Zweigen Kanazawa

Zweigen Kanazawa (ツエーゲン金沢, Tsuēgen Kanazawa) is a Japanese football club based in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture. They currently play in the J3 League, Japan's third tier of professional league football after being relegated at the end of 2023 of J2 League.

History

The club was formed in 1956 under the simple name Kanazawa Soccer Club and adopted its current identity in 2006. The Hokushinetsu region, long sleepy in football terms and whose potential only arose with Albirex Niigata leading the way, provided few opportunities for Kanazawa to rise in Japan's football ranks until the late 2000s. On 19 December 2009 they were promoted to the JFL after beating FC Kariya at the promotion/relegation playoff with 2–1 aggregate score, following a third-place finish in the 2009 All Japan Regional Football Promotion League Series.

On December 15, 2010, a new management company called Zweigen, Inc. was established in order to apply to the J-League associate membership.

On January 7, 2011, the team applied for J-League associate membership.

On 16 November 2014, Zweigen became the inaugural J3 League champions, and gained a licence to compete in J2 League from 2015.

On 22 October 2023, Zweigen officially relegated to J3 League for the 2024 season after a narrow by Montedio Yamagata 0–1, thus ending their 9 years stay in J2.

Name and symbolism

The name "Zweigen" is a portmanteau of the German zwei, for the number 2, and gen, to advance. In Kanazawa dialect, the phrase tsuyoi noda! (We're strong!) became tsuee gen! by double entendre. In German, the word Zweigen means branches (dative—nominative: Zweige), and owing to this, a fleur-de-lis is a key part of the club's crest.

Stadium

From 1974 to 2024, their home stadium was the 20,261 capacity general-purpose Ishikawa Kanazawa Stadium.

Since 18 February 2024, Zweigen Kanazawa have played at the 10,444 capacity Kanazawa Stadium.

League & cup record

Champions

Runners-up

Third place

Promoted

Relegated

League														J. League Cup	Emperor's Cup
Season	Div.	Tier	Teams	Pos.	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts	Attendance/G
2010	JFL	3	18	9th	34	13	9	12	46	41	5	48	1,548	Not eligible	2nd round
2011			18	7th	33	13	8	12	49	40	9	47	2,504		2nd round
2012			17	14th	32	8	12	12	33	41	-8	36	2,313		1st round
2013			18	7th	34	14	8	12	60	48	12	50	2,063		3rd round
2014	J3		12	1st	33	23	6	4	56	20	36	75	3,440		2nd round
2015	J2	2	22	12th	42	12	18	12	46	43	3	54	4,910		2nd round
2016			22	21st	42	8	15	19	36	60	-24	39	4,179		2nd round
2017			22	17th	42	13	10	19	49	67	-18	49	4,397		3rd round
2018			22	13th	42	14	13	15	52	48	4	55	4,528		3rd round
2019			22	11th	42	15	16	11	58	46	12	61	5,209		3rd round
2020 †			22	18th	42	12	13	17	57	67	-10	49	1,866		Did not qualify
2021 †			22	17th	42	10	11	21	39	60	-21	41	2,533		2nd round
2022			22	14th	42	13	13	16	56	69	-13	52	3,421		3rd round
2023			22	22nd	42	9	7	25	40	69	-29	34	4,239		2nd round
2024	J3	3	20	12th	38	13	11	14	50	52	-2	50	5,435	1st round	1st round
2025			20	TBD	38									1st round	2nd round

Key

Honours

Zweigen Kanazawa Honours

Honour	No.	Years
Hokushinetsu Division 1	1	2004
Ishikawa Prefectural Football Championship Emperor's Cup Ishikawa Prefectural Qualifiers	9	2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2024
J3 League	1	2014

Current squad

As of 5 June 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	Yuto Shirai
2	DF	Template:Fba/core	Yuto Nagamine
3	DF	Template:Fba/core	Hiroto Hatao
4	DF	Template:Fba/core	Daisuke Matsumoto
6	DF	Template:Fba/core	Jeferson Jari
7	MF	Template:Fba/core	Dai Tsukamoto
8	MF	Template:Fba/core	Keisuke Oyama
9	FW	Template:Fba/core	Yusei Toshida
10	FW	Template:Fba/core	Patric
11	FW	Template:Fba/core	Kyohei Sugiura
14	MF	Template:Fba/core	Takayoshi Ishihara
15	MF	Template:Fba/core	Yuki Nishiya
16	DF	Template:Fba/core	Shunya Mori
17	MF	Template:Fba/core	Taiki Kato
18	MF	Template:Fba/core	Andrew Kumagai
20	DF	Template:Fba/core	Hayate Nagakura

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
21	GK	Template:Fba/core	Takumi Yamanoi
23	MF	Template:Fba/core	Yusei Shinomiya
24	MF	Template:Fba/core	Shimpei Nishiya
25	DF	Template:Fba/core	Masaya Kojima
26	MF	Template:Fba/core	Jin Murata
29	DF	Template:Fba/core	Kaito Miyazaki
30	FW	Template:Fba/core	Hayato Otani
31	GK	Template:Fba/core	Itsuki Ueda
33	MF	Template:Fba/core	Hayate Okizaki
38	DF	Template:Fba/core	Norimichi Yamamoto
39	DF	Template:Fba/core	Honoya Shoji
41	MF	Template:Fba/core	Shintaro Shimada
49	FW	Template:Fba/core	Tomoya Osawa (on loan from RB Omiya Ardija)
55	DF	Template:Fba/core	Tomohiro Taira
60	GK	Template:Fba/core	Kenya Kubo

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
5	DF	Template:Fba/core	Fuga Sakurai (at Tegevajaro Miyazaki)

Coaching staff

Position	Name
Head coach	Template:Flagicon Maki Tsujita
Assistant head coach	Template:Flagicon Kiyokazu Kudo Template:Flagicon Hiroki Shibuya
Goalkeeper coach	Template:Flagicon Noriyuki Yamagishi
Physical coach	Template:Flagicon Tetsuya Sakamoto
Analytical coach	Template:Flagicon Wataru Kuriwaki
Chief trainer	Template:Flagicon Chikashi Masui
Trainer	Template:Flagicon Seiya Motooka Template:Flagicon Takahiro Yagi
Interpreter	Template:Flagicon Rafael Rayden Igarashi
Equipment manager	Template:Flagicon Tomoya Araki
Team manager	Template:Flagicon Tatsuya Hirano

Managerial history

Manager	Nationality	Tenure		Managerial Record
		Start	Finish	P	W	D	L	Win %
Nobuhiro Ueno		1 February 2009	31 January 2012
Hitoshi Morishita		1 February 2012	31 January 2017
Masaaki Yanagishita		1 February 2017	5 November 2023
Akira Ito		11 December 2023	1 June 2025
Maki Tsujita		3 June 2025	present

Key

Kit evolution

The club colours are red, black and yellow.

External links

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