Fagiano Legend File No. 1 : Shugo KAWAHARA

He is legendary fantasista in the club's history. He led the club as a captian during the primary phase of Okayama. He is home-grown in Kurashiki city. After his graduation from big-time sports high school,Tamano Konan High shoool in Okayama, he played a football at Fukuoka University with Tsuboi, former international, playing for Shonan Bellmare in J league division 1 this season.


Later, he belonged to Mitsubishi Motors Mizushima FC as an amateur for four years in Japan Football League. In 2006, he decided to join then Chogoku Regional club, Fagiano Okayama. At that time, he said that he couldn't imagine that he would be able to play in J League in the future.


He had experienced the promotion twice, firstly to Japan Football League in 2007, secondly to J League division 2 in 2008. He played spiritual pillar and made great contribution to the club. In 2010, he announced that he hung up his boots. At the end of 2010 season, the club held a retirement ceremony for the contributor. I still remember that the ceremony was very impressive.
 

The club's transfer information #2

29 year-old midfielder, Seno revealed his retirement. He joined the club in 2008 and three years later, he gave up his career because of his injuries. He came back as a player in 2013, however, this season, he was only capped four times. He is actually from Okayama, therefore, he was the local here in the city. Next year, he will be working for the club's academy.


The club made an agreement with a defender, KUBO Tsubasa. He now plays for Keio Gijuku university. According to the news reports, he was very impressed by the club's legend, Iwamasa, when he took part in the club's training. Therefore, he decided to play for Fagiano. 


Another rookie is a forward, FUJIMOTO Yoshiki. He plays for Meiji university. He is physically tough and he can be expected to play as a chance-taker.He and Kubo played together when they were in Saibi High school in Ehime prefecture.


The captain of Fagiano Next, MIYATA Naoki joins JFL Club, Azul Claro Numazu next year. He came to Okayama in 2010 after graduating from Rissho University. He mainly played as a mieldfield player for Next except for when he played for Matsumoto Yamaga FC on a loan in 2011.


Next's young forward, GO Daimu is traded to the division 3 club, Blaublitz Akita. He came to Okayama in 2012 and mostly played for Next. This season, he was capped at 19 matches and scored one goal in JFL. The head coach of Akita, MASE is the former assistant coach of Okayama. 

Briobecca Urayasu participate in JFL next year.

The club are based in Urayasu city, Chiba prefecture, which is the home of Tokyo Disney Resort. This term, Urayasu won the championship in Kanto Reginal League and advanced to All Japan Regional Football Promotion League Series.


Briobecca finished in the second place in Promotion League Series and successfully obtained the ticket to the Japan Football League.The club got one step closer to J league.


In this club, Former international, TSUNAMI Satoshi works as a technical director. His first son had played for the club until this year.


I was personally happy about their promotion to JFL becasue next season, Fagiano Next come to Urayasu city to face Briobecca therefore, I will be able to see the match at the stadium, which is close from my house.

Renofa Yamaguchi got promoted to division 2.

Renofa Yamaguchi won the championship in the division 3 this year and successfully landed a promotion to the upper league. At the end of this term, they struggled to gain a victory, thus, the club was caught by the second-place finish, Machida Zelvia in points. Renofa barely made it in the top spot because they were ahead on goal differential. 


Throughout the season, their attackings really stood out. The top three scorers in the league all play for Yamaguchi. Amazingly, the top scorer, Kishida scored 32 goals, leading the club as an ace forward. Midfield players, Fukumitsu and Shimaya scored 19 and 16 goals respectively. The team's total goal is 96 in 36 matches.  


Next season, PRIDE OF CHUSHIKOKU Derby match seem to warm up more and more because there will be five clubs in this campaign next year. It is expected that for Fagiano, the game against Yamaguchi is going to be fiery hot.

