is a men's

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

team based in Hirakata City, Osaka,

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. It plays in SV.League. The club was founded in 1951. It is owned by the

Panasonic Corporation is a Japanese multinational electronics manufacturer, headquartered in Kadoma, Japan. It was founded in 1918 as in Fukushima by Kōnosuke Matsushita. The company was incorporated in 1935 and renamed and changed its name to in 2008. In 20 ...

History

Osaka Bluteon was established as a volleyball club for

Matsushita Electric Industrial is a Japanese multinational electronics manufacturer, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Japan. It was founded in 1918 as in Fukushima-ku, Osaka, Fukushima by Kōnosuke Matsushita. The company was incorporated in 1935 and renamed and c ...

(now

Panasonic is a Japanese multinational electronics manufacturer, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Japan. It was founded in 1918 as in Fukushima-ku, Osaka, Fukushima by Kōnosuke Matsushita. The company was incorporated in 1935 and renamed and c ...

) in 1951 and from 1992 to 2024 was known as the Panasonic Panthers. The club would become one of the participating teams of the inaugural 2024–25 season of the SV.League. It adopted its current name and branding in June 2024 ahead of their participation in the new league.

Names

*Panasonic Panthers (1992–2024) *Osaka Bluteon (2024–)

Team

Current roster

''updated : 7 June 2025''

Former roster

Honours

; Japan Volleyball League/V.League/V.Premier League * Champions Gold medal with cup

(×6): 1971–72, 2007–08, 2009–10, 2011–12, 2013–14, 2018–19 * Runners-up Silver medal with cup

(×7): 1967–68, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1972–73, 2012–13, 2019–20,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, 2023–24 * Third place Bronze medal with cup

(×1) :2022-23 ;

Kurowashiki All Japan Volleyball Tournament , is a volleyball tournament in Japan. Kurowashiki () means the flag of black eagle. It opens in May every year in Osaka. It is organized by the Japan Volleyball Association and the Mainichi Newspapers. History *1952 - It started as All Japan V ...

* Champions Gold medal with cup

(×9): 1964, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1973, 1981, 1998, 2009, 2014 * Runners-up Silver medal with cup

(×1): 2024 ;

Emperor's Cup , commonly known as or Japan FA Cup, and rebranded as The JFA Emperor's Cup from 2024 onwards, is a Japanese annual football competition. It has the longest tradition of any football tournament in Japan, dating back to 1921, before the formatio ...

* Champions Gold Cup icon

(×3): 2011, 2012, 2023 * Runner-up Simple silver cup

(×1): 2008 ;

Asian Men's Club Volleyball Championship The AVC Men's Volleyball Champions League is an annual continental club volleyball competition organised by the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC), and contested by Asia and Oceania's top-division volleyball clubs. It is the most prestigious ...

* Runner-up Silver medal with cup

(×1):

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

* Third place Bronze medal with cup

(×1) :

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

Notable players

* Takahiro Yamamoto (2001–2013) *

Tatsuya Fukuzawa Tatsuya Fukuzawa (福澤達哉 ''Fukuzawa Tatsuya'', born July 1, 1986) is a retired Japanese volleyball player who played for Japan men's national volleyball team. He announced his retirement on July 14, 2021 and competed in the retirement m ...

(2008–2014 and 2016–2019) *

Kunihiro Shimizu Kunihiro Shimizu (清水邦広 ''Shimizu Kunihiro'', born August 11, 1986) is a Japanese volleyball player who plays for Panasonic Panthers. He announced retirement from the national team after finishing seventh place in 2020 Summer Olympics. ...

(2008–present) *

Akihiro Yamauchi (born 30 November 1993) is a Japanese male volleyball player. He is part of the Japan men's national volleyball team The Japan men's national volleyball team (), also referred to as Ryujin Nippon (Japanese: 龍神ニッポン; Literal tran ...

(2016–present) *

Yuji Nishida is a Japanese left-handed volleyball player. Currently, Nishida plays for Osaka Bluteon at club level. Nishida made his debut with JTEKT Stings at V.League on 6 January 2018 in a match against Sakai's Osaka Blazers Sakai, and made his first ...

(2023–present) *

Nalbert Bitencourt Nalbert Tavares Bitencourt (born March 9, 1974), known as Nalbert, is a Brazilian former professional volleyball player. He was born in Rio de Janeiro. Nalbert is and played as passer-attacker. With Brazil men's volleyball national team, Bra ...

(2002–2004) *

Luiz Felipe Fonteles Luiz Felipe Marques Fonteles (born 19 June 1984) is a Brazilian volleyball player, member of the Brazil men's national volleyball team in 2005–2016 and currently plays for Japanese team, JTEKT Stings, on club level. He is the 2016 Olympic Cha ...

(2007–2008) *

Dante Amaral Dante Guimarães Santos do Amaral (born 30 September 1980) is a Brazilian former professional volleyball player, who is best known as Dante. Measuring he played in the position of outside hitter. He was born in Itumbiara. Biography Early ye ...

(2013–2014 and 2015–2016) * Thiago Alves (2011–2012 and 2014–2015) *

Antoine Brizard Antoine Arthur Fabien Brizard (born 22 May 1994) is a French professional volleyball player who plays as a setter for the France national team and captains Gas Sales Piacenza. Brizard won a gold medal in the men's tournament at the Olympic Ga ...

(2025–) *

Michał Kubiak Michał Jarosław Kubiak (born 23 February 1988) is a Polish professional volleyball player who plays as an outside hitter for Shanghai Bright. He is a former member of the Poland national team, a participant in the Olympic Games (London 2012, ...

(2016–2023) * Miguel Ángel López (2024–present) *

Thomas Jaeschke Thomas John Jaeschke ( ; born September 4, 1993) is an American professional volleyball player who plays as an outside hitter for Panasonic Panthers and the U.S. national team. He won a bronze medal at the Olympic Games Rio 2016 and Paris 20 ...

(2023–2025)

League results

Champion Runner-up

References

External links

Official Website
{{Panasonic Volleyball clubs in Japan Volleyball clubs established in 1952 Sports clubs and teams in Osaka Prefecture Panasonic 1952 establishments in Japan