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Omiya Ardija
大宮アルディージャ
Full name	Omiya Ardija
Nickname(s)	Squirrels
Founded	1964
Ground	Ōmiya Park Soccer Stadium; Omiya-ku, Saitama, Saitama; (Capacity: 15,500)
Chairman	Seigo Watanabe
Manager	Chang Woe-Ryong
League	J. League Div.1
2008	12th Place
Home colours	Away colours

Omiya Ardija (大宮アルディージャ, Ōmiya Arudīja^?) is a professional football (soccer) club which play in the J. League, and are based in Ōmiya-ku in Saitama, Japan. Its "hometown" as designated by the league is the whole of Saitama city, which is shared with neighbours Urawa Red Diamonds. Omiya currently compete in the J1 and have done since 2005, after promotion from J2 in 2004 as the second placed team.

Their home field is Nack5 Stadium Ōmiya (Nack5スタジアム大宮, Nakku-faibu Sutajiamu Ōmiya^?): Ōmiya Park Soccer Stadium by the naming rights.

[edit] History

The team were founded in 1964 as NTT Saitama Soccer Selection in Urawa, Saitama and later known as the NTT Kantō Soccer Club in 1969. They were first promoted to the Japan Soccer League Second Division in 1987, and when the JSL folded, joined the former Japan Football League.

In 1998 it was separately incorporated as NTT Sport Community K.K. based in Ōmiya to participate in the J. League. The nickname "Ardija" is a transcription of the Spanish language ardilla (squirrel) which is the mascot of Ōmiya and the park in which their home stadium is located.

Their matches against Urawa Red Diamonds have been called the "Saitama Derby".

In 2005-2007 most of Omiya's home matches were held at Saitama Stadium 2002 and Urawa Komaba Stadium due to expansion works at their home ground. In October 2007 the expansion was complete. On November 11, the re-opening match was held as a J. League season match between the Ardija and Ōita Trinita (1-2).

[edit] Team Record

[edit] J. League

Year	League	Place	GP	Pts	Win	Draw	Lose	Average Crowd
1999	J2	6 / 10	36	51	18	1	7	2,674
2000	J2	4 / 11	40	68	23	1	16	3,477
2001	J2	5 / 12	44	78	26	6	12	3,864
2002	J2	6 / 12	44	59	14	17	13	5,266
2003	J2	6 / 12	44	61	18	7	19	5,058
2004	J2	Runners-up / 12	44	87	26	9	9	6,108
2005	J1	13 / 18	34	41	12	5	17	9,980
2006	J1	12 / 18	34	44	13	5	16	10,234
2007	J1	15 / 18	34	35	8	11	15	11,741
2008	J1	12 / 18	34	43	12	7	15	10,714

Key to colors
	Played in 1st division league
	Played in 2nd division league

[edit] Other Domestic Competitions

See other domestic competitions record

[edit] Current players

As of July 27, 2009

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Takahiro Takagi
2	DF	Taishi Tsukamoto
3	DF	Mato Neretljak
4	DF	Yasuhiro Hato
5	DF	Daisuke Tomita
6	MF	Yosuke Kataoka
7	MF	Tomoya Uchida
9	FW	Naoki Ishihara
11	MF	Chikara Fujimoto
13	FW	Yoshihito Fujita
14	MF	Park Won-Jae
15	MF	Masato Saito
16	FW	Rafael
17	MF	Hayato Hashimoto
18	FW	Dudu

No.	Position	Player
19	DF	Yusuke Murayama
20	GK	Nobuhisa Kobayashi
21	GK	Koji Ezumi
23	MF	Shin Kanazawa
24	MF	Takaya Kawanabe
25	MF	Kohei Tokita
26	MF	Takuya Aoki
27	FW	Masahiko Ichikawa
28	DF	Shunsuke Fukuda
29	DF	Haruki Nishimura
30	FW	Daisuke Watabe
31	GK	Keiki Shimizu
33	MF	Ryohei Arai
34	MF	Seo Yong-Duk

[edit] Out on loan

No.		Position	Player
		MF	Yoshiyuki Kobayashi (to Kashiwa Reysol)
		FW	Denis Marques (to Clube de Regatas do Flamengo)

[edit] Managers

Manager	Nat.	Tenure
Takashi Shimizu	Japan	1992-1996
Norio Sasaki	Japan	1997-1998
Pim Verbeek	Netherlands	1998-1999
Toshiya Miura	Japan	2000-2001
Henk Duut	Netherlands	2002
Masaaki Kanno	Japan	2003
Eijun Kiyokumo	Japan	2003
Toshiya Miura	Japan	2004-2006
Robert Verbeek	Netherlands	2007
Satoru Sakuma	Japan	2007-2008
Chang Woe-Ryong	South Korea	2009-Present