is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

professional

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

club based in Tendo, Yamagata. The club currently playing in

J2 League The or simply J2 is the second division of the and the second level of the Japanese association football league system. The top tier is represented by the J1 League. It (along with the rest of the J.League) is currently sponsored by Meiji Yasud ...

, the Japanese second tier of professional football.

Name origin

Montedio is a coined word combining the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

word for "mountain" (Monte) and the word for "God" (Dio).

History

The club based in

Tsuruoka is a Cities of Japan, city in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 125,389 in 49,024 households, and a population density of 95.74 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Tsuruoka is the biggest city in ...

was founded in 1984 as

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered at the NEC Supertower in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It provides IT and network solutions, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), Inte ...

Yamagata Soccer Club. It gained the promotion to the

Japan Football League (former) The , also known as simply the JFL, is the 4th tier of the Japanese association football league system, positioned beneath the three divisions of the J.League. The league features fully professional teams that hold J.League associate membershi ...

in 1994. After renaming itself as Montedio Yamagata in 1996, it has been playing in J. League Division 2 since its inaugural 1999 season. On 30 November 2008, they were promoted to J. League Division 1 for the first time. They achieved their highest league placing of 13th in 2010. However, in 2011, two strong rental players from

Kashima Antlers The are a professional association football, football club based in Kashima, Ibaraki, Japan. They currently play in the J1 League, the top tier of Japanese professional football leagues. The club has financial backing from Mercari, a Japanese ...

go back to their own team. This weakened the squad which also suffered many injuries through the year and Montedio were relegated back to J.League Division 2 at the end of 2011. At the end of the season, the manager,

Shinji Kobayashi is a Japanese football manager and a former player, who is the manager of club Tochigi SC. Playing career Kobayashi was born in Unzen on August 24, 1960. After graduating from Osaka University of Commerce, he joined Mazda in 1983. He playe ...

, stepped down even though many fans glorified his accomplishment for the past 4 years. Yamagata returned to the J1 after spending three seasons in the J2 by winning the J1/J2 promotion playoff final in 2014. They returned to the J2 for the 2016 season, having spent only one season at the J1. The club is currently playing their 8th consecutive season in the J2 on 2023.

Record as J.League member

;Key

Current squad

''As of 21 March 2025.''

Out on loan

Club officials

Managerial history

General managers

* Shigetoshi Nakaigawa – 1986–1997, 2007–2019

Honours

Kit evolution

Rivalries

Ōu Honsen (Dewa derby)

NEC Yamagata and

TDK is a Japanese multinational electronics corporation that manufactures electronic components and recording and data-storage media. Its motto is "Contribute to culture and industry through creativity". "TDK" is an initialism of the original Ja ...

first met in 1990 in old Tohoku regional football league. The two clubs have been based in former

Dewa Province was a province of Japan comprising modern-day Yamagata Prefecture and Akita Prefecture, except for the city of Kazuno and the town of Kosaka. Dewa bordered on Mutsu and Echigō Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . History Early per ...

, and their rivalry is renamed as

Ōu Honsen The Ōu Honsen (奥羽本戦, ''Main battle of Ōu Mountains#Naming, Ōu'', a pun on the Ou Line railroad traversing the prefectures) is a association football, footballing Sports rivalry, rivalry played between Blaublitz Akita and Montedio Yama ...

(奥羽本戦) after the

Japan Railways The Japan Railways Group, commonly known as the or simply JR, is a network of railway companies in Japan formed after the division and privatization of the government-owned Japanese National Railways (JNR) on April 1, 1987. The group comprise ...

Ōu Main Line The is a railway line in Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It connects Fukushima Station (Fukushima), Fukushima Station through Akita Station to Aomori Station. Since the opening of the Yamagata Shinkansen on July 1, 1 ...

(奥羽本線) in 2021. *

Battle of Ōshū The Battle of Ōshū (奥州合戦, ''Ōshū-kassen'') was a major battle between the Kamakura government and the Northern Fujiwara that took place in the Tōhoku region of Japan from September 1 to October 14, 1189. It resulted in the downfall ...

References

External links

*
Montedio Squad
{{Authority control J.League clubs Football clubs in Japan Association football clubs established in 1984 Sports clubs and teams in Yamagata Prefecture Tendō, Yamagata 1984 establishments in Japan Japan Football League (1992–1998) clubs