Team Data: Sagan Tosu
Team Name:
Team Logo & Mascot:  
Team Flag:
Home Uniform Away Uniform
 
Home StadiumTosu Stadium
Seats 24,490
Team Data:
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Management Corporation: | Sagan Tosu Co., Ltd. | |
Established: | 13 July 1998
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President: | Yasuaki Nakamura
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Investors: | Consortium consisting of Tosu City, individual citizens and local corporations | |
Address: | Sagan Tosu Satellite Shop 2F,
1-959-16 Hon-machi, Tosu City,
Saga 841-0037 | |
Hometown Area: | Tosu City, Saga Prefecture | |
Home Stadium: | Tosu Stadium (capacity: 24,490) | |
Joined J. League: | 1999 |
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Sagan Tosu was one of the last clubs to join the J.League under the old format, which focused more on a team's willingness to make the jump and competitiveness on the JFL pitch. Based on the club's performance in its first few seasons of professional existence, some would say that it made the jump too soon. Over the first decade of Sagan's existence the team generated a lot more excitement in the financial newspapers than on the football pitch, treading a very fine line between the J2 basement and bankruptcy.
Sagan Tosu was founded in 1997, just two years before the creation of the J.League second division, as a completely grassroots organisation. Even if they are not former "company teams", most J.League clubs have at least a few corporate shareholders. Sagan, however, was established by 5000 local soccer fans living in the Tosu area of Saga prefecture, in northwestern Kyushu. The team selected a name that was about as basic and unimaginative as you might expect from an amateur group of 5000 local yokels. They took their city address -- Tosu, Saga -- added an "n" to the name of the prefecture, and reversed the two words. "Sagan Tosu". How inventive! Though the team started out with very little in the way of financial backing, it did manage to attract some corporate sponsors in its first few years of existence, including Nike and Coca-Cola. This support facilitated the team's inclusion in the J2, when the second division was formed. Selecting a magpie as its mascot, and taking up residence in a beautiful football-only facility right next door to a major train station, it looked like Sagan had all the elements needed to build a small but solid football club
However, much of the team's apparent vigour was just a mirage created by companies hoping to "cash in" on football fever ahead of Japan's hosting of the 2002 World Cup. Sagan managed to finish near the middle of the table in both 1999 and 2000, but soon thereafter the sponsorship deals were withdrawn, and the team's finances dwindled precipitously as corporate sponsors bid Tosu farewell. Between 2001 and 2004, Sagan stumbled into the depths of despair both on-field and off. Sagan slipped to 10th place in 2001, recovered to ninth in the World Cup year, and then plunged into the J2 basement. With low attendances and no major corporate support, the club was on the edge of financial insolvency, By the end of 2004, Sagan Tosu was close to financial collapse, and was being monitored closely by the J.League to see whether the team could continue to be a viable club.
In 2005, Sagan Tosu received help from an unlikely source -- the professional magician "Princess Tenko", who two years earlier had offered similar financial support to Ventforet Kofu. Princess Tenko certainly seemed to have a "magic touch"; after pulling Ventforet out of the black box of bankruptcy, she made Tosu's financial and competitive woes disappear as well. Sagan got off to a fantastic start in 2005, temporarily rising as high as the second place spot. Over the course of the season its competitiveness waned, as one might expect after looking at their roster. However, the team's eighth place finish was the best it had managed since 2000 , and this at least provided some hope among local fans.
In the early years, Sagan had a hard time building a competitive team, and without a competitive team, fans in the Tosu area either ignored football altogether, or drifted away to support one of the other north-Kyushu clubs (Oita Trinita and Avispa Fukuoka are both located within an hour's drive of Tosu Stadium). But the emotional appeal of a team that had survived near-disaster in a bankruptcy court seemed to generate sympathy and interest. The city and prefecture got involved with both financial contributions and some aggressive marketing efforts, aimed at boosting local pride. By the end of 2005 it was clear that the team had turned the corner, and though still one of the J2's weaker clubs, there were signs that the Masked Magpies were ready to take flight at last
As it began its revival, Tosu started working hard to establish a bit of a "Korean identity", drawing on the abundance of talent that lies just across the Tsushima Strait from Saga prefecture, in Korea. First the team acquired veteran Yoon Jung-Hwan, who had previous J.League experience at Cerezo Osaka. In 2007 they added young striker Kim Shin-Yong, a member of Korea's universiade team, and in 2008, when Yoon retired, they picked up another recent university graduate Park Chong-bae. A steady stream of local Kyushu-area players also expanded the Sagan roster, and by 2008 the team was nipping at the heels of the promotion candidates. The strong popularity of football in Kyushu and the stimulus of local derbies with Avispa, and now Roasso Kumamoto, have elevated attendances and put Sagan firmly on its feet in terms of profitability. Now the Masked Magpies can focus their attention solely on building a more competitive football team. Though we think that Sagan is still not ready to challenge for a promotion spot, things are definitely looking up for the pink-and-blue faithful.
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 | Wintos-kun
The Saga prefectural bird -- the magpie -- was chosen as mascot of Sagan Tosu. A good start, dont you think? Anyone who has encountered these huge, imposing and wickedly intelligent birds would naturally be impressed. But somewhere along the line, around early 2005, someone at the club must have had a bad dream about junior high school girls and prepubescent angst, stimulating one of the most disastrous design makeovers in human history. The pink-and-baby-blue motif for the uniforms was bad enough, but a masked pink magpie? You gotta be kidding! Oh, and in case you didnt catch it, his name is derived from "Win Tosu"
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National Team
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