Tokushima Vortis

Tokushima Vortis
徳島ヴォルティス

Full name	Tokushima Vortis
Nickname(s)	Vortis
Founded	1955
Ground	Naruto Athletic Stadium Naruto, Tokushima (Capacity: 20,000)
Chairman	Koji Takamoto
Manager	Naohiko Minobe (2008 - )
League	J. League Division 2
2010	8th Place
Home colours Away colours

Tokushima Vortis (徳島ヴォルティス, Tokushima Vorutisu^?) is a Japanese professional football (soccer) club, currently playing in the J. League Division 2. The team is located in Tokushima, Tokushima Prefecture. Their home stadium is Naruto Athletic Stadium, in Naruto, Tokushima.

The name, "Vortis" was named in 1997 (see below), and it was explained as a combination of Italian "Vortice" (meaning whirlpool, after the famous Naruto whirlpool in Naruto Strait) , with the initials of other provinces in Shikoku island, Tosa Province (now Kochi Prefecture), Iyo Province (now Ehime Prefecture), and Sanuki Province (now Kagawa Prefecture). Ehime FC in Matsuyama, Ehime has since joined J.League, however, thereby nullifying Vortis' claim to represent all of Shikoku.

History

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.

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.

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 replace, ments. As a result, despoite 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. Clearly, there is still a long ways to go before the team can compete effectively at this level. For the time being, the objective for Tokushima Vortis fans will be to establish themselves as a solid and competitive team with healthy finances. Until this task is completed, it is too soon to start thinking about the next step, and the possibility of one day earning promotion to the J1; until then, they remain the only former JSL member currently a member of the J. League which has never competed in the top tier of Japanese football.

Record as J. League member

Season	Div.	Tms.	Pos.	Attendance/G	J. League Cup	Emperor's Cup
2005	J2	12	9	4,366	-	4th Round
2006	J2	13	13	3,477	-	4th Round
2007	J2	13	13	3,289	-	4th Round
2008	J2	15	15	3,862	-	3rd Round
2009	J2	18	9	4,073	-	2nd Round
2010	J2	19	8	4,614	-	3rd Round

Key

• Tms. = Number of teams
• Pos. = Position in league
• Attendance/G = Average league attendance

Honours

• Japan Football League: 2

2003, 2004

• Shikoku Soccer League: 1

1989

Current players

As of July 22, 2010 Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Hideaki Ueno 2 DF Takashi Miki 3 DF Naoki Wako 4 DF Elizeu 5 DF Kentoku Noborio 6 DF Hiroyuki Nishijima 7 MF Takaaki Tokushige 8 MF Kazuki Kuranuki 9 FW Douglas 10 MF Yusuke Shimada 11 FW Tomohiro Tsuda 13 MF Yoichiro Kakitani 14 MF Takeshi Hamada 15 MF Takuya Muguruma 16 MF Daisuke Saito

No. Position Player 17 MF Yu Eto 18 FW Akihiro Sato 19 FW Keita Sugimoto 20 DF Bae Seung-Jin 21 GK Oh Seung-Hoon 22 DF Tsuyoshi Shimamura 23 GK Tatsuya Enomoto 24 MF Shinta Fukushima 25 DF Takashi Hirajima 26 DF Yuya Hashiuchi 27 MF Jun Marques Davidson 30 FW Kim Jong-Min 31 GK Toru Hasegawa 33 DF Masahiro Ishikawa

Out on loan

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

No. Position Player GK Kazuki Abe (to Cerezo Osaka)

Managers

Manager	Nat.	Tenure
Kunio Yamade	Japan	1988–1992
Hajime Ishii	Japan	1993–1995
Edinho	Brazil	1996–1998
Shinji Tanaka	Japan	1999–2006
Yutaka Azuma	Japan	2006
Masataka Imai	Japan	2007
Naohiko Minobe	Japan	2008-

Naruto Athletic Studium

External links

• (Japanese) Tokushima Vortis Official Web Site