JEF United Chiba

JEF United Chiba (ジェフユナイテッド千葉, Jefu Yunaiteddo Chiba), full name JEF United Ichihara Chiba and also known as JEF Chiba (ジェフ千葉, Jefu Chiba), is a Japanese professional football club that plays in the J2 League. On 1 February 2005, the club changed its name from JEF United Ichihara to the current name after Chiba city had joined Ichihara, Chiba as its hometown in 2003. Of its club name, JEF is taken from the JR East and Furukawa Electric companies and United is meant to represent the unity of the team and its home city.

Full nameJEF United Ichihara Chiba
Nickname(s)JEF, Inu (The Dogs)
Founded1946 (1946)
(as Furukawa Electric SC)
GroundFukuda Denshi Arena
Chiba
Capacity19,781
OwnerEast Japan Railway Company（50%）
Furukawa Electric（50%）
ChairmanHideyuki Maeda
ManagerYoon Jong-hwan
LeagueJ2 League
2019J2 League, 17th
WebsiteClub website

History

The team began as the company team, Furukawa Electric Soccer Club (古河電気工業サッカー部) in 1946. As the company team, it won the Japan Soccer League twice, the Emperor's Cup four times and the JSL League Cup three times. Furukawa also won the 1986–87 Asian Club Championship, the top club honor in Asia; they were the first Japanese club to do so.

Since the league's inception in 1965, the team had always played in the top flight in Japan and was the only Japanese team to never be relegated from the JSL1, a record they kept into the J1 years. They did finish the 1978 season in a relegation position (last of 10) but stayed up after beating Honda FC 1–0 on aggregate in a two-legged playoff. The last place was not automatically relegated until the 1980 season.

In 1991, it merged with the JR East's company team to become East Japan JR Furukawa Football Club (東日本ジェイアール古河サッカークラブ) and rebranded itself as JEF United Ichihara upon the J.League's founding in 1993. The team initially built itself around the former Germany national football team player Pierre Littbarski.

From 1998 to 2000, the team struggled to stay in the J.League and it began a series of efforts to be a competitive team. Since the hiring of Ivica Osim in 2003, JEF United has contended for the league title each year despite limited resources and struggling attendance.

On July 16, 2006, Osim left the team to take over the coach of the Japan national team and was succeeded by Amar Osim, his son and assistant coach.. On December 5, 2007, it was announced that Amar Osim had been sacked after the club's lowly 13th-place finish in the 2007 season.

After 13 games in the 2008 season Josip Kuže was sacked as team manager. On 8 May 2008 it was announced that the new manager was Alex Miller. Miller was First Team Coach at Liverpool F.C. alongside Rafael Benítez prior to joining JEF United.

The Furukawa Electric is no longer the main sponsor of the club, a job these days taken over by Fuji Electric.

On November 8, 2009, JEF United Chiba was relegated to J2 after 44 seasons in the Japanese top division; since 2010, JEF United Chiba is playing in J.League Division 2.

JEF United Chiba was close to being promoted to J.League Division 1 during the 2012 season. The club was considered one of the favorites to be directly promoted to J1. However, after defeats to teams considered lesser than them such as FC Gifu and F.C. Machida Zelvia, JEF played the playoffs, making their road to the final. They defeated Yokohama FC by 4–0, but lost the final match to Oita Trinita by 1–0, at Tokyo National Stadium.

In the 2013 season they played in the promotion to J1 playoffs. They lost the semi final match to Tokushima Vortis by 1–1(Chiba was 6th place and Tokushima was 3rd place in the league, regulation decides up high club can go final even draw.)

In the 2014 season they played in the promotion playoffs to J1 again. The club did not have to play in the semi-final(Chiba was 4th place but the 3rd place club named Giravanz Kitakyushu had a Jleague original stadium problem so Kitakyushu could not go to the promotion play off). In the final against Montedio Yamagata, they lost by 0–1, at Ajinomoto Stadium.

Symbols

Stadiums

It had played its home matches at Ichihara Seaside Stadium, but has since moved to the larger, football-specific and more conveniently located Fukuda Denshi Arena, which opened in Chiba during the 2005 season. The club had initially practiced at Urayasu, Chiba planning to base itself in Narashino, Chiba before opposition by those living around Akitsu Stadium forced it to be based in Ichihara. Since 2000, training has been held at Footpark Anesaki in Ichihara in normally. Since 1 October 2009, they made new practice place UNITED PARK near the Fukuda Denshi Arena.

Mascot

JEF United Ichihara's mascot characters are Akita Inu brothers named Jeffy and Unity. The squad number of Jeffy is 2 and that of Unity is 9.

Affiliated clubs

Furukawa Electric Chiba

This was JEF's reserve team during the JSL years. They were formed in 1967 and were first promoted to the JSL Second Division in 1975. They still exist, although they are no longer affiliated on paper, and play in the Kanto Regional League. In 2008 they renamed themselves S.A.I. Ichihara and in 2011 they adopted the name Vonds Ichihara. Now separate from Furukawa Electric control, they aim to form its power base in Ichihara as JEF is now based in Chiba city.

JEF Reserves

JEF's reserve team played until 2011 in the Japan Football League, the third tier of Japanese football. But in 2011, the club announced the end of the B team because of financial problems.

