Team Data: JEF United Ichihara Chiba
Team Name:
Team Logo & Mascot:  
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Home Uniform Away Uniform
 
Home StadiumChiba Fukuda Arena
Seats 18,500
Team Data:
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Management Corporation: | JR East Furukawa Football Club Corp. | |
Established: | 11 June 1991
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President: | Kentaro Oka
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Investors: | The Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. and East Japan Railway Company | |
Address: | Anesaki Park, 23-2, Anesakikaigan,
Ichihara City, Chiba 299-0107 | |
Hometown Area: | Chiba City and Ichihara City, Chiba Prefecture | |
Home Stadium: | Chiba Fukuda Arena (capacity:18,500) | |
Joined J. League: | 1992 | |
Major Titles: |
Nabisco Cup: 2005, 2006
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 | Jeffy & Unity
JEF United were the first team to stumble onto the licensing magic of the "family motif". When the J.League was founded they already had two mascots -- the brothers "Jeffy" and "Unity". Unfortunately this left their prospects of expanding the family with offspring a bit limited. Nevertheless, the two Akita-breed dogs have done their part, selling a huge volume of uniforms with the numbers 2 (worn by Jeffy) and 9 (worn by Unity).
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JEF United can trace its history to the Furukawa Electric football club which was one of the dominant teams of the old Japan Soccer League. Furukawa can boast five Emperor's Cup titles and three second-place finishes, ranking it with Mitsubishi, Nissan and Yomiuri as the predominant teams in the old league. However, Furukawa Electric was not a particularly large company, and even prior to the launch of the J.League, the team was beginning to show signs of weakening for lack of financial support. Indeed, JEF United owes its name to the fact that Furukawa was unable to support a team on its own. At the inception of the J.League, Furukawa was forced to seek additional financial backing, and received it from railway operator JR East. The initials of the companies -- JR, East and Furukawa were merged to create "JEF" and since the team had been formed with the united support of two corporate sponsors, "JEF United" was deemed a suitable name.
JEF United got off to a decent start in its very first season, finishing in the middle of the table, but since the first stage of 1993, the team has never finished higher than sixth. Indeed, JEF could be viewed as the consummate "basement dweller", apart from a breif run of comparative mediocrity under the guidance of coach Ivica Osim. In the early years, the team had several players who captured national attention and raised the JEF name to a level higher than its actual performance on the pitch. These included former French international Pierre Littbarsky, who remained in Japan as a coach even after his playing career ended. Yugoslav international Nenad Maslovar also gained a very positive reputation in Japan, and also has coached in the JFL ranks after his playing days were over. These two internationals, and the young Shoji Jo, who shot to stardom as a rookie only to see his star burn out before he was 25, made JEF a popular club, at least on TV. But unfortunately, JEF never managed to develop a strong fan following. Its tiny home stadium, seating only a bit over 15,000, did not help matters. Perpetually strapped for cash, the team languished in the lower ranks of the league.
In 2001, the Yellow Dogs of Chiba finally started to break out of this mold, thanks mainly to the contributions of a few Eastern European coaches. The first to take the reins was Zdenko Veredenik. Building on JEF's central European roots, Veredenik brought in three key foreign players -- "Edo" Mujcin and Zeljko Milinovic, both from the former Yugoslavia, and striker Choi Yong-Soo, a young Korean with a keen nose for goal. Perhaps more importantly, Verdenik did a good job in developing the talented youngsters emerging from JEF's youth program. As a result, the team began to blossom, for the first time moving above mid-table, and finishing in second place in the 2001 first stage.
After Verdenik's one-year stint, another wily strategist took over the reins -- former Graz and Austrian national team coach Josef Venglos. Under his tutelage, the team continued to develop, and although they failed to match the performances of 2001, they definitely were becoming a more formidable opponent, who other teams in the league treated with caution. In 2002, they were the only team with a winning record against champions Jubilo Iwata, defeating them twice and getting one draw over two league matches and one cup match. The following year, JEF made its strongest bid ever for a league title. Ivica Osim took over the coaching duties, and in a bit of brilliant player management, the burly Bosnian was able to turn JEF's blend of energetic youngsters and key veterans into one of the top contenders in 2003. Though they failed to to take home any silverware that season, the little team from Chiba gave the league's giants a good run for their money and they ended the season in third place overall.
