or simply Matsumoto Yamaga (松本山雅FC, Matsumoto Yamaga Efu Shī) is a Japanese football (soccer) club based in the city of Matsumoto, located in the Nagano Prefecture. The club currently plays in the J3 League, Japanese third tier of professional football.
History The club was founded in 1965 by the players who represented Nagano Prefecture. The players frequented a cafe called Yamaga in front of Matsumoto railway station and initially they were simply called Yamaga Club. In 2004, they were renamed as Matsumoto Yamaga when nonprofit organisation Alwin Sports Project were set up to support the club with the intention of promotion to J. League. The very coffee shop where they founded the club no longer exists, but the club opened a new one in 2017.
In the 2007 and 2008 season they finished respectively 1st and 4th in the Hokushin'etsu First Division, but failed to gain the promotion to the Japan Football League as they exited at the group stage of the Regional League promotion series against other regional champions. 2008 also brought a crucial Emperor's Cup run, where they defeated former Japanese champions Shonan Bellmare in the third round by penalty kicks, only to be eliminated 8–0 by Vissel Kobe.
The 2009 season brought inconsistency, as they took 4th place in the regional league but knocked Urawa Red Diamonds out of the Emperor's Cup in the second round, their biggest giant-killing ever.
By virtue of winning the Shakaijin Cup, they earned a berth in the Regional League promotion series, and won the series at home to earn promotion to the Japan Football League for 2010. They earned 7th place on their first season in the third tier.
In 2011, despite a season thrown off by the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and the resulting inability of Sony Sendai to play a full schedule, Yamaga earned 4th place and were promoted to J. League Division 2. After three seasons they earned their first ever promotion to J1 League, only to be relegated after one season.
After failing to secure promotion in 2016 and 2017, Yamaga finished their 2018 season at the top of the J2 table, winning their first ever league title and securing automatic promotion to J1 in the process.
This began the downfall of Matsumoto Yamaga, due to the club's bad idea of high player turnover. Ahead of the 2020 J2 League, Yamaga turned over more than 20 players, in which began a slow start in 2020, as the club also went through many winless runs, including 5 losses in a row, which at the time was a record number of defeats for the club in J2. Eventually, in September 2020, manager Keiichiro Nuno was sacked, and the club finished 13th that season. Things were about to get worse as they continued high player turnover, with twenty-seven players leaving and twenty-four coming to the club before the 2021 J2 League. In June that year, Nuno's replacement, Kei Shibata, was fired from the club, and was replaced with Hiroshi Nanami, who couldn't help the club escape relegation after finishing dead last that season.
In 2022, Matsumoto played its first season on the J3. Matsumoto failed to be promoted back to the J2 League, as it finished on fourth place in the final standings of the 2022 J3 League season. The club ended tied on points with Kagoshima United, with both having earned 66 points in 34 matches. However, the goal difference stood out in Kagoshima's favour. The club will play its third consecutive season at the J3 during 2024.
Rivalry The biggest rival of Matsumoto Yamaga are the prefectural neighbours and former Hokushin'etsu League fellows Nagano Parceiro. Matches between those teams are labelled "Shinshū derby" and generate a lot of interest in both cities. For 2011 season, Parceiro joined their rivals in JFL bringing the derby to the national level.
Stadium
Matsumoto Yamaga's home ground is Matsumoto Stadium (popularly known as Alwin) located in the Kambayashi area of Matsumoto city. The stadium has a capacity of 20,000 (16,000 seats and 4,000 standings). It is the third largest Sport venue in Nagano Prefecture.
Mascot The mascot of the club is named "Gans-kun" (ガンズくん), who is a , the symbol bird of Nagano Prefecture.Matsumoto Yamaga F.C. - Club Profile
Theme song The club's theme song is "wanna be a superstar" by local rock band ASIAN2.
Affiliated clubs
Geylang International (2016–present)
On 23 November 2016, Matsumoto Yamaga and Geylang International signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in a press event which was held at the Marina Bay Floating Platform. This MOU will enable both clubs to establish a platform to exchange expertise and knowledge with the objective of promoting cohesion and development of football between the two clubs. The MOU spells out possible areas of collaboration such as the exchange of players and technical staff for training attachments and loans. Geylang will be looking to select promising players from its Active SG-GIFC Soccer Academy and junior teams to send on short training stints with Matsumoto Yamaga while the Japanese club is also looking into the possibility of sending players from their junior team to Singapore for pre-season training stints. Amongst the key initiatives of the partnership with Matsumoto Yamaga is the exchange programmes for head coach, Mohd Noor Ali, who had a one-year attachment with the club in 2018, where he guided the club U18 B team to the Japan FA's Under-18 Football League Nagano prefecture title while on 17 August 2018, Anders Aplin become the first Singaporean football player to sign for a J.League team signing on loan until the end of the 2018 J2 League season in November.
