The 2021 season was Kashima Antlers' 29th consecutive season in the J1 League, the top flight of Japanese football since the introduction of professional football in 1993. The club finished the 2021 J1 League in fourth place, one place above their position from the previous season. They also competed in the Emperor's Cup and J.League Cup and reached the quarter-finals of both competitions.

After a poor start to the season losing four of their first six league games, manager Antônio Carlos Zago was dismissed in April 2021 and was replaced by Naoki Soma as interim manager who would take control until the end of the season.

Squad Season squad Squad no. Name Nationality Position(s) Date of birth (age at start of season) Goalkeepers 1 Kwoun Sun-tae GK 29 Tomoki Hayakawa GK 31 Yuya Oki GK 38 Taiki Yamada GK Defenders 2 Koki Anzai RB / LB 14 Katsuya Nagato LB 22 Rikuto Hirose RB 23 Naoki Hayashi CB 28 Koki Machida CB 32 Keigo Tsunemoto RB / CB 33 Ikuma Sekigawa CB 39 Tomoya Inukai CB Midfielders 4 Léo Silva DM 6 Ryota Nagaki DM 7 Juan Alano RM / AM / SS 11 Ryuji Izumi LM / RW 17 Arthur Caíke LW / FW 20 Kento Misao (c) DM 21 Diego Pituca CM 24 Yusuke Ogawa DM / CM 25 Yasushi Endo RM / RW 26 Naoki Suto LM / RM 27 Yuta Matsumura RM / LM 34 Yu Funabashi DM Forwards 8 Shoma Doi SS / LW / RW 9 Everaldo FW 13 Ryotaro Araki FW / LW / RW 18 Ayase Ueda FW 19 Itsuki Someno FW

Transfers Arrivals DatePositionPlayerFromTypeSource12 January 2021 Al-ShababFull15 January 2021 Santos FCFull1 February 2021 Shohei High SchoolFull1 February 2021 Shohei High SchoolFull17 February 2021 Meiji UniversityFull17 February 2021 Meiji UniversityFull17 February 2021 Osaka University of H&SSFull19 July 2021 PortimonenseFull24 July 2021 Atlético MineiroReturn from loan

Departures DatePositionPlayerToTypeSource23 December 2020DF Shonan BellmareFull24 December 2020GKRetired28 December 2020DF JEF United ChibaLoan29 December 2020 JEF United ChibaFull5 January 2021 FC TokyoFull13 January 2021 Matsumoto YamagaFull15 January 2021 Yokohama FCFull18 January 2021DF Avispa FukuokaLoan1 February 2021MF Shonan BellmareLoan10 August 2021DF Shonan BellmareLoan10 August 2021MF Sagan TosuFull11 August 2021MF Sagan TosuLoan

Competitions J1 League

League table

Results summary

Results by matchday

Results

Emperor's Cup

After comfortably beating lower division teams in the early rounds of the tournament, Kashima were beaten comfortably 3–1 by Kawasaki Frontale in the quarter-finals, with Ryotaro Araki scoring a 90th minute consolation goal. With five goals in four games, Everaldo ended up as the top scorer in the whole tournament, in spite of Kashima not making it past the quarter-final stage.

J.League Cup

Kashima were drawn into Group A as the team that finished fifth in the league in 2020 – the four teams above them received byes from the group stage of the cup. They were unbeaten in the group stage with three wins and three draws. At the play-off stage, Kashima went onto beat Shimizu S-Pulse in both legs of the tie, but were knocked out at the quarter-final stage by eventual champions Nagoya Grampus. Like the Emperor's Cup, Everaldo was the highest scorer for Kashima in this competition, scoring three goals in six appearances.

Group stage

Play-off stage

Kashima Antlers won 3–1 on aggregate.

Quarter-finals

Nagoya Grampus won 4–0 on aggregate.

