Tokushima Vortis
徳島ヴォルティス

Full name	Tokushima Vortis
Nickname(s)	Vortis
Founded	1955
Ground	Naruto Athletic Stadium Naruto, Tokushima (capacity: 20,000)
Manager	Shinji Kobayashi
League	J. League Division 2
2012	15th
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Tokushima Vortis (徳島ヴォルティス, Tokushima Vorutisu^?) is a Japanese professional football (soccer) club, currently playing in the J. League Division 2. The team is located in Tokushima, Tokushima Prefecture. Their home stadium is Naruto Athletic Stadium, in Naruto, Tokushima.

The name, "Vortis" was named in 1997 (see below), and it was explained as a combination of Italian "Vortice" (meaning whirlpool, after the famous Naruto whirlpool in Naruto Strait), with the initials of other provinces in Shikoku island, Tosa Province (now Kochi Prefecture), Iyo Province (now Ehime Prefecture), and Sanuki Province (now Kagawa Prefecture). Ehime FC in Matsuyama, Ehime has since joined J.League, however, thereby nullifying Vortis' claim to represent all of Shikoku.

History [edit]

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 replace, ments. As a result, despoite 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. Clearly, there is still a long ways to go before the team can compete effectively at this level. For the time being, the objective for Tokushima Vortis fans will be to establish themselves as a solid and competitive team with healthy finances. Until this task is completed, it is too soon to start thinking about the next step, and the possibility of one day earning promotion to the J1; until then, they remain the only former JSL member currently a member of the J. League which has never competed in the top tier of Japanese football.

Record as J. League member [edit]

Key

• Tms. = Number of teams
• Pos. = Position in league
• Attendance/G = Average league attendance

Honours [edit]

• Japan Football League: 2

2003, 2004

• Shikoku Football League: 4

1978, 1979, 1981, 1989

Current players [edit]

As of January 19, 2013 Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Kenya Matsui 2 DF Takashi Miki 3 MF Alex 5 DF Mitsuru Chiyotanda 6 DF Yuki Okubo 7 MF Kosei Shibasaki 8 MF Jun Aoyama 9 FW Douglas 10 MF Tatsuya Suzuki 11 FW Tomohiro Tsuda 13 FW Hiroyuki Takasaki 14 MF Takeshi Hamada 15 MF Keisuke Ota 16 MF Daisuke Saito 17 MF Yu Eto

No. Position Player 18 MF Kohei Miyazaki 19 FW Kim Jong-Min 20 FW Junya Osaki 21 GK Goro Kawanami 22 DF Yoshiaki Kinoshita 23 DF Kotaro Fujiwara 24 DF Masahiro Nasukawa 25 FW Ikki Sasaki 26 DF Ossan 27 MF Sho Hanai 28 MF Yonji Ri 31 GK Toru Hasegawa 32 GK Kazuki Abe 33 DF Yohei Fukumoto

Managers [edit]

Manager	Nat.	Tenure
Kunio Yamade	Japan	1988–1992
Hajime Ishii	Japan	1993–1995
Edinho	Brazil	1996–1998
Shinji Tanaka	Japan	1999–2006
Yutaka Azuma	Japan	2006
Masataka Imai	Japan	2007
Naohiko Minobe	Japan	2008–2011
Shinji Kobayashi	Japan	2012–

External links [edit]

This article relies on references to primary sources. Please add references to secondary or tertiary sources. (September 2007)

• (Japanese) Tokushima Vortis Official Web Site