Tokushima Vortis

Template:Short description Template:Short descriptionTemplate:Template other is a Japanese professional football club located in Tokushima, capital of Tokushima Prefecture. The club currently playing in the J2 League, the Japanese second tier of professional football league.

Name origin

The name, "Vortis" was named in 1997 (see below), and it was explained as a coinage of Italian "Vortice" (meaning whirlpool, after the famous Naruto whirlpool in Naruto Strait). The name was chosen to exhibit the dynamics of a whirlpool in the hope of swallowing up the whole audience in excitement by its power, speed and unity.

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 replacements. As a result, despite 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.

In 2013, they earned fourth place in J2, matching the same placement they had two years before in the division and twenty years before in the old JFL Division 1; this time they won the playoff, defeating Kyoto Sanga F.C. in the final round at the National Stadium in Tokyo, thus becoming the first professional Shikoku football club to compete in the top division of their national league.

Until their promotion, they were the only former JSL member currently a member of the J.League which has never competed in the top tier of Japanese football. With promotion and the creation of the J3 League in 2014, the distinction was taken over by Blaublitz Akita.

In the 2019 season, they finished 4th again and were one win away from a return to J1 in the playoffs, but ultimately failed to beat Shonan Bellmare away in the final game. In 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, they did one better and were promoted as J2 champions.

Team name transition

• Otsuka Pharmaceutical (1955–1996, 1998–2004)
• Vortis Tokushima (1997)
• Tokushima Vortis FC (2005–present)

Stadium

Their home stadium is Naruto Otsuka Sports Park Pocari Sweat Stadium, in Naruto, Tokushima.

League & cup record

Champions

Runners-up

Third place

Promoted

Relegated

League													J.League Cup	Emperor's Cup
Season	Div.	Teams	Pos.	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts	Attendance/G
Otsuka Pharmaceuticals
2003	JFL	16	1st	30	23	3	4	65	21	44	72	781	Not eligible	3rd round
2004		16	1st	30	25	3	2	74	20	54	78	3,046		2nd round
Tokushima Vortis
2005	J2	12	9th	44	12	16	16	60	76	-16	52	4,366	Not eligible	4th round
2006		13	13th	48	8	11	29	43	92	-49	35	3,477		4th round
2007		13	13th	48	6	15	27	31	67	-36	33	3,289		4th round
2008		15	15th	42	7	8	27	40	72	-32	29	3,862		3rd round
2009		18	9th	51	19	15	17	67	52	15	72	4,073		2nd round
2010		19	8th	36	15	6	15	51	47	4	51	4,614		3rd round
2011		20	4th	38	19	8	11	51	38	13	65	5,207		2nd round
2012		22	15th	42	13	12	17	45	49	-4	51	3,991		3rd round
2013		22	4th	42	20	7	15	56	51	5	67	4,348		2nd round
2014	J1	18	18th	34	3	5	26	16	74	-58	14	8,884	Group stage	3rd round
2015	J2	22	14th	42	13	14	15	35	44	-9	53	5,019	Not eligible	4th round
2016		22	9th	42	16	9	17	46	42	4	57	4,565		3rd round
2017		22	7th	42	18	13	11	71	45	26	67	4,979		2nd round
2018		22	11th	42	16	8	18	48	42	6	56	4,997		3rd round
2019		22	4th	42	21	10	11	67	45	22	73	5,736		3rd round
2020 †		22	1st	42	25	9	8	67	33	34	84	3,100		Semi-finalist
2021	J1	20	17th	38	10	6	22	34	55	-21	36	5,664	Group stage	3rd round
2022	J2	22	8th	42	13	23	6	48	35	13	62	4,224	Group stage	3rd round
2023		22	15th	42	10	19	13	43	53	-10	49	5,976	Not eligible	3rd round
2024		20	8th	38	16	7	15	42	44	-2	55	6,054	1st round	3rd round
2025		20	4th	38	18	11	9	45	24	21	65	9,703	1st round	3rd round
2026-27		20	TBD	38									TBD	TBD

Key

Honours

Tokushima Vortis honours

Honour	No.	Years	Notes
Shikoku Football League	4	1978, 1979, 1981, 1989	as Otsuka Pharmaceutical
Japan Football League	2	2003, 2004	as Otsuka Pharmaceutical
J2 League	1	2020

Players

Current squad

As of 15 August 2025.

