Team Data: Omiya Ardija
Team Name:
Team Logo & Mascot:  
Team Flag:
Home Uniform Away Uniform
 
Home StadiumOmiya Park Soccer Stadium
Seats 15,500
Team Data:
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Management Corporation: | NTT Sports Community Co., Ltd. | |
Established: | 4 December, 1998
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President: | Kazuo Oki
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Investors: | Consortium of 19 NTT group companies, including NTT East Corp., NTT DoCoMo Inc. and NTT Data Corp. | |
Address: | Taiyoseimei Omiya Bldg. 6F,
3-42-5, Daimon-cho, Saitama City,
Saitama 330-0846 | |
Hometown Area: | Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture | |
Home Stadium: | Omiya Park Soccer Stadium (capacity: 15,500?) | |
Joined J. League: | 1999 | |
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Omiya Ardija traces its history to the formation of NTT Kanto Football Club, in 1969. The team was one of the more successful regional clubs in the North Kanto regional division for much of the 1960s and 1970s, and finally won promotion to the Second Division of the Japan Soccer League in 1987. Thereafter, however, the team's progress stagnated, and it remained in the middle to lower ranks of the JSL Second Division and later, the JFL
| 1969 | Founded |
| 1974 | Enters the Kanto Regional League |
| 1986 | Wins National Regional League Championship |
| 1987 | Promoted to Second Division of JSL |
| 1988 | JSL Second Div. - 7th Place (9W10D 9L) |
| 1989 | JSL Second Div. - 9th Place (13W 8D 9L) |
| 1990 | JSL Second Div. - 6th Place (16W 3D 11L) |
| 1991 | JSL Second Div. - 9th Place (9W 6D 15L) |
| 1992 | Enters the new Japan Football League |
| 1993 | JFL - 7th Place (6W 12L) |
| 1994 | JFL - 12th Place (10W 20L) |
| 1995 | JFL - 14th Place (9W 21L) |
| 1996 | JFL - 14th Place (7W 23L) |
| 1997 | JFL - 9th Place (14W 17L) |
| 1998 | JFL - 12th Place (11W 19L) |
However, the team got a surprising boost from the formation of the J.League Second Division. When the J2 was formed, The team's sponsor, NTT, felt that the sponsorship of a successful football franchise could be a positive source of publicity. The Urawa Reds, a cross-town rival, enjoyed tremendous fan support despite rather mediocre results in the J.League. With the financial support of NTT, the newly-formed Omiya Ardija was able to put together a high quality team for its first season in the J2, and finished in sixth place. It followed up this respectable result with an even better fourth place finish in 2000. The team has continued to build steadily on this success, year by year, and though still one of the league's "smaller" clubs, it is now a solid performer in the top-flight division
Ardija takes its name from the Spanish word for "squirrel", which is the team's mascot and a part of its official emblem. Though the name may strike some as a bit odd (few opponents have ever cowered in terror at the though of facing "the mighty squirrels"), this doensnt necessarily indicate that the team is nuts. Though they may always struggle in the shadow of their much bigger and wealthier cross-town cousins, the Reds, Omiya has built a solid fan base and a competitive team which won promotion to the J1 in 2004 and managed to stay up in 2005.
Though Omiya still do not have the depth to be a serious challenger in the J1, the local rivalry with the Reds has been a positive influence on both clubs. Ardija's youth program is quite good, and though they may struggle to stay up, this season, if they can hold onto their position in the J1 for a few more years, the positive effect on the fan base and the associated financial gains should allow them to start attracting more top-notch talent. The Mighty Squirrels of Saitama may not be a match for the Reds, just yet, but the local Saitama derby matches are one of the highlights of the J1 season, and hopefully they will remain so, for many years to come.
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 | Ardi-kun
Ardija is the Spanish word for "squirrel. The tree squirrel was the official animal of Omiya city, and though Omiya has since merged with its neighbour, Urawa, to form Saitama City, the squirrel motif lives on in the name and mascot of Omiya Ardija. According to the team website, the name "Ardi" was also chosen for the mascot because of its silimarity to the word "ardent". This is supposed to indicate the character of the team's supporters. I suppose when you share a city with the Urawa Reds, your supporters would have to be pretty ardent.
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