Omiya Ardija

Omiya Ardija is a professional soccer club in the J. League, based in Omiya-ku in Saitama, Saitama, Japan.

It competes in the J1 premiership from 2005, promoted from the runner-up in the J2 in 2004. Although its home field is Omiya Park Soccer Stadium, most of its home matches are to be held in Saitama Stadium 2002 and Urawa Komaba Stadium (they are home stadiums for the Urawa Red Diamonds (Reds)) until completion of expansion of spectator capacity of its permanent home in Omiya to satisfy J1 requirement.

It started in 1964 as NTT Saitama Soccer Selection in Urawa then became NTT Sport Community K.K. based in Omiya in 1998 to participate the J. League. The nickname "Ardija" is a transcript of the Spanish language ardilla (squirrel) which is the mascot of Omiya and the Park.

Its match with the Urawa Red Diamonds (Reds) has been portraited as "Saitama Derby" by the mass media. However Urawa's enthusiasm towards soccer which lured Mitsubishi Motors that had little local connection there to franchise is not found in Omiya. Stadium attendance for the Ardija are much fewer than the one for the Reds.

External Link

• Omiya Ardija Homepage (in Japanese)