Albirex Niigata
| Logo | |||
| Full name | Albirex Niigata | ||
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| Nickname(s) | - | ||
| Founded | 1955 | ||
| Ground | Niigata Stadium Big Swan Niigata, Niigata | ||
| Capacity | 42,279 | ||
| Chairman | Hiromu Ikeda | ||
| Manager | Yasuharu Sorimachi (2001 - ) | ||
| League | J. League Div.1 | ||
| J. League 2004 | 10th place (1st: 14th, 2nd: 7th) | ||
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Albirex Niigata(アルビレックス新潟) is a J. League team.
Joining J. League in 1999, its home towns are Niigata, Niigata and Seiro, Niigata. Until 2003, it used Niigata Perfectural Sport Ground as the home ground but since 2004, the team began using Niigata Stadium Big Swan as well and now plays most of its games there. In 2003, it set a record for highest attendance in the J. League with the cumulative total of around 660,000. Its practice grounds are Albirex's training facilities in Seiro and the Ijimino Sports Park (五十公野運動公園) in Shibata.
The team name is made from combining the Albiero of Cygnus and the Latin word Rex meaning 'king'. In 1997, due to copyright issues, the team name was changed from Albireo Niigata to the current Albirex Niigata.
In 1998, Albirex Niigata joined the Japan Football League, and was merged into the J2 league after its creation in 1999. The team gradually became competitive and on 2001 and 2002 it came close to getting promoted to J1 and in 2003, it became the champion of J2 and finally joined J1.
Since 2004, Albirex Niigata has selected a number of players for its satellite team in the Singapore Professional Football League, called Albirex Niigata Singapore. Albirex also has a women's team and joined L2 league (an equivalent of J2) in 2004.
Titles
- 2003 J2 Championship