is a Japanese 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 Ōmiya,

Saitama Prefecture is a Landlocked country, landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Saitama Prefecture has a population of 7,338,536 (January 1, 2020) and has a geographic area of 3,797 Square kilometre, km2 ( ...

. Its "hometown" (as designated by the league) is shared with neighbours

Urawa Red Diamonds The or simply Urawa Reds (浦和レッズ, ''Urawa Rezzu''), also known as Mitsubishi Urawa Football Club from April 1992 to January 1996, are a professional association football, football club in the city of Saitama (city), Saitama, part of t ...

. The team currently play 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, after promotion from the third tier in

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

. The club was known as Ōmiya Ardija (大宮アルディージャ, ''Ōmiya Arudīja)'', before club administration was taken over by

Red Bull GmbH Red Bull GmbH () is an Austrian multinational private conglomerate company that created the Red Bull range of energy drinks. It is also known for its sponsorship, wide range of sporting events and Works team, teams. The headquarters of Red Bull ...

in late November 2024 who renamed the club.

Crest

Ōmiya Ardija's original crest features a squirrel on the right, which is the animal of Omiya. On the left, there are 5 lines, which reference the historic roads that run through Omiya, including the famous

Nakasendō The , also called the ,Richard Lane, ''Images from the Floating World'' (1978) Chartwell, Secaucus ; pg. 285 was one of the centrally administered Edo Five Routes, five routes of the Edo period, and one of the two that connected the ''de facto'' ...

, which runs to the Hikawa Shrine, right near Nack5 Stadium. On 6 November 2024, Ōmiya Ardija officially change crest and name to RB Ōmiya Ardija after being acquired by Red Bull GmbH from 2025. The club retained their formers club but adopted a new logo which is identical to the others Red Bull owned club. The former nickname of Omiya is Tisu, a squirrel in Japan.

History

The team were founded in 1968 as NTT Saitama Soccer Selection in

Urawa, Saitama was a city located in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. On May 1, 2001, Urawa was merged with the cities of Ōmiya and Yono to create the city of Saitama. Since April 1, 2003, the area of former Urawa City has been divided into 4 wards: Urawa-ku, ...

and later known as the NTT Kantō Soccer Club in 1969. They were first promoted to the

Japan Soccer League ; JSL) was the top flight association football league in Japan between 1965 and 1992, and was the precursor to the current professional league, the J.League. JSL Cup, JSL was the second national league of a team sport in Japan after the professi ...

(JSL) Division 2 in 1987/88, and when the JSL folded, joined the former Japan Football League. In 1998 the club was separately incorporated as NTT Sport Community K.K. based in Ōmiya to participate in the J. League. The name "Ardija" is a transcription of the

Spanish language Spanish () or Castilian () is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a world language, gl ...

''ardilla'' (

squirrel Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae (), a family that includes small or medium-sized rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrel ...

) which is the

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, sports team, university society, society, military unit, or brand, brand name. Mascots are als ...

of Ōmiya and the park in which their home stadium is located. Their matches against

have been called the "

Saitama derby The is the local derby in Saitama, Japan, between fierce city rivals Urawa Red Diamonds and RB Omiya Ardija. History Mitsubishi Heavy Industries SC was founded in 1950 by the employees of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Kobe, and Nippon Te ...

". From 2005 to 2007, most of Ōmiya's home matches were held at

Saitama Stadium 2002 , the or simply , is a football stadium located in Midori-ku, Saitama, Japan. Currently, J1 League club Urawa Red Diamonds use this stadium for home games. It is the largest football-specific stadium in Japan and is one of the largest stadi ...

and

Urawa Komaba Stadium The is an athletic stadium in Urawa-ku, Saitama, Japan. It accommodates 21,500 spectators. It was formerly known as Saitama Urawa Komaba Stadium (さいたま市駒場スタジアム). Since May 2012, it has been called 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 Ōmiya and

Ōita Trinita is a Japanese football club located in Ōita, Capital of Ōita Prefecture. They currently play in J2 League, Japanese second tier of professional football. Name origin The club's name, ''Trinita'', is the Italian translation of the word ''t ...

