Sanfrecce Hiroshima F.C Youth

2026 season

Currently 2nd in the Premier League WEST with 27 points from 14 matches (8W 3D 3L, 24-18). Updated daily.

Playing style

The club's teams are built on precise technique first — control and passing under pressure — with, in recent seasons, a high-pressing, fast-transition game layered on top. The first team and the academy use the same tactical language, so that a player who is promoted does not have to learn a new game. SAWADA Kentaro, a former Sanfrecce player who is also the club's academy director, took charge of the under-18s in February 2026. His emphasis is on versatility: players who can play more than one position well.

Honours

The national finals: 3-1 against Consadole Sapporo U-18 in 2011, 4-1 against Tokyo Verdy Youth in 2012, and 2-1 against Kashima Antlers Youth in 2018. In 2021 the team won the WEST but the final was cancelled because of the pandemic. The J Youth Cup has been lost in the final eight times, the last two in 2024 and 2025.

History

• 1992 — Sanfrecce Hiroshima is founded as one of the original J.League clubs. Its first general manager argues that a club in a regional city cannot keep buying players, and puts the academy at the centre of the plan.
• 1995 — A first J Youth Cup.
• 2003–2004 — The Club Youth Championship twice in a row, and in 2004 the All Japan Youth Championship, beating Jubilo Iwata Youth 1-0 in the final at Saitama Stadium.
• 2010 — A second All Japan Youth title, 2-1 against FC Tokyo U-18.
• 2011–2012 — The Premier League is created, and Sanfrecce win the WEST and the national final in each of its first two seasons.
• 2016 — WEST champions again; the final is lost to Aomori Yamada on penalties.
• 2018 — A third national title, 2-1 against Kashima Antlers Youth.
• 2021, 2023 — Two more WEST titles. The 2021 final is cancelled; the 2023 final is lost 2-1 to Aomori Yamada.
• 2026 — SAWADA Kentaro becomes head coach. Five of the under-18 squad hold first-team numbers.

Development pathway

• Everyone lives in. Around forty players live in the Mitsuya dormitory in Yoshida and attend Hiroshima Prefectural Yoshida High School. The club's view is that living away from home, doing ordinary schoolwork at an ordinary school, and training at a professional level together produce more independent people, and better players, than football alone.
• Recruited from everywhere. Because the players board, the club can take them from anywhere in Japan. The 2026 squad includes four players from the same junior-youth club in Kumamoto, and others from Tokyo, Chiba, Kyoto, Osaka, Tokushima and Kochi, alongside those from the club's own junior-youth team.
• A short step to the first team. In September 2026 five current youth players had first-team squad numbers: NOGUCHI Rento, HARA Minato, OTA Hiroto, MORII Leedo and TAKAHASHI Narumi. NOGUCHI has already been promoted for the 2026-27 season.
• Former players on the staff. Several of the club's best-known academy graduates now work in the academy, as coaches or scouts, so the club's way of playing is taught by people who learned it there.

Former players

• OSAKO Keisuke (goalkeeper, Sanfrecce Hiroshima) — joined the youth team in 2015, won the WEST as a second-year, signed a professional contract in 2017, and went on to play for Japan.
• ARAKI Hayato (defender, Sanfrecce Hiroshima) — the first team's defensive leader and a Japan international.
• KAWABE Hayao (midfielder, Sanfrecce Hiroshima) — Jubilo Iwata, then Grasshoppers, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Standard Liège in Europe, back in Hiroshima since 2024.
• HIGASHI Shunki (midfielder) and YAMASAKI Taichi (defender) — academy graduates in the current first team.
• AYUKAWA Shun (forward, Sanfrecce Hiroshima) — scored the first goal and was named best player in the 2018 national final.
• NAKAJIMA Yotaro (midfielder, Sanfrecce Hiroshima) and KOBAYASHI Shimon (midfielder, Sanfrecce Hiroshima) — the most recent generation; KOBAYASHI played for Japan's under-18s in 2026.

Players to watch in 2026

Players worth knowing in the 2026 season:

• NOGUCHI Rento (midfielder, third year, no. 10) — promoted to the first team for 2026-27 (first-team no. 46).
• HARA Minato (midfielder, third year, no. 7) — called up to Japan's under-18 squad during the J-Village Cup in March 2026; first-team no. 47.
• MORII Leedo (defender, third year, no. 3) and OTA Hiroto (midfielder, third year, no. 4) — both with first-team numbers (49 and 48).
• NOBUSHIGE Ryojiro (forward, third year, no. 9) — the team's top scorer in the league so far, with six goals.
• KIKUYAMA Rio (forward, third year, no. 11) — five league goals.
• KAWAKAMI Satsuki (midfielder, third year, no. 8), ASANUMA Ryoya (defender, third year, no. 5) and KOYANAGI Shu (defender, third year, no. 6) — senior regulars.
• TAKAHASHI Narumi (midfielder, second year, no. 14) — first-team no. 50.
• HAYASHI Kazuhiro (goalkeeper, first year, no. 16) — has played every minute of the league season as a first-year.
• SHOHOJI Yu (no. 17), TOMITA Masato (no. 24) and SATO Soshi (no. 18) — the second-year group.

A squad drawn from across Japan that lives in one building is the club's design, and it has produced six WEST titles.

Notes

Full profile in Japanese, with the current squad list and every result: サンフレッチェ広島F.C.ユース.

Where a player has no official English spelling published by the JFA or the J.League, the name is shown in Japanese.

See also: Premier League standings and how youth football works in Japan.