Roasso Kumamoto

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Roasso Kumamoto
ロアッソ熊本
Roasso Kumamoto logo.svg
Full nameRoasso Kumamoto
NicknameRoasso
Founded1969;57 years ago (1969) as NTT Kumamoto SC
Stadium Egao Kenkō Stadium
Kumamoto, Kumamoto
Capacity32,000
Chairman Tomoyoshi Ikeya
Manager Tomohiro Katanosaka
League J3 League
2025 J2 League, 18th of 20 (relegated)
Website roasso-k.com
Soccerball current event.svg Current season

Roasso Kumamoto (ロアッソ熊本, Roasso Kumamoto) is a Japanese football club based in Kumamoto, the capital city of Kumamoto Prefecture. The club set to play in J3 League from 2026–27, Japanese third tier of professional league football after relegation from J2 League in 2025.

Contents

Name origin

Roasso is a portmanteau of the Italian words rosso and asso, meaning "red ace".

History

Early years (1969–2004)

The club was founded as the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation (Den-Den Kōsha, current NTT) Kumamoto Soccer Club in 1969. The club was promoted to the Kyushu Soccer League in 1983.

According to the NTT's privatization in 1985, the club was renamed as NTT KyushuSoccer Club in 1988. During the NTT Kyushu era, the club won five Kyushu Soccer League titles and one All Japan Senior Football Championship. The club changed their name again to NTT Kumamoto Football Club in 2000.

The club changed their name to NTT West Kumamoto Football Club in 2001 as the NTT was divided into NTT East and NTT West. The club was promoted to the JFL in 2000 after finishing 3rd in 24th JFL Promotion Tournament. [1] The NTT relinquished the ownership of the club in 2002 and community oriented Alouette Kumamoto Football Club was born. Alouette is a French word meaning skylark, the bird of Kumamoto Prefecture. The club finished at the 17th in this season and was relegated to the Kyushu Soccer League.

Roasso Kumamoto (2005–)

The club name was changed again to Rosso Kumamoto in 2005. Rosso means red in Italian. After they won the Kyushu Soccer League and finished at the 3rd in the Regional League play-off tournament, the club was promoted to the JFL.

The club was recently[ when? ] featured in J.League program to introduce the club to followers of the professional league. Rosso's second-place finish in the 2007 JFL season was enough to earn promotion into the J.League (J2 League) for the 2008 season.

The club changed their name to current Roasso Kumamoto in 2008. The previous name Rosso was a registered trademark of another company, so the club could not use it due to a risk of copyright infringement.

After 11 years spent in the J2 League, Kumamoto was relegated to the J3 League on 2018.

After three years at J3 League, Kumamoto returned to J2, after being promoted as the J3 champions in 2021, just a point ahead of Iwate Grulla Morioka in the league table.

In 2022, Kumamoto finished in 4th place with 67 points and advanced to J1 promotion/relegation playoffs after an arguably surprising performance in the 2022 J2 League. Roasso played against the 5th and 4th-placed teams of the J2 season, Oita Trinita and Montedio Yamagata, in matches that ended 1–1 and 2–2, respectively. As the league gave the advantage for the higher-placed team in the league standings to qualify for the next round, Roasso were able to qualify for the play-off finals, despite not winning any match. This time, Kyoto Sanga, as the J1 League team in question, earned the seeding advantage, meaning that Roasso needed to win this match in order to earn promotion. The match ended in a 1–1 draw and Roasso were not promoted for the J1. In 2025, Roasso Kumamoto were relegated to the J3 League for the next season after finishing 18th, with a draw in their final game of the season, ending their three-year stay in the second tier.

Rivalries

The traditional rival of Roasso Kumamoto is Kagoshima United, the prefectural neighbours and former Kyushu Soccer League fellows since 1983 until 2005, except 2001–2002. Matches between the two clubs are labelled Hisatsu derby (肥薩ダービー, "Kumamoto-Kagoshima derby") and generate a lot of interest in both prefectures.

League & cup record

ChampionsRunners-upThird place Promoted Relegated
League J.League
Cup 		Emperor's
Cup
SeasonDiv.TierTeamsPos.PW (PK)DL (PK)FAGDPtsAttendance/G
as Alouette Kumamoto
2002 Japan Football League 31817th1734101628-1213672Not eligible 3rd round
2003 Kyushu Soccer League 4125th2211 (3)-6 (2)47351241-1st round
2004 104th1810 (0)-7 (1)6338531- 3rd round
as Rosso Kumamoto
2005 Kyushu Soccer League4101st1815 (0)-1 (2)45113447-Not eligible1st round
2006 Japan Football League3185th342068643925663,765 3rd round
2007 182nd342167653431693,5691st round
as Roasso Kumamoto
2008 J2 League 21512th421013194672−26435,279Not eligible 3rd round
2009 1814th511211256682−16586,0062nd round
2010 197th361412103943−4546,907 3rd round
2011 2011th381312133344−11516,9282nd round
2012 2214th421510174048−8555,8554th round
2013 2219th421013194070−30436,228 3rd round
2014 2213th421315144553−8547,0022nd round
2015 2213th421314154245−3537,037 3rd round
2016 2216th421210203853−15465,5432nd round
2017 2221st42910233659−23376,557 3rd round
2018 2221st4297265079−29345,2692nd round
2019 J3 League 3185th34169945396575,5332nd round
2020 †188th341661256479541,422Did not qualify
2021 †151st281594392019543,3422nd round
2022 J2 League2224th42181311584810674,039 3rd round
2023 2214th421310195253−1496,278 Semi-finals
2024 2012th38137185362-9469,814 2nd round 2nd round
2025 18th38910194157-16376,700 1st round 3rd round
2026 J3310TBD18N/AN/A
2026-27 20TBD38 TBD TBD

