Kashima Antlers

The Kashima Antlers (鹿島アントラーズ, Kashima Antorāzu) are a professional 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 e-commerce company.

Since the J.League's creation and introduction of professional Japanese football in 1993, Kashima have proven themselves to be by far Japan's most successful football club in terms of trophies won, having won the J1 League title a record 9 times, the J.League Cup a record 6 times, the Emperor's Cup 5 times and the Japanese Super Cup a record 6 times for an unprecedented twenty (20) major domestic titles. Continentally, Kashima became Asian champions when they won the AFC Champions League in 2018. The club also won the J.League Cup / Copa Sudamericana Championship on 2 occasions in 2012 and 2013.

Internationally, Kashima has made two appearances in the FIFA Club World Cup where in the 2016 edition, the club qualified as the host of the tournament. Kashima notably became the only club to qualify from the first round until the final where they would go on to lose to 2015–16 UEFA Champions League winners, Real Madrid 4–2 after extra time with Gaku Shibasaki scoring both goals for Kashima.

Kashima are also one of only two clubs to have competed in Japan's top flight football every year since it was professionalized (the other being Yokohama F. Marinos, who has been playing in the top flight since 1982).

Namesake

The name 'Antlers' is derived from the city of Kashima (Japanese: 鹿嶋, lit. 'Deer Island').