Beginnings in Chugoku

The club was founded in 1966 as the semi-professional Kawasaki Steel Soccer Club in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture.^[3] It was first promoted to the Japan Soccer League Division 2 in 1986, and stayed there until the JSL folded in 1992.^[3] As their performance in the old second tier had been in the bottom nine clubs, they were put into the Japan Football League Division 2 (new third tier overall in the Japanese football league system) and stayed there until the tiers were reunited into a single second tier for 1994.

Move to Kansai and professionalism

In 1995, the city of Kobe reached an agreement with Kawasaki Steel, the parent company, to move the club to Kobe and compete for a spot in the professional J.League as Vissel Kobe. Vissel is a combination of the words "victory" and "vessel", in recognition of Kobe's history as a port city.^[3] (Owing to its importance to the city of Kobe, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, parent company of former team patron Kawasaki Steel, remains a Vissel Kobe sponsor. Kawasaki Steel was eventually sold off to become part of JFE Holdings.)

Vissel Kobe began play in 1995 in the Japan Football League, a league below J.League, and the supermarket chain Daiei was slated as the club's primary investor. However, the economic downturn following the Great Hanshin earthquake forced Daiei to pull out and the city of Kobe became responsible for operating the club.

Despite finishing 2nd in the JFL in 1996, Vissel was promoted to the J.League (the champions, Honda FC, refused to abandon their corporate ownership and become a professional club) and began play in the top division of Japanese football in 1997. However, due to mismanagement, including the inability to secure investors and sponsors, Vissel was unable to contend for the league title. In December, 2003, mounting financial losses forced the club to file for bankruptcy protection.

Crimson Group years (2004–2014)

In January 2004, Vissel was sold to Crimson Group, parent company of online merchant Rakuten, whose president is Kobe native Hiroshi Mikitani. Vissel's first signing under the Mikitani regime, İlhan Mansız, who was acquired partly to capitalize on his popularity during the 2002 FIFA World Cup hosted in Korea and Japan, was a massive failure – the Turkish forward played just three matches before leaving the team because of a knee injury. Mikitani also alienated supporters by changing the team uniform colours from black and white stripes to crimson, after his Crimson Group and the colour of his alma mater, Harvard Business School. The Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, a baseball team also owned by Rakuten but based in Sendai and Rakuten Monkeys, a baseball team in Taoyuan, Taiwan, wear the same colours.

Vissel finished 11th in the league in 2004, the same position as the previous year, and finished 18th and last place in 2005, resulting in automatic relegation from J.League Division 1, or J1, to J2. During the two-year span, Vissel had five different head coaches. 2006 was Vissel's first season in J2 after nine years in the top division of soccer in Japan. They finished 3rd in the 2006 season and were promoted to J1 after beating Avispa Fukuoka in the promotion/relegation play-offs.

During the period of 2007 to 2011 Vissel finished in the bottom half of the table each year. In 2012 they finished 16th, third from last, and were again relegated to J2. In 2013, Vissel finished in second place, 4 points behind Gamba Osaka, which secured their return to J1 for the 2014 season.

On 6 December 2014, Rakuten Inc. bought the team from the Crimson Group.^[4]

Rakuten years and first successes (2015–present)

In 2017, Vissel signed 2014 FIFA World Cup winner Lukas Podolski. He was the first international prominent player Vissel was able to sign since Michael Laudrup in 1996. Shortly after in May 2018, Vissel signed another 2010 FIFA World Cup winner Andrés Iniesta from FC Barcelona.^[5] In December 2018 Vissel Kobe managed to sign also David Villa from New York City. The Spanish striker scored 13 goals in 28 games. Alongside Sergi Samper and Andrés Iniesta, Villa was the third Spaniard in the team in that season in which they guided Vissel Kobe to win the 2019 Emperor's Cup.

