Oita Trinita

Ōita Trinita (大分トリニータ, Ōita Torinīta) is a Japanese football club located in Ōita, Capital of Ōita Prefecture. They currently play in J2 League, Japanese second tier of professional football.

Ōita Trinita
大分トリニータ

Full name	Oita Trinita
Nicknames	Trinita (トリニータ, Torinīta) Azzurro (Sky Blue) Camenaccio (カメナチオ, Kamenachio)
Founded	1994 (1994) as Ōita Trinity
Stadium	Crasus Dome Oita Ōita
Capacity	40,000
Chairman	Masakaze Ozawa
Manager	Shuhei Yomoda
League	J2 League
2025	J2 League, 16th of 20
Website	oita-trinita.co.jp
Home colours Away colours

Name origin

The club's name, Trinita, is the Italian translation of the word trinity (trinità), which was the club's original name before being changed in 1999, and Ōita, the club's home town. The combined word expresses the will of the local citizens, companies, and government to support the team. Another connection to the Italian culture can be found in the city nickname Azzurro ("light blue" in Italian).

History

The club was formed as Ōita Trinity in 1994 and advanced through the Ōita Prefectural League and the Kyushu League before finishing as the runner-up of the 1996 National League, resulting in promotion to the JFL. In 1999, the club changed its name to Trinita due to copyright infringement concerns. The same year, the club joined J.League Division 2, the second-highest flight in Japanese football (renamed to its current name of J2 League in 2015) and placed third. The club also placed third in 2000, and despite being in contention for promotion until the final game of the season in 2001, finished sixth. The following year, the club won J.League Division 2 and finally earned promotion to the top-flight Division 1. In 2008, the club won the J.League Cup, the first major title won by a Kyūshū club since Yawata Steel SC shared the 1964 Emperor's Cup.

In the 2009 season, Ōita suffered their worst-ever results in their seven-year history in the topflight, including 14 straight losses in league matches, which is the current worst record in the J.League since the golden goal system was eliminated. Ōita even fired cup-winning manager Pericles Chamusca in mid-July. On October 25, the club's relegation was confirmed after being held to a 1–1 draw by ten-man Kyoto Sanga, although the club would have faced relegation anyway as they had outstanding loans from the JFL's emergency fund and league rules prohibit clubs with such loans from participating in the top tier.

During the 2012 J.League Division 2 season, Ōita finished in sixth place, qualifying for the promotion playoffs in the first year of its introduction in Japan's second flight as the club had also paid back all its emergency loans that October. Despite being the lowest seed, Ōita defeated Kyoto Sanga 4–0 in the semi-final and JEF United Chiba 1–0 in the final, earning promotion to 2013 J.League Division 1, returning to the top tier after a 5-year absence This time, however, their top tier stay lasted only one season. In 2015 they were further relegated to J3 League after losing in the promotion playoffs to Machida Zelvia on December 6, becoming the first major trophy winner to be relegated to the third tier. The club immediately gained promotion back to J2 League by winning the J3 League title in 2016. In 2018, after finishing as runner's up in the J2 League in 2018, Oita Trinita gained promotion back to J1. After finishing 18th in 2021, Trinita would be relegated back to J2 League, but in the background of that, the club made a Cinderella run to the Emperor's Cup Final. Just 1 week after the confirmation to be relegated, they defeated defending Emperor's Cup champion Kawasaki Frontale in stunning fashion in the semis; after the game was tied 1 all, Trinita won 4–5 on penalty kicks. They ended up losing to Urawa Red Diamonds in the final, giving the Reds their eighth Emperor's Cup title.

The club will play its second consecutive season at the J2 League in the 2023 season.

Stadium

Ōita Stadium

The club's hometown is the city of Ōita, but the club draws support from the entire Ōita Prefecture. The stadium originally had a capacity of 43,000 for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, 3,000 movable seats on the track were removed, giving the stadium its current capacity of 40,000.

The club's home ground is Crasas Dome Oita, also known as the "Big Eye", which was one of the venues built for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. The club practices at its adjacent football and rugby field, and Ōita City Public Ground.