On 30 October 2022, both clubs reaffirmed their close and long-standing relationship as Geylang International officials went to Japan to explore future collaborations going into the seventh year of partnership since 2016. Geylang International has a memorandum of understanding with J.League outfits, Matsumoto Yamaga that was signed in 2016, while Epson's relationship with the club also dates back to the same year when it became the club's platinum sponsor. In the last seven years, Epson has enjoyed premium hospitality access to the club's home matches and has also supported the Singaporean football community and youths with the staging of the Epson Youth Cup.
League & cup record ChampionsRunners-upThird placePromotedRelegated League J. LeagueCup Emperor'sCupSeason Division Tier 1975Hokushin'etsu 3 6th 8 3 1 4 14 13 1 7 Not eligible Did not qualify19766th 9 2 4 3 17 14 3 819778th 9 2 3 4 17 22 −5 7197810th 9 1 0 8 9 27 −18 219792nd 9 6 1 2 18 11 7 1319804th 9 6 2 1 19 8 11 1419813rd 9 5 1 3 15 9 6 1119825th 9 4 1 4 11 10 1 919837th 9 2 3 4 12 14 −2 719847th 9 2 3 4 13 15 −2 719851st 9 7 1 1 23 7 16 1519864th 9 4 2 3 21 13 8 1019874th 9 4 2 3 12 11 1 1019883rd 9 4 3 2 19 8 11 1119892nd 9 6 1 2 17 10 7 1319904th 9 3 4 2 16 14 2 1019915th 9414171259199245th 9432151231119936th 93331517−29199435th 92521113−2919956th 9225814−6819965th 9324919−101119978th92161123−1271st round19983rd 84-41724−712Did not qualify199949th 92(1)-7429−25420008th 8107618−12320019th 8026424−20220028th 93151218−6920039th 121471342−2972004Hokushin'etsu(Div. 2)56th 144281627−111420051st 13832361125272006Hokushin'etsu(Div. 1)42nd141112341024342nd round20071st 14101347153231Did not qualify20084th 14734311813244th round20094th 14923401426293rd round2010JFL 3 7th 34 15 7 12 48 41 7 52 2nd round20114th 341788603822594th round2012J2 League2 12th 4215141346433592nd round20137th 421991454540663rd Round20142nd 4224117653530833rd round2015J1 League116th 34 7 7 20 30 54 −24 28 Group stage 4th round2016J2 League23rd 42 24 12 6 62 32 30 84 Not eligible 2nd round20178th 42 19 9 14 61 45 16 66 4th round20181st 42 21 14 7 54 34 20 77 3rd round2019J1 League117th34 6 13 15 21 40 -19 31 Group stage 2nd round2020J2 League 213th 42 13 15 14 44 52 -8 54 Group stage Did not qualify202122nd 42 7 13 22 36 71 -35 34 Not eligible 3rd round2022J3 League3 4th 34 20 6 8 46 33 13 66 2nd round20239th38 159145147454Did not qualify20244th38 16 12 10 61 45 16 60 2nd round202515th38 11 10 17 41 50 -9 43 2nd round 2nd round202626th 18 6(2) - 6(4) 31 21 10 26 N/A N/A2026-27TBD 38 TBD TBD
Key
Honours +Matsumoto Yamaga FC HonoursHonourNo.YearsHokushin'etsu Football League Div. 121985, 2007Nagano Prefectural Soccer Championship Emperor's Cup Nagano Prefectural Qualifiers81997, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2022, 2025Hokushin'etsu Football League Div. 212005Shakaijin Cup12009Regional League promotion series12009J2 League12018
Current squad
Out on loan
Club officials
Position Name Manager Nobuhiro Ishizaki Head coach Kenji Takahashi Coach Akira Muto Technical coach Kensuke Akasaka Goalkeeper coach Masaaki Furukawa Physical Coach Yi Chang-yeob Doctor Takashige Momose Chief trainer Hirotaka Ogawa Trainer Chisato Chiba Fumiya Sugiuchi Physiotherapist Toshiki Sugiyama Competent Kazumasa Kirabayashi
Managerial history Manager Nationality Tenure Start Finish Katsua Kobayashi 2004 Keiju Karashima 1 February 2005 31 January 2008Hideo Yoshizawa 21 February 2008 8 June 2011Yoshiyuki Katō 9 June 2011 31 January 2012Yasuharu Sorimachi 1 February 2012 31 January 2020Keiichirō Nuno 1 February 2020 24 September 2020Kei Shibata 25 September 2020 20 June 2021Hiroshi Nanami 21 June 2021 31 January 2023Masahiro Shimoda 1 February 2023 31 January 2025Tomonobu Hayakawa 1 February 2025 29 November 2025Nobuhiro Ishizaki 8 December 2025 Present
Kit evolution First kit - home
Second kit - away
Third kit
References
External links Official website