Introducing Shimizu S-Pulse

By Daisuke Matsuura

Shimizu's home ground - Nihondaira Stadium

Shizuoka prefecture is well known as the home of football in Japan. Many J. League players have thier roots in Shizuoka.

For Asian football fans, Kazuyoshi Miura, who is also known as the King Kazu is the biggest name from Shizuoka's football history and for those who are familiar with European football, Atsuto Uchida and Makoto Hasebe playing in Germany are two of the biggest current stars from Shizuoka.


Among many cities in Shizuoka prefecture, Shimizu (synoecized with the city of Shizuoka in 2003) had been the centre of Japanese football since 1970s by winning 13 high school titles in 20 years .


For Japanese people who didn't have a professional football league in their country, the high school football championship was the only and the biggest title in every year just like college football or basketball in the United States. With this brilliant record in high school football championship, Shizuoka and Shimizu started being recongnized as the home of football.


Shimizu S-Pulse is a club that establishes a base at this home of football, starting its history in 1991, one year before J. League. However, S-Pulse are still left uncrowned in the J. League after 19 years of J. League history and obviously never had a chance to play in AFC Champions League.


Although they have won three cup titles - Nabisco Cup in 1996, Asian Cup Winners Cup in 2000, and the Emperor's Cup in 2001 - for all football fans and S-Pulse supporters, winning the J-League championship is the earnest wish.


This is a brief background of my home town and the club I'm supporting. I will be writing articles on Shimizu S-Pulse in the eyes of the supporters from behind the goal.