since 2006, had been contending for the Kyūshū Soccer League championship and thus a place in the Japan Football League, but they only won it in November 2008, as second place in the Regional League promotion series.

In January 2009, they applied for J. League Associate Membership and their application was accepted at the J. League board meeting in February. In 2012, they won the Japan Football League title and thus promotion to the J. League Division 2. Five years later they won promotion to the J1 League for the first time after finishing runners-up in the 2017 season.

J. League: 2013 –

In preparation for the club's first season in the J. League Division 2 the club hired local-born Takuya Takagi as their coach for the season. On 3 March 2013 V-Varen Nagasaki played in their first ever J. League Division 2 match against Fagiano Okayama at the Kanko Stadium in Okayama in which the club drew the match 1–1 with Kōichi Satō scoring the first J. League Division 2 goal for V-Varen Nagasaki in the 25th minute. The club then played their first home match in the J. League Division 2 on 10 March 2013 at the Nagasaki Athletic Stadium against former J. League champions Gamba Osaka in which V-Varen Nagasaki lost 3–1 in front of a huge crowd of 18,153.

The club gained promotion into the J. League Division 2 in 2012 for the first time in their history after finishing as the champions in the 2012 Japan Football League and hired Nagasaki native Takuya Takagi to coach the club for the 2013 season.

On 11 November 2017, the club clinched promotion to the J1 League for the first time in their history after a 3-1 home win over Kamatamare Sanuki.

Financial troubles

After facing dire financial difficulties, on 8 March 2017 the club was purchased by Japanet Holdings, the parent company of Japanese television shopping giant Japanet Takata Co., Ltd., becoming a fully owned subsidiary. Japanet have invested significant sums into the club, securing promotion to the top tier of Japanese football and publishing plans to build a new football-specific stadium on the former site of Mitsubishi's Nagasaki shipbuilding operations, opening in 2023.

The "V" in the club's name comes from the Portuguese word vitória (meaning 'victory') as well as the Dutch word vrede (meaning 'peace'), while varen is the Dutch verb meaning 'to sail', relating to Nagasaki's heritage as port of call of Portuguese and Dutch traders during the sakoku period in the Tokugawa shogunate (see Dejima).

V-Varen Nagasaki will have Transcosmos Stadium Nagasaki as its home stadium until 2023.

Their new stadium, Peace Stadium Connected by Softbank, has been in construction since 2022, and its scheduled to be completed around August 2024. The club plans to the new stadium on 10 October 2024. Softbank signed a sponsor partnership with V-Varen for 4 years.

Key

• Pos. = Position in league; P = Games played; W = Games won; D = Games drawn; L = Games lost; F = Goals scored; A = Goals conceded; GD = Goals difference; Pts = Points gained
• Attendance/G = Average home league attendance
• † 2020 & 2021 seasons attendances reduced by COVID-19 worldwide pandemic
• Source: J.League Data Site

As of 12 April 2024. 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 Masaya Tomizawa 2 DF   JPN Ryutaro Iio (vice-captain) 3 DF   JPN Jun Okano 4 DF   BRA Valdo 5 DF   JPN Hayato Tanaka (on loan from Kashiwa Reysol) 6 MF   BRA Matheus Jesus 7 MF   BRA Marcos Guilherme 8 MF   JPN Asahi Masuyama 9 FW   ESP Juanma Delgado 11 FW   BRA Edigar Junio 13 MF   JPN Masaru Kato 14 MF   JPN Takumi Nagura 15 MF   JPN Shumpei Naruse (on loan from Nagoya Grampus) 17 MF   JPN Hiroki Akino (captain) 19 MF   JPN Takashi Sawada 20 MF   JPN Keita Nakamura (vice-captain) 21 GK   JPN Tomoya Wakahara (on loan from Kyoto Sanga) 22 MF   JPN Ren Nishimura

No. Pos. Nation Player 23 DF   JPN Shunya Yoneda (vice-captain) 24 MF   JPN Riku Yamada 25 DF   JPN Kazuki Kushibiki 27 DF   JPN Malcolm Tsuyoshi Moyo 28 FW   JPN Aoto Nanamure 29 DF   JPN Ikki Arai 30 GK   SRB Luka Radotic 31 GK   JPN Gaku Harada 33 MF   JPN Tsubasa Kasayanagi 34 MF   JPN Seiya Satsukida 35 MF   JPN Taisei Abe 37 MF   JPN Gijo Sehata 38 MF   JPN Kaito Matsuzawa 40 DF   JPN Haruki Shirai — DF   JPN Kaihi Nishimura Type 2 — MF   JPN Mao Usagawa Type 2 — FW   JPN Hinata Miyazaki Type 2

Out on loan

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 32 FW   JPN Serigne Saliou Diop (at Matsumoto Yamaga) — DF   BRA Kaique Mafaldo (at Tokushima Vortis)

No. Pos. Nation Player}} — MF   JPN Raiju Obuchi (at Tegevajaro Miyazaki)

• Official website (in Japanese)