Kamatamare Sanuki (カマタマーレ讃岐、Kamatamāre Sanuki) is a professional football club based in Takamatsu, the capital city of Kagawa Prefecture of Japan. They currently play in the J3 League, the Japanese third tier of professional football.
The first part of their name was coined by combining the Japanese word Kamatama (a type of udon noodle bowl) and the Italian Mare ("Sea"). The second part is what Kagawa Prefecture used to be called. Their name, as well as their crest, that features a kamatama udon bowl, gained a significant interest and recognition, as the club instantly became one of the most-known non-league sides in Japan when their new name and crest was announced in October 2005.
History The club was founded in 1956 as Takasho OB (Old Boys) Soccer Club (高商OBサッカークラブ) by the former students of Takamatsu Commercial High School's soccer club. Since renaming themselves Kagawa Shiun Football Club (香川紫雲フットボールクラブ) in 1991, they have been the leading football club in Kagawa, winning the Shikoku League Championship twice. The club's name changed again in 2000 to Sun Life (サンライフ) Football Club, when a consumer loan company Sun Life signed a sponsorship deal that continued until the end of the 2004 season.
In October 2005, after briefly being called Takamatsu Football Club, the club officially announced their intention to rise to J.League status and changed their name to Kamatamare Sanuki. In 2010 they won the non-league treble by winning the Shikoku League, the Shakaijin Cup and the Regional League Promotion Series, and by virtue of the latter they were at last promoted to the Japan Football League.
They entered the J3 League ahead of the season 2014, after finishing as runners-up in the Japan Football League in the previous season, having won the J2–J3 promotion/relegation playoff by beating Gainare Tottori 2–1 on aggregate. In 2018, Kamatamare Sanuki got relegated to the J3 League from 2019. On 26 September 2023, Kamatamare Sanuki was declared to have met the requirements to obtain a license up to the J1 League level.
Stadium The home stadium is Kagawa Prefectural Marugame Stadium in Marugame City (from September 1, 2015 ~ August 31, 2025, it was called 'Pikara Stadium' under naming rights; from January 1, 2026~ under naming rights, 'Shikoku Kasei' It is called 'MEGLIO Stadium' (with a fixed seating capacity of 22,338), and is the only stadium in Kagawa Prefecture that meets the standards of a J1 license or higher. On the other hand, Yashima Rexam Field in Takamatsu City (capacity about 6,000 people) meets J3 standards, and since 2024, J3 official matches have been held at the same venue irregularly.
During the JFL era, the Kagawa Prefectural Sports Park Soccer and Rugby Stadium and Marugame Stadium in Takamatsu City were also used as their home stadiums. During the Shikoku League era, the Kagawa Prefectural General Sports Park Soccer and Rugby Field and Marugame Stadium were also used as their home stadiums.
After a complete renovation in April 2017, Yashima Rexam Field has been using the main stadium as a training ground several times a month. In the pre-renovation plan, there was a proposal to design a stadium that would meet at least J2 standards (10,000 seats at the time) for promotion to the J.League for Kamatamare, but issues such as noise, impact on surrounding traffic, and a renovation plan focused on football were raised in the council. As a result, at the city council plenary session held on March 8, 2011, Takamatsu Mayor Hideto Onishi announced a policy to develop the stadium to meet J.League standards at the initial stage, but in the future, renovations such as the stands will enable it to accommodate J2-level matches. As a result, the renewal plan to meet J2 standards was cancelled. Currently, Yashima Rexam Field has 5,000 seats, meeting the J3 standard (generally 5,000 or more). Even after being relegated to J3 in 2019, all home matches were held in Marugame, but following the October 6, 2024 match against Gainare Tottori, the club has now hosted Yashima about once or twice a year.
