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Home StadiumNiigata "Big Swan" Stadium Seats 52,600 (WC 2002 venue)
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Albirex Niigata -- Preseason Summary
Albirex Niigata has managed to outperform expectations over the past two seasons, and a few observers have even suggested that they may be on the verge of climbing into the ranks of the top contenders. Well . . . they certainly do have the budget to support a championship contender. The problem is that they really have not been of using their large bankroll effectively. THe players that Albirex does have are doing a very good job on the pitch, but it is hard to avoid the impression that they will remain second-class citizens until they start shelliing out money for two or three top-drawer players to lead the team.
Looking carefully at the moves that the Mighty Swans have made in recent years, you get the clear message that they want to build the team from the ground floor up, using only local materials. This is a laudable objective from the long-term perspective. And Albirex does have an excellent system in place to funnel quality players towards the top team. Their association with Japan Soccer College and their "farm team" -- Albirex Singapore -- offer players a chance to get high-level experience even when they are very young. This is producing a lot of young talent, such as recent U-20 stars Atom Tanaka and Kazuhisa Kawahara.
But as fans of Sanfrecce Hiroshima will no doubt attest, a top quality youth program alone is not enough to produce a championship team (well . . . unless you are aiming to win J2 championships). In Albirex's case, the failure to do more work in the offseason to pursue and sign established players is hard to understand. At least Sanfrecce can blame it on weak finances. Albirex -- which still can compete with Urawa Reds in terms of total attendances for a season -- simply hasnt used its cash flow to improve the roster. On the contrary, during the break they LOST key players to potential rivals. The sale of Edmislon to Urawa Reds was the most serious blow, but we think Albirex made a mistake in allowing Masataka Sakamoto to go back to JEF United. Jun Marques Davidson and Masaki Fukai did not make as a big a contribution to the team last year, but we see no indication that the players brought in to replace them are any better.
As we observed last year, Jun Suzuki is a very competent coach, but he is not the sort of man who can coax heroic efforts from a mediocre team. At the end of the day, this means that Albirex can home to be reasonably "successful", in the sense of winning more matches than they lose. But their odds of pickjing up any silverware are long indeed. Most likely they will struggle just to match last year's sixth-place finish.
2007 Finish: 6th Place
2008 Forecast: 8th-10th Place
Roster Changes
IN |
| Pos. | Name | Former Team | Status |
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| FW | Alessandro Nunes | Tombense | Full Transfer |
| FW | Kengo Kawamata | Komatsu HS | New signing |
| MF | Fumiya Kogure | Mitsubishi Ryowa FC | New signing |
| MF | Ayato Hasebe | Albirex Youth | New signing |
| MF | Davi Rodriguez de Jesus | Bragantino | Full Transfer |
| MF | Toshihiro Matsushita | Gamba Osaka | One-year rental |
| DF | Kazunari Ono | Albirex Youth | New signing |
| DF | Daisuke Suzuki | Seiryo HS | New signing |
| DF | Michael Fitzgerald | Seiritsu Gakuen HS | New signing |
| GK | Takaya Kurokawa | Shimizu S-Pulse | Full Transfer |
OUT |
| Pos. | Name | New Team | Status |
|---|
| FW | Masaki Fukai | Antlers --> Grampus | Rental ends |
| FW | Edmilson | Urawa Reds | Full transfer |
| MF | Masataka Sakamoto | JEF United | Full transfer |
| MF | Jun Marques Davidson | Cerezo Osaka | One-year rental |
| MF | Silvinho | EC Vitoria | Released |
| MF | Shingo Suzuki | Kyoto Sanga | Full Transfer |
| MF | Takuya Muguruma | Tokushima Vortis | Full Transfer |
| DF | Seigo Yoshizawa | --- | Released |
| DF | Hikaru Mita | Shonan Bellmare | Full transfer |
| DF | Hideya Tanaka | Kataller Toyama | Released |
| DF | Daisuke Fujii | Thespa Kusatsu | 1-yr rental |
| GK | Takaya Kurokawa | Japan Soccer C. | Rental |
| GK | Yudai Suwa | Japan Soccer C. | Rental |
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