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.	Nation	Player
1	GK	Template:Fba/core	Hayate Tanaka
2	DF	Template:Fba/core	Taiki Tamukai
3	DF	Template:Fba/core	Nao Yamada
4	DF	Template:Fba/core	Kaique Mafaldo (on loan from V-Varen Nagasaki)
5	DF	Template:Fba/core	Hayato Aoki
7	MF	Template:Fba/core	Shunto Kodama
8	MF	Template:Fba/core	Ken Iwao
9	FW	Template:Fba/core	Thonny Anderson
10	MF	Template:Fba/core	Taro Sugimoto
11	MF	Template:Fba/core	Koki Sugimori
13	FW	Template:Fba/core	Taiyo Nishino
14	MF	Template:Fba/core	Rio Hyon
15	DF	Template:Fba/core	Kohei Yamakoshi
16	FW	Template:Fba/core	Daiki Watari
18	DF	Template:Fba/core	Elsinho
19	FW	Template:Fba/core	Jumma Miyazaki
21	GK	Template:Fba/core	Kokoro Aoki
22	DF	Template:Fba/core	Ko Yanagisawa
23	MF	Template:Fba/core	Yu Takada

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
24	MF	Template:Fba/core	Soya Takada
25	MF	Template:Fba/core	Yudai Yamashita
26	MF	Template:Fba/core	Yusei Onoe
27	FW	Template:Fba/core	Lawrence David
28	MF	Template:Fba/core	Naoki Kanuma
29	GK	Template:Fba/core	Daiki Mitsui
30	FW	Template:Fba/core	Kiyoshiro Tsuboi
31	GK	Template:Fba/core	Toru Hasegawa
33	DF	Template:Fba/core	Seiya Inoue (on loan from Avispa Fukuoka)
40	MF	Template:Fba/core	Ryota Nagaki
42	DF	Template:Fba/core	Yuya Takagi
44	DF	Template:Fba/core	Tatsuya Yamaguchi (on loan from Renofa Yamaguchi)
55	MF	Template:Fba/core	Takuya Shigehiro
84	MF	Template:Fba/core	Muku Fukuta Type 2
85	DF	Template:Fba/core	Riku Miyamura Type 2
86	FW	Template:Fba/core	Neo Nagamura Type 2
97	DF	Template:Fba/core	Malcolm Tsuyoshi Moyo (on loan from V-Varen Nagasaki)
99	FW	Template:Fba/core	Lucas Barcellos

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.	Nation	Player
—	GK	Template:Fba/core	Naoki Goto (at Vanraure Hachinohe)
—	DF	Template:Fba/core	Towa Nishisaka (at ReinMeer Aomori)
—	MF	Template:Fba/core	Hiroshi Omori (at Tochigi SC)

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	MF	Template:Fba/core	Thales Paula (at Nagano Parceiro)
—	FW	Template:Fba/core	Wadi Ibrahim Suzuki (at Azul Claro Numazu)
—	FW	Template:Fba/core	Akito Tanahashi (at Tochigi SC)

Club staff

Position	Staff
Manager	Template:Flagicon Kosaku Masuda
First-team coach	Template:Flagicon Masaya Yamaguchi Template:Flagicon Tsuyoshi Furukawa
Goalkeeper coach	Template:Flagicon Masahiko Nakagawa
Analyst	Template:Flagicon Akira Nakajima
Physical coach	Template:Flagicon Wellington
Rehabilitation fitness coach	Template:Flagicon Atsushi Nagatani
Chief trainer	Template:Flagicon Shoji Suzuki
Trainer	Template:Flagicon Hisaaki Maehara Template:Flagicon Masaya Furukawa Template:Flagicon Kenta Saito
Interpreter	Template:Flagicon Masahiro Fukasawa Template:Flagicon Masayuki Hatamoto Ferreira Template:Flagicon Hiroki Nunome
General manager	Template:Flagicon Yusuke Abe
Assistant general manager	Template:Flagicon Yuya Ishii Template:Flagicon Daiki Sugawara

Managerial history

Manager	Nationality	Tenure
		Start	Finish
Kunio Yamade		1988	31 January 1993
Hajime Ishii		1 February 1993	31 January 1996
Edinho		1 February 1996	31 December 1998
Shinji Tanaka		1 January 1999	28 September 2006
Yutaka Azuma		28 September 2006	31 January 2007
Masataka Imai		1 January 2007	31 January 2008
Naohiko Minobe		1 February 2008	31 January 2012
Shinji Kobayashi		1 February 2012	31 January 2016
Hiroaki Nagashima		25 November 2015	31 January 2017
Ricardo Rodríguez		1 February 2017	31 January 2021
Takeshi Komoto (Interim)		1 February 2021	16 April 2021
Dani Poyatos		1 February 2021 Actual start date 16 April 2021	31 January 2023
Beñat Labaien		1 February 2023	22 August 2023
Tatsuma Yoshida		23 August 2023	31 March 2024
Kosaku Masuda		1 April 2024 (Interim) 7 May 2024 (Official)	Current

External links

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