League record ChampionsRunners-upThird placePromotedRelegated League J.League Cup Emperor'sCup ShakaijinCupSeason Division Tier Pos P W D L F A GD Pts Attendance/G Takasho OB1977ShikokuLeague 6th 14 4 2 8 32 54 -22 10 Not eligible 1978 8th 14 1 2 11 18 48 -304 1979KagawaPref. League1st ? ? ? ? ? 1980 1st ? ? ? ? ? 1981ShikokuLeague 5th 14 7 1 6 26 31 -5 15 1982 8th 14 4 1 2 19 26 7 13 1983 2nd 16 10 1 5 45 32 13 21 1984 2nd 14 6 5 3 33 30 3 17 1985 6th 14 5 1 8 26 48 -22 11 1986 7th 14 3 2 9 15 25 -10 8 1987 8th 14 1 2 11 12 53 -41 4 1988 7th 14 5 0 9 16 42 -26 10 1989 6th 14 5 2 7 15 43 -28 12 1990 6th 14 3 3 8 15 31 -16 9 Kagawa Shiun1991ShikokuLeague 2nd 14 10 1 3 42 15 27 21 Not eligible 1992 3rd 14 8 2 4 49 16 33 18 1993 2nd 14 11 0 3 53 18 35 22 1994 1st 13 11 1 1 46 12 34 23 1995 2nd 14 9 3 2 42 17 25 30 1996 2nd 14 10 1 3 41 19 22 31 1997 1st 14 9 3 2 47 24 23 30 1998 3rd 14 6 4 4 21 17 4 22 199942nd 14 9 1 4 41 25 16 28 Sun Life FC2000ShikokuLeague 4 4th 14 8 1 5 35 32 3 25 Not eligible 20013rd 14 7 3 4 45 25 20 24 20022nd 14 10 0 4 33 28 5 30 20036th 14 4 1 9 28 36 -8 13 20043rd 14 8 0 6 29 26 3 24 Takamatsu Football Club2005ShikokuLeague 4 4th 14 6 4 4 31 24 7 22 Not eligible Kamatamare Sanuki2006ShikokuLeague 4 1st 14 12 1 1 45 12 33 37 Not eligible 20072nd 14 12 1 1 68 14 54 37 20081st 14 13 1 0 62 4 58 40 20092nd 14 12 0 2 56 10 46 36 2nd round 20101st 14 12 2 0 53 5 48 38 2nd round Winners 2011JFL 3 11th 33 11 7 15 39 49 -10 40 3,025 2nd round Not eligible20124th 32 15 8 9 49 29 20 53 2,344 3rd round20132nd 34 21 5 8 49 26 23 68 3,125 2nd round2014J2League 2 21st 42 7 12 23 34 71 -37 33 3,317 2nd round201516th 42 12 15 15 30 33 -3 51 3,658 2nd round201619th 42 10 13 19 43 62 -19 43 3,686 2nd round201719th 42 8 14 20 41 61 -20 38 3,805 2nd round201822nd 42 7 10 25 28 72 -44 31 3,073 2nd round2019J3 League3 14th 34 10 9 15 33 49 -19 39 2,112 2nd round2020 †16th 34 7 10 17 33 52 -19 31 869 Did not qualify2021 †15th 28 4 9 15 20 41 -21 21 1,475 1st round202217th 34 6 9 19 27 49 -22 27 1,805 Did not qualify202316th 38 11 11 16 29 45 -16 44 2,062 2nd round202416th 38 10 13 15 48 52 -4 43 1,949 1st round 2nd round202517th 38 10 8 20 41 57 -16 38 2,203 1st round 1st round2026TBD 18 N/A N/A2026-27TBD 38 TBD TBD Key
Honours +Kamatamare Sanuki's honoursHonour No. YearsShikoku Soccer League51994, 1997, 2006, 2008, 2010Kagawa Prefectural Football Championship <br/ >Emperor's Cup Kagawa Prefectural Qualifiers191996,1997,1998,1999,2000,2001,2005,2006,2007,2008, 2009,2010,2011,2012,2019,2021,2023,2024, 2025Shakaijin Cup12010Regional League Promotion Series12010
Current squad
Out on loan
Coaching staff
Position NameManager Naoto OtakeAssistant manager Kim Jung-hoon Ryohei SaitoGoalkeeper coach Kenta ShimizuPhysical coach Bansaku IgarashiChief trainer Shinichi TodakeTrainer Sotaro Sasaki Koshi FujimotoSide manager Masaki SueyoshiEquipment manager Koki Izumi
Managerial history Manager Nationality Tenure Start Finish Masashi Hachuda 1 February 2008 31 January 2010Makoto Kitano 1 February 2010 31 January 2019Kenichi Uemura 1 February 2019 31 January 2020Kazuhito Mochizuki 1 February 2020 31 January 2021Nobuyuki Uenoyama 1 February 2021 31 March 2021Toshihiro Nishimura 1 April 2021 11 April 2021Zdravko Zemunović 12 April 2021 31 January 2022Toshihiro Nishimura 1 February 2022 31 January 2023Atsushi Yoneyama 1 February 2023 6 July 2025Kim Jong-song 8 July 2025 2 December 2025Naoto Otake 8 December 2025 present
Kit evolution FP 1st
FP 2nd
In pop culture
The Kamatamare players made cameo appearances in the 2006 film "UDON" directed by Katsuyuki Motohiro.
References
External links
2014 squad (archived)