The linkage between R. K. Classic and Fagiano Okayama

R.K. Classic are amateur club, which belong to Okayama Prefectural League division 1. Its home town is Kurashiki, which is the second largest city in Okayama prefecture. In actual fact, the club had played the role as a temporary second team of Fagiano Okayama for two years (2007 and 2008) before Fagiano Okayama Next were established. 


The club are based on the predecessor of Fagiano Okayama, which are River Free Kickers. The name of the club, R means River Free Kickers, K means their sponsor, Konko pharmacy, C means classic. It is obvious that this amateur club have kinship with Fagiano Okayama.


In 2008, R.K.Classic had a chance to advance the playoffs for the promotion to Chugoku regional league, but declined that chance due to various reasons. 

The club's transfer information #1

After the end of the regular season, Fagiano have started reorganizing the club. As of now, the club already unveiled that some of the players leave Okayama.


A defender, Ueda is one of them. He joined the club from Gamba Osaka in 2009, the club's first year in J League division 2. He was especially good with heading. In 2011 season, he stroke an amazingly long distance shot (about 58m) on a header.  He received injuries and missed most of the matches this term.

  
A defensive midfielder, Chiaki also leaves Okayama. He has played for Fagiano Next as well in 2010. He made an agreement with the club in 2010 and he had appeared at more than 150 matches. At the begining of this season, he was the first choice, but after he was listed on the injury-list, he was not able to come back to the pitch.


Another midfielder, Someya won't play for the club next year. He came to Okayama from FC Gifu last year. In 2013 season, he scored ten goals in Gifu, therefore, he was expected to play as a chance-taker, however, he also suffered from injuries.


The first choice player, Tadokoro made a deal with Yokohama FC. He is the product of Cerezo Osaka. He joined the club in 2009 and constantly played as a starter. His total appearance is more than 200 matches.


Head coach, Nagasawa is going to work for the club next year so that he and his men are expected to show better performances next year.

2015 Season Review : Solid in defence

This term, Fagiano displayed their talents in defence. They lost only 35 goals of 42 matches. The number is the third best in this league. Even the division 2 champion, Omiya Ardija lost 37 goals, which means, Okayama's defenders were very stable throughout the season.


Former international, Iwamasa made an extraordinary contribution in reinforcing Fagiano's defence. He played at every match this season as a captain. Needless to say, he had a strong presence in the team, leading his teammates.


A goal keeper, Nakabayashi showed lots of excellent savings this season. He was ever-present this season and very stable. Obviously, his tremendous performances encouraged his teammates a lot. 


A young defender, Shinohara improved himself a lot. Last year, he played for Roasso Kumamoto on a loan and gained playing experiences. It seems that those experiences encouraged him to play better. Even though, he had been on the injury-list for some time this year, his contribution for Okayama was admirable.


Other defenders, Takeda, Kondo and Kukita also performed solidly. Unfortunately, Ueda received injuries and missed most of the matches this season. The club are expected to maintain their defence next year.

2015 Season Review : The lack of shooting abilities

This season, Fagiano almost always struggled to score goals,  therefore, they failed to obtain points at lot of matches. Their total score is 40 goals, which is less than the number of the match this year. In addition, they had 18 tie games, which means they lost 36 points.

Okayama's top scorer is an ace forward, Oshitani. He scored nine goals this term. He stuggled to deal with opponent's markings, therefore, he was sometimes stressed so that he was sent off at the match against FC Gifu because of his violent behavior. 

A young attacker, Katayama scored five goals this year, but the season must be disappointing for him because he missed lots of chances during the matches. According to the record, his total number of shot is 77, which means he could have scored more.

Another forward, Kubo seemed to lack a sense of stability even though he stroke two impressive goals. Some of the other players such as Yajima, Ito and Iwamasa scored some goals, however, the red-uniformed club failed to seize many opportunities at set plays.

In order to enhance their attacking strength, it can be an option for the club to aquire a skillful striker. Nevertheless, the club are expected to take some measures to overturn the status quo.