We already published an article about Fukuoka’s baseball team which is called the Hawks. Even though baseball is the most popular sport in Japan, a huge part of japan’s population and the rest of the world is favoring soccer. Of course Fukuoka has a soccer team as well, which is actually quite good, so today, we will take a closer look at Avispa Fukuoka       (アビスパ福岡)

Avispa Fukuoka is a professional football club, currently play in the J2 League. The team is located in Hakata, Fukuoka. “Avispa” means “wasp” in Spanish. They were originally called Fujieda Blux and based in Fujieda, Shizuoka before moving to Fukuoka in 1994. After becoming the champions of 1995 Japan Football League as Fukuoka Blux, and being admitted to the J. League since 1996 season, Avispa Fukuoka has the longest history as a J. League club being uncrowned in any nationwide competitions such as J. League Division 1, Division 2, J. League Cup, or Emperor’s Cup.

The club was founded as Chūō Bōhan F.C. in 1982 by the workers of security company Chuo Bohan in Fujieda, Shizuoka. They were promoted to the Japan Soccer League Division 2 in 1991. They participated in the newly founded former Japan Football League Division 2 in 1992 and were promoted to Division 1 in 1993. They changed their name to Chūō Bōhan F.C. Fujieda Blux with intention to be a J. League member. However, with difficulties to have a stadium that met J. League requirements, and with local competition from Júbilo Iwata and Shimizu S-Pulse, the football fan base in Shizuoka prefecture was already considered saturated. As a result, in 1994 they decided to move to Fukuoka where the community was eager to have a J. League club. They adopted a new named and became a J. League associate member.

In the last five years Avispa Fukuoka is constantly switching between the first and second Japanese league. In 2016, Avispa finished in the first Japanese league on the 18th place which resulted in a switch towards the second league. 

Avispa has still a lot of home games left this season, so if you’re interested in soccer you should go and purchase some tickets for the next game!