Albirex Niigata - last updated on 14 December 2007
(Courtesy of Johnny Beaufays)
Club name: Albirex Niigata (アルビレックス新潟)
Foundation: 1955
City: Niigata
Colours: Orange, blue and white
Website: www.albirex.co.jp
Honours:
Albirex Niigata has currently no honours.
A bit of history:
For many years it had been a local autonomous amateur club, Niigata 11, that could never hope to see the light of day in an old Japan Soccer League dominated almost entirely by company teams. The creation of the J. League spurred the club to rise, and in the 1990s it began climbing fast through the divisions.
Joining the J. League in 1999, its home towns are Niigata, Niigata and Seiro, Niigata. Until 2003, it used Niigata Perfectural Sport Ground as the home ground but since 2004, the team began using Niigata Stadium Big Swan as well and now plays most of its games there. In 2003, it set a record for highest attendance in the J. League with the cumulative total of around 660,000. Its practice grounds are Albirex's training facilities in Seiro and the Ijimino Sports Park (五十公野運動公園, Ijimino Undō Kōen?) in Shibata.
In 1998, Albirex Niigata joined the Japan Football League, and was merged into the J2 league after its creation in 1999. The team gradually became competitive and on 2001 and 2002 it came close to getting promoted to J1 and in 2003, it became the champion of J2 and finally joined the top flight.
The team name is made from combining the star Albireo of the constellation Cygnus (the Swan) and the Latin word Rex meaning 'king'. In 1997, due to copyright issues, the team name was changed from Albireo Niigata to the current Albirex Niigata.
In 2007, the uniform color will change. Until 2006, the color was orange - blue - orange, but from 2007 the color will be orange - orange - orange. This coordinate has not been adopted since 1996 when the team professionalized.
Since 2004, Albirex Niigata has selected a number of players for its satellite team in the S.League in Singapore, called Albirex Niigata Singapore. Albirex also has a women's team and joined L2 league (an equivalent of J2) in 2004. Albirex Ladies won the L2 title in 2006, and it is going to join L1 in 2007.
Club crests: (roll on the crest to get more informations)
Albirex Niigata