League and cup record

Champions

Runners-up

Third place

Promoted

Relegated

Season	Div.	Teams	Pos.	P	W (OTW)	D	L (OTL)	F	A	GD	Pts	Attendance/G	J.League Cup	Emperor's Cup
1999	J2	10	3rd	36	18 (3)	3	8 (4)	62	42	20	63	3,886	2nd round	3rd round
2000		11	3rd	40	26 (0)	3	8 (3)	80	38	42	81	4,818	1st round	3rd round
2001		12	6th	44	24 (1)	4	9 (6)	75	52	23	78	6,638	2nd round	3rd round
2002		12	1st	44	28	10	6	67	34	33	94	12,349	Not eligible	4th round
2003	J1	16	14th	30	5	11	14	27	37	-10	26	21,373	Group stage	3rd round
2004		16	13th	30	8	6	16	35	56	-21	30	21,889	Group stage	5th round
2005		18	11th	34	12	7	15	44	43	1	43	22,080	Group stage	5th round
2006		18	8th	34	13	8	13	47	45	2	47	20,350	Group stage	5th round
2007		18	14th	34	12	5	17	42	60	-18	41	19,759	Group stage	5th round
2008		18	4th	34	16	8	10	33	24	9	56	20,322	Winners	4th round
2009		18	17th	34	8	6	20	26	45	-19	30	18,428	Group stage	3rd round
2010	J2	19	15th	36	10	11	15	39	49	-10	41	10,463	Not eligible	3rd round
2011		20	12th	38	12	14	12	42	45	-3	50	8,779		2nd round
2012		22	6th	42	21	8	13	59	40	19	71	9,721		2nd round
2013	J1	18	18th	34	2	8	24	31	67	-36	14	11,915	Group stage	Quarter finals
2014	J2	22	7th	42	17	12	13	52	55	-3	63	8,422	Not eligible	3rd round
2015		22	21st	42	8	14	20	41	51	-10	38	7,533		3rd round
2016	J3	16	1st	30	19	4	7	50	24	26	61	7,771		3rd round
2017	J2	22	9th	42	17	13	12	58	50	8	64	8,063		3rd round
2018		22	2nd	42	23	7	12	76	51	25	76	8,907		2nd round
2019	J1	18	9th	34	12	11	11	35	35	0	47	15,347	Group stage	Quarter finals
2020 †		18	11th	34	11	10	13	36	45	-9	43	5,147	Group stage	Did not qualify
2021 †		20	18th	38	9	8	21	31	55	-24	35	6,722	Group stage	Runners-up
2022	J2	22	5th	42	17	15	10	62	52	10	66	6,618	Group stage	3rd round
2023		22	9th	42	17	11	14	54	56	-2	62	9,143	Not eligible	2nd round
2024		20	16th	38	10	13	15	33	47	-14	43	10,360	1st round	Round of 16
2025			16th	38	8	14	16	27	44	-17	38	10,402	1st round	3rd round
2026		10	TBD	18									N/A	N/A
2026-27		20	TBD	38									TBD	TBD

Key

• Pos. = Position in league; P = Games played; W = Games won; D = Games drawn; L = Games lost; F = Goals scored; A = Goals conceded; GD = Goals difference; Pts = Points gained
• OTW = Overtime wins - 1999, 2000, 2001 & 2002 Overtime wins only
• OTL = Overtime losses - 1999, 2000 & 2001 Overtime losses only
• 3 points for a win; 2 points for an overtime win (OTW), 1 point for a drawn game.
• Attendance/G = Average home league attendance
• † 2020 & 2021 seasons attendances reduced by COVID-19 worldwide pandemic
• Note: The 2011 season changed temporarily because of Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, clubs in the affected area could not play, therefore the Division 2 North & Division 2 South merged into one group and the clubs only played once each. No promotion to Division 1 in that season.
• Source: J.League Data Site

Honours

Honour	No.	Years
Kyushu Soccer League	1	1995
J2 League	1	2002
J.League Cup	1	2008
J3 League	1	2016

Current squad

As of 2 April 2026.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	JPN	Yuya Tanaka
2	DF	JPN	Takuya Okamoto
5	MF	JPN	Hiroto Nakagawa
6	DF	JPN	Yuto Misao
7	DF	JPN	Manato Yoshida
8	MF	JPN	Keigo Sakakibara
9	FW	JPN	Kotaro Arima
13	FW	JPN	Kohei Isa
14	FW	JPN	Shinya Utsumoto
15	FW	JPN	Yūsei Yashiki
16	MF	JPN	Taira Shige
17	FW	KOR	Kim Hyun-woo
18	MF	JPN	Junya Nodake
19	MF	JPN	Arata Kozakai
20	FW	JPN	Taiga Kimoto
21	FW	JPN	Shuto Udo
22	GK	KOR	Mun Kyung-gun