JEF United Chiba Ladies
Further information: JEF United Chiba Ladies

Record
Season Div. Tms. Pos. Attendance/G J.League Cup Emperor's Cup
1992––––Group StageQuarter-final
1993J110820,273Group StageQuarter-final
1994J112922,2622nd round2nd round
1995J114515,418–1st round
1996J116912,008Group Stage3rd round
1997J117135,693Quarter-final4th round
1998J118165,365Final3rd round
1999J116135,7742nd round3rd round
2000J116146,3382nd roundQuarter-final
2001J11637,818Quarter-finalQuarter-final
2002J11677,897Quarter-finalSemi-final
2003J11639,709Group StageQuarter-final
2004J116410,012Group Stage4th round
2005J11849,535Winner5th Round
2006J1181113,393Winner4th round
2007J1181314,149Group Stage4th round
2008J1181514,084Quarter-final4th round
2009J1181814,730Group Stage4th round
2010J219411,689–4th round
2011J22069,680–Quarterfinals
2012J22259,281–Quarterfinals
2013J222510,004–3rd round
2014J22239,333–Semifinals
2015J222910,725–3rd round
2016J2221110,292–3rd round
2017J22269,983–3rd round
2018J222149,858–3rd round
2019J222179,701–2nd round
Key
  • Tms. = Number of teams
  • Pos. = Position in league
  • Attendance/G = Average league attendance
  • Source: J. League Data Site

Honours

Furukawa Electric

JEF United Ichihara Chiba

Players

Current squad

As of 28 June 2020.[1]

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 Shota Arai
2 DF  AUS Jason Geria
3 DF  JPN Jun Okano
4 MF  JPN Taishi Taguchi
5 DF  JPN Tatsuya Masushima
6 MF  JPN Yusuke Tasaka
8 MF  JPN Yuki Horigome
9 FW  BRA Kléber
10 FW  JPN Takayuki Funayama (vice-captain)
11 FW  JPN Hisato Sato
13 MF  JPN Hirotaka Tameda
14 MF  JPN Shuto Kojima
15 DF  KOR Jang Min-gyu
16 DF  JPN Koji Toriumi
17 DF  JPN Ikki Arai (vice-captain)
18 MF  JPN Andrew Kumagai (captain)
No. Pos. Nation Player
20 MF  JPN Asahi Yada
21 FW  BRA Alan Pinheiro
22 MF  JPN Kohei Kudo
23 GK  JPN Yuya Sato
24 FW  JPN Keita Yamashita
30 GK  JPN Peter Kwame Aizawa
31 GK  JPN Ryota Suzuki
32 MF  JPN Issei Takahashi
33 DF  JPN Michihiro Yasuda
37 DF  JPN Takeaki Hommura
38 MF  JPN Koki Honda
39 MF  JPN Tomoya Miki
40 FW  JPN Solomon Sakuragawa
44 FW  JPN Kengo Kawamata
49 DF  JPN Takumi Shimohira
50 DF  JPN Koki Yonekura

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
- GK  JPN Cholhwan Ono (at Tochigi SC until 31 January 2021)
- DF  JPN Takaya Inui (at Mito HollyHock until 31 January 2021)
- FW  JPN Daigo Furukawa (at Veertien Mie until 31 January 2021)
No. Pos. Nation Player
- DF  JPN Yushi Mizobuchi (at Tochigi SC until 31 January 2021)
- DF  JPN Danto Sugiyama (at Kamatamare Sanuki until 31 January 2021)
- DF  BRA Hebert Silva Santos (at Wisła Kraków until 30 June 2020)

International capped players.
JFA.
AFC/ CAF/ OFC.
UEFA.
CONMEBOL.

Managers
Coach Nation Tenure
Yoshikazu Nagai Japan 1992–1993
Eijun Kiyokumo Japan 1994–1995
Yasuhiko Okudera Japan 1996
Jan Versleijen Netherlands 1997–1998
Gert Engels Germany 1999
Nicolae Zamfir Romania 1999–2000
Sugao Kambe (interim) Japan 2000
Zdenko Verdenik Slovenia 2000–2001
Sugao Kambe (interim) Japan 2001
Jozef Vengloš Slovakia 2002
Ivica Osim Bosnia and Herzegovina 2003–2006
Amar Osim Bosnia and Herzegovina 2006–2007
Josip Kuže Croatia 2008
Shigeo Sawairi (interim) Japan 2008
Alex Miller Scotland 2008–2009
Atsuhiko Ejiri Japan 2009–2010
Dwight Lodeweges Netherlands 2011
Sugao Kambe Japan 2011
Takashi Kiyama Japan 2012
Jun Suzuki Japan 2013–2014
Kazuo Saito (interim) Japan 2014
Takashi Sekizuka Japan 2014–2016
Shigetoshi Hasebe (interim) Japan 2016
Juan Esnáider Argentina 2017–2019
Atsuhiko Ejiri Japan 2019
Yoon Jong-hwan South Korea 2020-
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References
  1. "CLUBS & PLAYERS:JEF UNITED CHIBA". J.League. Retrieved July 29, 2019.

External Links.
Achievements
Preceded by
Daewoo Royals
 Champions of Asia
1986–87		 Succeeded by
Yomiuri
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