(1–2). Ōmiya competed in the J1 League following an immediate promotion in 2015 after being relegated in 2014. Ōmiya was relegated again following the 2017 season. They competed in J1

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

and continued to remain until 2014, following promotion from J2 in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

as the second placed team. In

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, Ōmiya were relegated to

J3 League or simply J3 is the third division of . It was established in 2013 as the third-tier professional association football league in Japan under the organization of J.League. The league is known as the for sponsorship reasons. The third-tier nation ...

after six seasons stint in second division due to worst performance and will play third division football for the first time since

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

New ownership

On 15 February 2024, before the start of the season, Sports Nippon reported that Austrian energy drink maker

Red Bull Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks created and owned by the Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With a market share of 43%, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2020, and the third most valuable soft drink brand, behind Coca-Cola and ...

may buy a J.League club, and that Ōmiya Ardija was the leading candidate. On July 26 of the same year, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported that Red Bull had reached an agreement in principle to buy Ōmiya Ardija. In August 2024, Omiya Ardija announced Red Bull as their new owner, after acquiring 100% of the club shares, formerly owned by NTT, becoming part of their multi-club ownership. This will be the first time that a foreign company has become the sole owner of a major Japanese professional sports team, including the J.League. Red Bull began by acquiring management rights to Austrian first division club

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

in 2005 and now owns six clubs:

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional association football, soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conferenc ...

in the United States

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanctioned by the United ...

, Liefering in Admiral 2. Liga, Bragantino in Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A and Red Bull Brasil (now

Red Bull Bragantino II Red Bull Bragantino II was a professional association football club based in Bragança Paulista, São Paulo, Brazil. The team last played in the Campeonato Paulista Série A3, the third tier of the São Paulo state football league, before requ ...

) in the Sao Paulo State Championship. In the past, they also owned Red Bull Ghana in Africa and Omiya will be the eighth club they own. NTT East will continue to support the company as a sponsor even after the transfer of shares. On 13 October 2024, Ōmiya secured promotion to the J2 League after defeating

Fukushima United is a Japanese football club from Fukushima City, the capital of Fukushima Prefecture. They currently play in the J3 League, Japan's third tier of professional football. History The club was founded in 2006, by the merger of ''FC Pelada Fukus ...

3–2, thus returning to the second tier after a one year absence. Six days later, Omiya secured the J3 League title with a 1–1 draw against Imabari in matchweek 33.

Stadiums

Their home field is : Ōmiya Football Stadium by the

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization where a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event (most often sports venues), typical ...

with occasional games being played at the

Kumagaya Athletic Stadium is a multi-use stadium in Kumagaya, Saitama, Japan. The stadium is part of a larger sports complex which includes a smaller athletics stadium, a Rugby football, rugby stadium and a large arena. The complex is located in the '':ja:熊谷スポ� ...

Mascots

Ōmiya Ardija has two squirrels as its mascots, named Ardi and Miya. Both wear the team kits. According to the club website, Miya is one size smaller than Ardi, being then, slightly shorter than him.

Players

Out on loan

* ''Past (and present) players who are the subjects of Wikipedia articles should be found

here Here may refer to: Music * ''Here'' (Adrian Belew album), 1994 * ''Here'' (Alicia Keys album), 2016 * ''Here'' (Cal Tjader album), 1979 * ''Here'' (Edward Sharpe album), 2012 * ''Here'' (Idina Menzel album), 2004 * ''Here'' (Merzbow album), ...

Record as a J.League member

Honours

Coaching staff

Managerial history

Kit evolution

Notes

References

External links

RB Omiya Ardija Homepage
{{Saitama Sports J.League clubs Japan Soccer League clubs Football clubs in Japan Association football clubs established in 1969 Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Sports clubs and teams in Saitama (city) 1969 establishments in Japan Japan Football League (1992–1998) clubs Football Clubs owned by Redbull