Pentagon Pursuit | Part 8 | Moving To Albirex Niigata

Three seasons of overachievement at Kamatamare Sakuni had hugely increased the stock of fledgling manager Robaato Rasamu. Indeed, his efforts in leading Sakuni to a club-record 7th place in J2 League saw Albirex Niigata come calling and Rasamu joined the second club of his career on 7 December 2025.

Who Are Albirex Niigata?

Albirex Niigata is a professional club based in the coastal city of Niigata, the capital of the Niigata Prefecture around a four-hour drive north of Tokyo. It was originally formed in 1955 as Niigata Eleven SC and was largely an amateur side before a surge around the formation of the J League, renaming to Albireo Niigata FC in 1995 then Albirex Niigata, which combines Albireo, a star in the Cgynus constellation, and Rex, the Latin word for King, in 1997.

Niigata plays at the 41,684-capacity Denka Big Swan Stadium with 15 training facilities, 13 youth facilities and junior coaching and 16 youth recruitment. It also has several rivalries, competing in the Shinetsu Derbies with Nagano and Matsumoto Yamaga, the Tenchinjin Derby with Yamagata, the Kawanakajima Derby with Kofu and, most intriguingly, the Battle of Hokuriki Derby with Toyama.

Niigata has two J2 League titles in 2003 and 2022 and, in this save, is currently in J2 League after relegation from J1 League in 2024. It finished below Rasamu’s Sanuki last season but represents a huge step up in stature. Indeed, Rasamu left a club struggling financially to one with £17.3m in the bank, a £15m transfer budget and a £126k weekly wage budget, which is over £100k more than at Sanuki.

Meet The Albirex Niigata Squad

The best player at Niigata is 18-year-old homegrown striker Yuta Maeda, who appears to have exceptional potential. Other key players are Brazilian winger Bruno Oliveira, right-back Junya Suzuki, striker Keita Saito and midfielder Keita Fujimura. However, Oliveira, who wanted £15k a week to renew his contract, was sold mid-season for £500k and Saito left for £150k.

There’s plenty more potential at the club in centre-backs Ryo Murakami and Ryuji Takahashi, left-back Takumi Takahashi (no relation), brilliantly named striker Takahashi Wakabayashi and centre-back Atsutaka Izutsu. And just to put the move in context, Rasamu’s former best player He-Man would be the worst player in this squad.

Rasamu began his Niigata reign by selling off players who were still unhappy about the club being relegated 12 months ago and others who weren’t good enough. That brought in more than £3.5m in sales and freed up over £100k from the wage bill.

Niigata’s first signing was also Rasamu’s first proper cash signing of his career as Yuito Suzuki joined for £300k from Kawasaki. He further strengthened the midfield with a recognisable name as Victor Wanyama joined on a free transfer to bring a bit of experience then promising Norwegian Jarl-Emil Nesland for £70k from Odd. They were joined by promising striker Vusi More for £26k from Pretoria Callies and left-back Junpei Mizuguchi on loan from Kawasaki.

Given his midfield additions, Rasamu initially leaned towards a 4-3-3 with Wanyama at the base but swiftly realised a 4-2-3-1 with Yuito pushed further forward was a better fit. But he was generally excited about getting started in Niigata, given his squad had an average age of just 21.5.

Rasamu’s First Taste Of Being Favourites

For the first time in his career, Rasamu had a bit of pressure to deliver results. Niigata were picked as J2 League favourites with title odds of 11/8 followed by Fukuoka (7/5), Chiba (9/4), Nagasaki (9/2) and Oita (6/1). His former side Sanuki, who promoted Reserves Manager Daiki Maeda to the main job, remain huge favorites to be relegated with title odds of 300/1. However, the Niigata board only expect the side to reach the playoffs.

Rasamu’s Niigata reign began with an entertaining 0-0 at Fujieda in which both sides missed plenty of chances. But they were much more effective at Kofu as player of the match Wanyama created goals for Yuito and More, Nesland also got his first goal and Junya scored a late free-kick. Rasamu’s first game at the Big Swan Stadium against Matsumoto began well as Yuito finished superbly from an acute angle. The visitors undeservedly equalised but Niigata dominated and wrapped up all three points through More, Yuito’s second and winger Shunsuke Mito.

That was swiftly followed by the visit of Rasamu’s former employers Sanuki. They were the better side and it took a while to break through but a delicious Naslund cross picked out Yuito to volley home the opener. The tricky Mito again came on to double the lead before Fujimura killed the game off.

The Unbeaten Start Continues

The strong start continued by thumping Machida 4-1 away, nicking a 1-1 at Nagasaki, dominating Fukuoka 4-0 led by a More hat-trick and Junya’s wonderful 30-yard free-kick deciding a 3-2 thriller at home to Gunma. But they weren’t done there as a Maeda double led a 3-0 win over Iwata to take Niigate 10 points clear after 12 games, More’s dramatic 95th-minute strike earned a 2-1 win over Oita and Nesland’s stunning 25-yard volley led the way in a 4-1 hammering of Oita.

Another dominant performance saw Niigata rack up 15 shots to five at Tosu and win 2-0 with Wanyama scoring his first goal for the club from the penalty spot. That saw them into the halfway point of the season still unbeaten and with an incredible 16 wins out of 19. As a result, they have an 11-point lead over Nagasaki, who’ve played a game more, and are 15 clear of Gifu. They’ve already scored 50 goals, which is 16 more than anyone else, and have only conceded 16. While More is the J2 top scorer with 14 and leads the league with a 7.51 average rating and five player of the match awards.

As part of the interview process, Rasamu had asked the Niigata board to send him on a new coaching course. They obliged and he bagged his third badge, the National A Licence, in mid-April.

Rasamu had made a flying start to life in Niigata and promotion looked almost inevitable at the halfway mark of the season. But could he maintain that heading into the second half of the campaign? Join us on Monday to find out!