Key

Honours

Roasso Kumamoto honours
HonourNo.Years
Kyushu Soccer League 7 1991, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2005
All Japan Senior Football Championship 21998, 2005 (shared)
J3 League 1 2021

League history

Current squad

As of 5 September 2025. [2]

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

No.Pos.NationPlayer
1 GK Flag of Japan.svg  JPN Shibuki Sato
2 DF Flag of Japan.svg  JPN Kohei Kuroki
3 DF Flag of Japan.svg  JPN Ryotaro Onishi
4 DF Flag of Japan.svg  JPN Yutaro Hakamata (on loan from Tokyo Verdy)
5 DF Flag of Japan.svg  JPN Kaito Abe
6 DF Flag of Japan.svg  JPN Wataru Iwashita
7 MF Flag of Japan.svg  JPN Yuhi Takemoto
8 MF Flag of Japan.svg  JPN Shuhei Kamimura
9 MF Flag of Japan.svg  JPN Yuki Omoto
10 MF Flag of Japan.svg  JPN Chihiro Konagaya
11 FW Flag of South Korea.svg  KOR Bae Jeong-min
13 MF Flag of Japan.svg  JPN Akira Iihoshi
14 FW Flag of Japan.svg  JPN Ryo Shiohama
15 MF Flag of Japan.svg  JPN Shohei Mishima
16 MF Flag of Japan.svg  JPN Rimu Matsuoka
17 MF Flag of Japan.svg  JPN Koya Fujii
No.Pos.NationPlayer
18 FW Flag of Japan.svg  JPN Masato Handai
19 MF Flag of Japan.svg  JPN Rearu Watanabe
20 FW Flag of Japan.svg  JPN Shun Osaki
21 MF Flag of Japan.svg  JPN Ayumu Toyoda
23 GK Flag of Japan.svg  JPN Yuya Sato
24 MF Flag of North Korea.svg  PRK Ri Thae-ha
25 MF Flag of Japan.svg  JPN Keita Kobayashi
27 MF Flag of Japan.svg  JPN Keita Negishi
28 FW Flag of Japan.svg  JPN Keito Kumashiro
30 DF Flag of Japan.svg  JPN Shia Nagashima
32 MF Flag of Japan.svg  JPN Kenichi Nasu DSP
33 FW Flag of Bangladesh.svg  BAN Rikuto Hashimoto (on loan from Vissel Kobe)
41 GK Flag of Japan.svg  JPN Taishiro Kozono Type 2
50 GK Flag of Japan.svg  JPN Anton Burns (on loan from Machida Zelvia)
55 GK Flag of Japan.svg  JPN Hiromu Musha

Out on loan

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

No.Pos.NationPlayer
26 DF Flag of Japan.svg  JPN Kaito Miyazaki (at Azul Claro Numazu)
— DF Flag of Japan.svg  JPN Yuya Aizawa (at Criacao Shinjuku)
No.Pos.NationPlayer
— FW Flag of Japan.svg  JPN Yutaka Michiwaki (at Flag of Belgium (civil).svg SK Beveren)

Coaching staff

NameRole
Manager Flag of Japan.svg Takeshi Oki
Assistant manager Flag of Japan.svg Chikara Fujimoto
Coach Flag of Japan.svg Yasushi Takahashi
Flag of Japan.svg Shinya Masushima
Goalkeeper coach Flag of Japan.svg Ryuichi Ito
Chief trainer Flag of Japan.svg Ryoichi Yamamoto
Athletic trainer Flag of Japan.svg Shumpei Kawamura
Physiotherapist Flag of Japan.svg Keigo Manabe
Physical advisor Flag of Japan.svg Fumihiko Nagasaki
Competent Flag of Japan.svg Satoshi Sekigami
Side affairs Flag of Japan.svg Taichi Nakayama
Flag of Japan.svg Kenta Shioikawa

Managerial history

ManagerNationalityTenure
StartFinish
Tomoyoshi Ikeya Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 1 February 200531 January 2009
Makoto Kitano Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 1 February 200931 January 2010
Takuya Takagi Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 1 February 201031 January 2013
Yasushi Yoshida Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 1 February 201310 July 2013
Tomoyoshi Ikeya Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 10 July 201331 January 2014
Takeshi Ono Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 1 February 201425 November 2015
Hiroyuki Kiyokawa Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 28 November 201514 June 2017
Tomoyoshi Ikeya Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 14 June 201731 January 2018
Hiroki Shibuya Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 1 February 201831 January 2020
Takeshi Ōki Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 1 February 202031 December 2026
Tomohiro Katanosaka Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 1 January 2026Current

Kit and colours

Colour, sponsors and manufacturers

Roasso Kumamoto's club colour is red, representing burning passion and desire for victory.

Season(s)Main Shirt SponsorCollarbone SponsorAdditional Sponsor(s)Kit Manufacturer
2018Hirata--MynaviShiratake (1st)
Shiratake White (2nd)		Kumamoto Electric Power-Puma
2019サトウロジック
2020Shiratake (1st)
Shiratake White (2nd)		--
2021--
2022RKKCSOut-Sourcing Technology
2023Higo Bank-
2024Hirata--Shiratake (1st)
Shiratake White (2nd)		- Admiral Sportswear
2025

Kit evolution

Past seasons

References

  1. ↑ "Promotion to JFL". www.rsssf.org/. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
  2. ↑ "選手・スタッフ". roasso-k.com. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
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