Overview
Founded in 1947 as Sumitomo Metal Industries, Ltd. in Osaka. It played in the semi-professional Japan Soccer League and moved to Kashima, Ibaraki Prefecture in 1975. They were promoted to the JSL's top flight in 1984, but never made much of an impact, going down in 1985/86, returning in 1986/87 and going down again in 1988/89. Its last standing in the JSL was 2nd in the Second Division for 1991/92.
After the formation of the fully professional J. League, Sumitomo, like all other clubs, stripped the corporate brand from the team name and reformed as the Kashima Antlers. Kashima was essentially promoted to the new top flight, as many JSL First Division teams decided to relegate themselves being unprepared for professionalism. (Of the original 10 J. League founding member clubs, Kashima and Shimizu S-Pulse were newly promoted. Ironically, Kashima had defeated a forerunner of Shimizu's, Nippon Light Metal/Hagoromo Club, to earn its JSL Second Division place back in 1974).
Since the J. League's creation and introduction of professional Japanese football in 1993, Kashima have consistently been amongst the strongest teams in the country, holding several distinctions and records. Led by former Brazilian star and Japanese national team coach Zico in the team's formative years, Kashima were the first team to win a J. League stage, claiming the 1st stage of the inaugural season in 1993. This laid a platform for continuous greatness and long after the Kashima icon had departed, in 2000 Kashima became the first and only J. League team to achieve the "treble", by winning all three major titles: J. League, J. League Cup, and Emperor's Cup in the same year.
In recent times, by clinching the 2007 J. League title they became the first and only team in Japan to have won ten domestic titles in the professional era. In 2008 they became the first and only club to successfully defend the J. League title on two separate occasions. In 2009 they became the first and only club to win three consecutive J. League titles. Most recently, with victories in back to back J. League Cups in 2011 and 2012, Kashima extended their unmatched record of major domestic titles in the professional era to sixteen.
To this day, Kashima has maintained strong ties with the football community in Brazil, a fact borne out of Zico's past affiliation with the club. Kashima's Brazilian connection has manifested itself in both the club's player transfer and coaching policy resulting in only two non-Brazilian foreign players and predominantly Brazilian managers signing for Kashima since the inception of the J. League.
Its hometowns are Kashima, Itako, Hasaki and Kamisu, all in Ibaraki Prefecture. The team plays at Kashima Soccer Stadium.
Read more about this topic: Kashima Antlers