On 1 January 2020, first time finalist Vissel beat Kashima Antlers in the 2019 Emperor's Cup final at the recently opened New National Stadium to win the first title in the club history. The furthest Kobe had been in the Emperor's Cup was the semi-finals of 2000 and 2017.^[6] This was also Spanish striker David Villa's last professional match.^[7] Vissel also qualified for the 2020 AFC Champions League for the first time. On 8 February 2020, Vissel beat Yokohama F. Marinos in which the scoreline was 3–3 which was furthered all the way until the penalties shootout in which Vissel Kobe won 2–3 on penalties to win their first Japanese Super Cup title and respectively their second national title ever.^[8] On 12 February 2020, Vissel played their first AFC Champions League match against Malaysian league champions, Johor Darul Ta'zim at home winning them 5–1 in which Keijiro Ogawa scored a hat-trick in the match. The club than managed to have a good run in the competition all the way until the semi-finals facing against eventual winners Korean Ulsan Hyundai however, Vissel was knocked out by the Korean club losing 2–1 in extra time in which the club conceded a reckless penalty.

In 2021, Vissel achieved an historic third place in the table, thus qualifying for the 2022 AFC Champions League yet again in which the club has another good run in the campaign before losing to Korean Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 3–1 in the quarter-finals.

On 3 September 2023, Vissel signed World Class midfielder, Juan Mata as a replacement for Andrés Iniesta who has decided to leave the club after 6 years. On 25 November 2023, Vissel Kobe was confirmed as J1 League champions for the first time in history, following a 2–1 win over Nagoya Grampus in the second last week of the season. Kobe thus became the first Japanese football champions to be promoted to the top tier after the J.League era started, as well as the first to play third division football (the old Japan Football League Division 2) before winning the title. On 17 February 2024, Vissel played their second Japanese Super Cup appearance against 2023 Emperor's Cup winner, Kawasaki Frontale but lost 1–0 against them.

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

More information No., Pos. ...

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  JPN Yuya Tsuboi (on loan to Júbilo Iwata) — DF  JPN Yusei Ozaki (on loan to Ehime FC) — MF  JPN Shuto Adachi (on loan to Iwate Grulla Morioka)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  JPN Toya Izumi (on loan to Montedio Yamagata) — FW  JPN Niina Tominaga (on loan to Kamatamare Sanuki)

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Vissel Kobe U-18

As of 16 April 2024.

The main U-18 team of Vissel Kobe currently plays in the Prince Takamado U-18 Premier League, the top-flight league for U-18 clubs in the country. Only the registered players for the competition will be displayed.^[10][11]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

More information No., Pos. ...

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  JPN Taiga Kameda 3 DF  JPN Riku Ibaraki 4 DF  JPN Kaito Yamada 5 DF  JPN Shido Matsuda 6 MF  JPN Yuan Iwamoto 7 FW  JPN Ran Yoshioka 8 MF  JPN Teruya Imatomi 9 FW  JPN Hayato Watanabe 10 MF  JPN Kento Hamasaki 11 FW  JPN Oga Morita 12 GK  JPN Kosuke Yoshioka 13 FW  JPN Tokiya Takamura 14 MF  JPN Taiga Seguchi 15 MF  JPN Fuga Koizumi 16 DF  JPN Yuto Kawai

No. Pos. Nation Player 17 FW  JPN Shoei Oka 18 DF  JPN Tomohiro Nobe 19 DF  JPN Sota Hara 20 MF  JPN Riku Fujimoto 21 GK  JPN Shunsuke Koike 22 MF  JPN Aiku Nishikawa 23 FW  JPN Sota Onishi 24 MF  JPN Hiroto Taniguchi 25 MF  JPN Tsubasa Takeishi 26 DF  JPN Yuma Teraoka 28 MF  JPN Kota Katayama 30 GK  JPN Go Young-haon 37 FW  JPN Hyoei Kawabata 39 FW  JPN Ritsu Doiguchi 43 DF  JPN Nagi Nishimura

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