Statistics Appearances

No. Pos. Name J1 League Emperor's Cup J.League Cup Total Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps GoalsGoalkeepers 1 GK Kwoun Sun-tae 5 0 1 0 7 0 13 0 29 GK Tomoki Hayakawa 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 31 GK Yuya Oki 33 0 3 0 2 0 38 0Defenders 2 DF Koki Anzai 12+4 0 2 0 1+1 0 20 0 14 DF Katsuya Nagato 22+7 1 0+1 0 3+2 0 35 1 22 DF Rikuto Hirose 7+8 0 0+1 0 6+1 1 17 1 23 DF Naoki Hayashi 5+1 0 3 1 7+1 1 17 2 28 DF Koki Machida 34 5 2 0 1+2 0 39 5 32 DF Keigo Tsunemoto 25+1 2 4 0 4+3 0 37 2 33 DF Ikuma Sekigawa 13 1 1 0 7 0 21 1 39 DF Tomoya Inukai 23+6 5 2 0 5+1 0 37 5Midfielders 4 MF Léo Silva 20+9 0 1+1 0 2+2 0 35 0 6 MF Ryota Nagaki 5+10 0 1+1 0 5+1 0 23 0 7 MF Juan Alano 21+6 3 1+1 0 3+1 1 33 4 11 MF Ryuji Izumi 12+11 1 1+2 0 2+1 1 29 2 17 MF Arthur Caíke 5+9 5 2+2 2 3+1 0 22 7 20 MF Kento Misao 29+5 0 1+1 0 4+3 0 43 0 21 MF Diego Pituca 21+5 2 4 0 5+2 0 37 2 25 MF Yasushi Endo 2+21 1 2+1 2 6+3 0 35 3 26 MF Naoki Suto 0 0 0 0 0+2 0 2 0 27 MF Yuta Matsumura 6+16 2 2+1 1 2+6 1 33 4 34 MF Yu Funabashi 1+1 0 0 0 2+1 0 5 0Forwards 8 FW Shoma Doi 28+8 6 2+1 0 4+2 0 36 6 9 FW Everaldo 17+11 1 3+1 5 4+2 3 38 9 13 FW Ryotaro Araki 27+9 10 1+2 1 4+3 2 45 13 18 FW Ayase Ueda 19+10 14 1+2 3 4 2 36 19 19 FW Itsuki Someno 1+8 0 0 0 3+2 1 14 1Players loaned or transferred out during the season 5 DF Daiki Sugioka 5+2 1 2 0 6+1 1 16 2 15 DF Bueno 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 37 MF Kei Koizumi 8+9 0 1 0 3+2 0 23 0 41 MF Ryōhei Shirasaki 11+6 2 1 0 4+1 2 23 4

Goalscorers The list is sorted by shirt number when total goals are equal. Player J1 League Emperor's Cup J.League Cup Total 1 FW 18 Ayase Ueda 14 3 2 19 2 FW 13 Ryotaro Araki 10 1 2 13 3 FW 9 Everaldo 1 5 3 9 4 MF 17 Arthur Caíke 5 2 0 7 5 FW 8 Shoma Doi 6 0 0 6 6 DF 28 Koki Machida 5 0 0 5 DF 39 Tomoya Inukai 5 0 0 58 MF 7 Juan Alano 3 0 1 4 MF 27 Yuta Matsumura 2 1 1 4 MF 41 Ryōhei Shirasaki 2 0 2 411 MF 25 Yasushi Endo 1 2 0 312 DF 5 Daiki Sugioka 1 0 1 2 MF 11 Ryuji Izumi 1 0 1 2 MF 21 Diego Pituca 2 0 0 2 DF 23 Naoki Hayashi 0 1 1 2 DF 32 Keigo Tsunemoto 2 0 0 217 DF 14 Katsuya Nagato 1 0 0 1 FW 19 Itsuki Someno 0 0 1 1 DF 22 Rikuto Hirose 0 0 1 1 DF 33 Ikuma Sekigawa 1 0 0 1TOTALS62151693

Clean sheets The list is sorted by shirt number when total clean sheets are equal. PlayerJ1 LeagueEmperor's CupJ. League CupTotal1 31 Yuya Oki 11 1 1 132 1 Kwoun Sun-tae 4 0 2 6TOTALS151319

References