Vissel Kobe

Vissel Kobe began in 1966 as the works team of Kawasaki Steel at Mizushima in Okayama Prefecture, was renamed Kawasaki Steel SC in 1987, and relocated to Kobe in 1995 before joining the J.League in 1997. The name is a coinage from victory and vessel, chosen for the port city. Bankrolled by Hiroshi Mikitani and Rakuten, the club signed Andres Iniesta, David Villa and Lukas Podolski, won the Emperor's Cup in 2019 and took back-to-back J1 titles in 2023 and 2024.