Description
Renofa Yamaguchi FC are a professional soccer club in the J. League, presently playing in the J2 league. Their home town is the entire Yamaguchi prefecture, centering around Yamaguchi city and Shimoneseki city. Team’s home stadium is the Yamaguchi Ishin Park Stadium.
The club was originally formed in 1949 as the Yamaguchi Prefecture Teachers Football Club. They passed the Yamaguchi Prefecture League and joined the Chugoku League in 1980. After that they relegated back to the prefectural league and promoted to Chugoku league many times and in 2006 when the Yamaguchi Soccer Association set goals for Yamaguchi Soccer Teachers FC to win the 2011 Yamaguchi National Sports Festival of Japan and to promote to J1 in 2015, the Renofa Yamaguchi FC was born.
Once they had become Renofa Yamaguchi, they won their first Chugoku Soccer League championship in 2008 and dominated the same league again in 2010. In 2013, they were recognized as a J. League associate club, but based on their results, their hope of being placed in the newly established J3 league didn’t come true. Instead the committee accepted Renofa’s application to join the reorganized Japanese Football League (new JFL).
During Renofa’s first year in JFL, in 2014, they finished in 4th place and with a record of 2,297 average visitors, they met the J3 requirements and achieved a promotion to the J. League. The team’s momentum continued in J3 and Renofa polished their unique “Devastating attacks with precise passes” type of soccer.
They had few players with J. League experience and nor was there any gossip about them having hidden talent, but regardless of that, the team fought until the very end without letting their lead slip. As a result, in the same year that they joined, they won their first J3 championship and achieved their first promotion to J2.
In 2016, they changed their battleground to J2 and by continuing their aggressive passing plays they quickly rose up to 3rd place. However, in the second half of the season, they were stopped in their tracks and finished in 12th place. In the Emperor’s Cup they got their first victory against a J1 club, Avispa Fukuokda.
Renofa’s home jersey is orange and their supplier since 2014 has been FINTA. Their shirts have logos of their local sponsors like UPR, Yamaguchi Mazda, and others.