But at the end of the day, it was always clear that JEF would struggle to overcome the deficits of a weak fan base and poor finances. Players who emerged as J.League stars and national team prospects expected to benefit accordingly, and when JEF United was unable to increase their salary to a meaningful level, they moved on to clubs with deeper pockets. Throughout the relatively successful era of the early 00s, the main winter spectator sport in CHiba was watching to see how many key players would jump ship. In 2005 the team finally claimed its first piece of silverware, with a victory in the Nabisco Cup, but their competitiveness was clearly eroding as more and more talent walked out the door.
Club management was not oblivious to the problem, but there seemed to be little they could do. The most useful management decision came in 2005, when the team decided to move its "home town" from Ichihara to the larger neighboring city of Chiba, and take up residence in a more expansive and truly beautiful football-only stadium known as the FUKUda AREna, or in typical Japanese shorthand, "FUKUARI" Stadium. Though Ichihara was still included as part of the team's hometown area, the official club name was changed to "JEF United Chiba". But fate would deal the team a blow which made this move pointless, at least in the short term. In the middle of the 2006 season, Ivica Osim left to take up the post of Japan National Team coach, and was succeeded by his visibly less-talented son, Amar.
Amar Osim may have been closely involved in the day-to-day activities of JEF United for two years, as an assistant coach, but when he took over the reins from Osim Senior, it became clear that he lacked either the strategic skill or the easy rapport with his players that made his father such a successful coach. At the end of 2007, after narrowly averting relegation, the team broke its final ties to the Osim legacy by firing Amar and allowing many of Osim's former favourites to leave the team.
Despite the move to new home town and a new stadium, and the dramatically improved attendance numbers after the team moved to Fukuari Stadium, the team was not able to improve its team finances enough to prevent the steady outflow of talented players. The exodus continued in 2007, leaving JEF more depleted than at any time since the early 2000s. To make matters worse, incoming coach Josip Kuze had a much more rigid "European" perspective on football than his immediate predecessors, and tried to force JEF to adopt the slow, deliberate and excessively defensive tactics that are often seen at minor clubs in European leagues. As past experience has shown, time and time again, this strategy does not work well in Japan. Despite claiming a few 0-0 draws, coach Kuze could not accumulate enough points to get JEF off the basement floor, and by June it looked like the Yellow Dogs were doomed to a spell in the J2.
But in the middle of the 2008 season, a grizzled Scotsman who had never coached outside of the UK rode in like a heroic cavalry contingent to rescue the embattled club. In June, Alex Miller had just completed a season as the assistant coach at Liverpool, and was trying to decide what step to take next in his coaching career. With Rafa Benitez firmly installed as head coach it was appparent that he would have to move on if he wanted a head coaching opportunity. But Miller probably did not expect the call to come from distant Japan to take over a club that seemed doomed to relegation. Fortunately for JEF United and its fans, the Scotsman took the offer as a challenge, and quickly set about retooling the squad for a last-gasp bid for survival.
The results were extremely impressive. JEF began to play with a level of confidence they had not shown since Ivica Osim's departure, and the home crowds -- who had never paid much attention to a mediocre mid-table team -- began packing the stands in vast numbers and displaying huge banners urging the team to fight for survival. JEF ran off several big upset wins, including defeats of league leaders Nagoya Grampus, Kashima Antlers and Urawa Reds. Yet their play was still spotty, and on the final week of the season JEF still needed a win to avoid relegation.
The final match of 2008 was a drama for the ages. After falling behind 0-2 at half time, JEF rallied heroically to score four times in the final 20 minutes, winning the contest 4-2 and preserving a spot in the top-flight division. Naturally, these heroics have energised a previously blase fan base, and it will be very interesting to see how well coach Miller can build on that emotional base, as he seeks to revive the club's fortunes in 2009. Regardless of where they finish this year, it would seem that JEF United has finally come of age as a football team. Fans in Chiba can look forward to a great deal of excitement -- and a lot fewer empty seats around them -- in the coming year.
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