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
23	DF	JPN	Shunsuke Ono
24	GK	JPN	Shun Sato
25	MF	JPN	Taishin Yamazaki
27	DF	JPN	Yūsuke Matsuo
28	MF	JPN	Hiroshi Kiyotake
29	FW	JPN	Yuto Sakurai
30	DF	JPN	Issei Tone
31	DF	BRA	Pereira
32	DF	JPN	Riku Sakata
33	DF	JPN	Ayuki Miyakawa
34	MF	JPN	Keishin Yoshikawa
35	MF	JPN	Josei Sato
36	MF	JPN	Hayato Matsuoka
37	FW	JPN	Manato Kimoto
40	GK	JPN	Hiroto Kono
72	MF	JPN	Takumi Yamaguchi
88	MF	BRA	Patrick Verhon (on loan from Kawasaki Frontale)

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	MF	JPN	Kenshin Yasuda (at K.R.C. Genk)
—	DF	JPN	Atsuki Satsukawa (at Tochigi City)

Club officials

For 2025 season

Position	Staff
Manager	Shuhei Yomoda
First-team coaches	Satoshi Yasui Kenji Baba
Goalkeeper coach	Keisuke Yoshisaka
Physical coach	Ryo Yano
Strength coach	Hitoshi Otomo
Cheef Trainer	Shota Harada
Trainer	Kiyohisa Shibata Tsutomu Okabayashi Tomoki Iwasa
Competent	Hikaru Kikuzumi
Deputy officer	Keishiro Seto Akito Shimoyama
Interpreter	Alejandro Masafumi Matsumura

Managerial history

Manager	Nationality	Tenure
		Start	Finish
Moon Jung-sik	South Korea	1 February 1994	31 January 1997
Nobuhiro Ishizaki	Japan	1 February 1999	30 April 2001
Shinji Kobayashi	Japan	1 May 2001	31 January 2004
Han Berger	Netherlands	1 February 2004	31 January 2005
Hwangbo Kwan	South Korea	1 February 2005	28 August 2005
Arie Schans	Netherlands	1 September 2005	8 September 2005
Pericles Chamusca	Brazil	9 September 2005	13 July 2009
Ranko Popović	Serbia	1 August 2009	31 December 2009
Hwangbo Kwan	South Korea	1 February 2010	31 January 2011
Kazuaki Tasaka	Japan	1 February 2011	2 June 2015
Nobuaki Yanagida	Japan	1 June 2015	3 January 2016
Tomohiro Katanosaka	Japan	1 February 2016	31 January 2022
Takahiro Shimotaira	Japan	1 February 2022	10 November 2023
Tomohiro Katanosaka	Japan	30 November 2023	18 August 2025
Minoru Takenaka	Japan	18 August 2025	12 January 2026
Shuhei Yomoda	Japan	12 January 2026	Current

Club captains

• Cui Daewoo (1999)
• Tomohiro Katanosaka (2000)
• Tetsuro Uki (2002–2003)
• Sandro (2004)
• Takayuki Yoshida (2005)
• Takashi Miki (2006–2007)
• Daiki Takamatsu (2008–2010)
• Masashi Miyazawa (2011–2013)
• Kazumichi Takagi (2014)
• Daniel (2015)
• Satoru Yamagishi (2016–2017)
• Akira Takeuchi (January – August 2018)
• Kenji Baba (August – December 2018)
• Yoshinori Suzuki (2019–2020)
• Shun Takagi (2021)
• Hokuto Shimoda (2022)
• Tsukasa Umesaki (2023)
• Arata Watanabe (2024)

Kit evolution

Home kit - 1st
1999	2000 - 2001	2002 - 2003	2004	2005 - 2006
2007	2008	2009	2010 - 2011	2012 - 2013
2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
2024	2025 -

Away kit - 2nd
1999 - 2001	2002 - 2003	2004	2005	2006
2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
2012 - 2013	2014	2015	2016	2017 - 2018
2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
2024	2025 -

Special kits - 3rd
2020 Limited	2021 Limited	2022 Limited

External links

• Official website (in Japanese)