commonly known as Atletico Suzuka, formerly is a Japanese professional football club based in Suzuka, Mie Prefecture. They are set to compete in the Tōkai Adult Soccer League Division 1 from the 2026–27 season, the fifth tier of the Japanese football league system, following their relegation from the Japan Football League in 2025.
History
The club was originally established in Nabari, Mie in 1980 under the name Mie Club, and it became a member of Mie Football Association to join the Mie prefectural league in 1982. The club went up to the top division in 1991 and remained there until 2005, when local organisers kicked off the idea of developing a larger and more ambitious football team.
The region to the southwest of Nagoya has been traditionally very populous but still undeveloped from a football perspective despite a number of successes by local high school football. In mid- 2005, a group of local businessmen, football fans and coaches from Mie Prefecture, who were eager to put together a team to represent the area, approached Bunji Kimura, an ex-football manager of Kyoto Sanga F.C. and Yokohama Flügels. Kimura was convinced to accept the position of the president and technical director of a club that was then going by the name of "W.S.C. Nabari Admiral". Kimura plunged in and began a very ambitious project to transform the team from a bunch of amateur kickers in a tiny town to a much more competitive and tightly run organisation representing the aspirations of the entire prefecture.
At Kimura's insistence, the team in February 2006 took the name "MIE FC Rampole", taking its name from the famous Japanese mystery novel writer Rampo Edogawa, who was born in Mie Prefecture. The part "ole" of the name is supposedly a Spanish word "Olé" used to cheer and applaud (cf. Consadole Sapporo). Following the name change the club launched its official website on February 22. Kimura quickly began drawing upon his network of J.League contacts to bring in more experienced coaches and organisers, and by the end of his first season in charge the club advanced to the second division of the Tōkai Regional League.
Whereas its progress on the pitch has stalled temporarily, with third-place finishes in both 2007 and 2008, the club has been focusing most of its attention on the organisational goals. An independent corporation was established in 2006, fulfilling one of the requirements of J. League Associate Membership, and in 2008 the team merged with nearby Suzuka Club, thereby absorbing a youth program that can help to meet another key requirement. Following the merger, the team announced on 1 September 2008, that it changed its name to "F.C. Suzuka Rampole" and moved its home playing ground from Ueno Athletic Park Stadium to Suzuka Sports Garden from 2009 season. The club carried out the move since first, Suzuka is the city world-famous for the F1 circuit located outside town, and second, its population base and location, squarely in the middle of Mie Prefecture's main population centres is considered to be ideal.
On 28 January 2016, the team announced an immediate change of the team's name to Suzuka Unlimited FC (鈴鹿アンリミテッドFC).
With the appointment of coach Milagros "Mila" Martínez from the 2019 season, the club was the first and to date only in any of Japan's national level divisions to have a female leading the club.
On 1 February 2020, the club announced that it would change its name to Suzuka Point Getters (鈴鹿ポイントゲッターズ). Their logo and attire were updated to reflect Suzuka's status as home of the Suzuka Circuit.
On 5 July 2021, Suzuka announced Martínez's departure by mutual consent after her contract lapsed and published her gratitude to Point Getter fans throughout her tenure. Ten days later, former J3 League coach Yasutoshi Miura was hired to succeed her and also be Suzuka's general manager.
On 28 July 2023, two days prior to the J3 license application deadline, a meeting of the J.League Board of Directors was held. As a result, one of the decisions made was that the league decided to revoke Suzuka's "J.League 100 Year Plan club status", which was a prerequisite for J3 promotion in the next season. This punishment was treated by local media as "unprecedently severe", as no club had ever received such a punishment (Nara Club was initially stripped off the status on 2020, but their ban was eventually lifted within five months). It was mainly motivated by Suzuka's match-fixing scandal by former executives during the last rounds of the 2022 Japan Football League, but most specially in the last match, played against Sony Sendai FC. In this match, Suzuka decided to voluntarily lose the match as Sendai, who was higher-ranked, would be able to overtake Suzuka's local rivals Veertien Mie, denying them promotion for the J3 League, and not enabling Veertien to become the first team of the prefecture to be promoted from the JFL. The whole match-fixing situation was by the J.League treated as "an act that goes against the purpose of the J.League". However, it was not the only problem surrounding the club at the time, as the club had many management problems on different areas, including inappropriate payments and the management structure itself. The J.League then exhorted the club to improve the club's entire management structure before having its promotion-enabling license again.
On 31 October 2023, Suzuka announced that Kyodo Rubber Co., Ltd. became the club's new owner after purchasing a 100% stake. Hiroshi Saito, a former Japanese football player, and the representative director and president of the company, was appointed as the club's new chairman.
The club changed its name to Atletico Suzuka Club (アトレチコ鈴鹿クラブ), announced at a press conference on 10 January 2024. The emblem and logo were also updated, with the black and white-checkered flag being kept in the redesign alongside their official team colours (blue and green).
On 30 November 2025, Atletico Suzuka was relegated to the Tōkai Adult Soccer League for the 2026–27 season after a narrow 1–0 defeat to Vonds Ichihara, with Yuji Kato scoring in the 98th minute of the promotion-relegation play-off, ending their seven-year run in the fourth tier.
Changes in club name Mie Club: 1980 MIE FC Rampole: 2006–2015 Suzuka Unlimited FC: 2016–2019 Suzuka Point Getters: 2020–2023 Atletico Suzuka Club: 2024–present
League and cup record ChampionsRunners-upThird placePromotedRelegated League Emperor's Cup Shakaijin CupSeason Division Tier Pos. P W D L F A GD Pts Att/GMIE FC Rampole2005Mie Prefectural League (Div. 1) 6 3rd 13 8 3 2 41 11 30 26 Did not qualify Did not qualify20062nd 14 10 2 2 33 6 27 32 2007Tōkai Adult Soccer League(Div. 2) 5 3rd14 7 3 4 24 13 11 24 20083rd 14 7 4 3 21 13 8 25 20091st 14 10 4 0 43 10 33 34 1st round2010Tōkai Adult Soccer League(Div. 1) 4 4th 16 7 6 3 24 15 9 27 Did not qualify20112nd 14 7 2 5 22 21 -1 23 2nd round 20121st 14 9 4 1 28 15 13 31 2nd round 20136th 14 6 2 6 22 24 -2 20 Did not qualify 20145 1st 14 11 0 3 33 15 18 33 20152nd 14 10 1 3 32 14 18 31 Suzuka Unlimited FC2016Tōkai Adult Soccer League (Div. 1) 5 2nd 14 10 2 2 38 17 21 32 2nd round Runners-up 20171st 14 11 1 2 35 11 24 34 1st round Winners 20181st 14 12 1 1 37 6 31 37 1st round 2nd round2019JFL 4 12th 30 9 9 12 40 44 -4 36 553Did not qualify Not eligibleSuzuka Point Getters2020 † JFL 4 5th 15 6 3 6 23 19 4 21 2461st round Not eligible2021 †4th 32 15 5 12 51 46 5 50 385 2nd round20229th 30 12 5 13 31 40 -9 41 2,312 2nd round20239th 28 10 6 12 34 41 -7 36 473 Did not qualifyAtletico Suzuka Club2024JFL 4 11th 30 10 7 13 39 42 -3 37 729 Did not qualify Not eligible202515th 30 7 7 16 30 46 -16 28 1,152 Did not qualify2026–27Tōkai Adult Soccer League (Div. 1)5 TBA 18 TBD Key
Honours +Atletico Suzuka ClubHonour No. Years NotesTōkai League Division 212009as F.C. Suzuka RampoleTōkai Soccer League Division 112012, 2014, 2017, 2018as F.C. Suzuka Rampole (2012 & 2014) as Suzuka Unlimited (2017 & 2018)Shakaijin Cup12017
Current squad As of 7 February 2025.
Coaching staff Position StaffManager Park Kang-joAssistant Manager Yohei Iwasaki Nobuhiro Kato Masaru SumidaAcademy director Noboru Saito
Managerial history Manager Nationality TenureStart FinishBunji Kimura 1 January 2007 31 December 2010Narita Takaki 1 February 2011 31 January 2015Koichi Ozawa 1 February 2015 31 August 2017Yohei Kurakawa 1 September 2017 31 January 2018 Keiju Karashima 1 February 2018 31 January 2019 Mila Martínez 1 February 2019 5 July 2021Tsukasa Ozawa 5 July 2021 15 July 2021Yasutoshi Miura 15 July 2021 17 February 2024Noboru Saito 29 February 2024 30 June 2024Park Kang-jo 1 July 2024 present
References
External links
Japan Regional Leagues: Tōkai League