Vissel Kobe U-18

Vissel Kobe U-18 is the under-18 team of Vissel Kobe, the club that won Japan's first division in 2023 and again in 2024. The academy sits underneath that, in Kobe, and has a record with a particular shape: it has won the WEST division of the Premier League three times, reached the national final three times, and lost all three. The club's name is a made-up word from *victory* and *vessel* — a ship carrying the hopes of a port city — and the club in its present form dates from 1995, the year of the earthquake that destroyed much of Kobe.

Hyogo · founded 1995 · head coach YAMAMICHI Kohei

2026 season

Currently 1st in the Premier League WEST with 31 points from 14 matches (10W 1D 3L, 33-18). Updated daily.

Playing style

The academy's stated aim is to combine development with winning, which in Japanese youth football is usually presented as a choice between the two. The method is an individual development plan reviewed on a three-month cycle across four areas — technical, tactical, physical and mental — with the player's own assessment discussed against the coaches'. The intended output is a player who understands himself well enough to keep improving without being told to.

Under YAMAMICHI Kohei, who came up from the under-15 team and therefore knows most of this squad from the age of 12, the side presses aggressively from the front and attacks in as few passes as possible, with position changes used to unbalance the opponent rather than to keep the ball.

Honours

Competition	Year	Notes
Premier League WEST	2013, 2017, 2025	Three division titles
U-18 Premier League Final	2013, 2017, 2025	Runners-up each time — to RKU Kashiwa, FC Tokyo and Kashima Antlers Youth
J Youth Cup	2013	Won, in the same season as the first WEST title
Japan Club Youth (U-18) Championship	2011	Runners-up
J Youth Cup	2005	Runners-up

Three national finals and three defeats is an unusual record. The 2025 one was the narrowest: 1-1 after extra time against Kashima Antlers Youth, lost 3-2 on penalties.

History

1995 — The club takes its present name in the year of the Great Hanshin earthquake, and restarts as a civic project.
2011 — Promotion to the Premier League through the Prince League Kansai, and a runners-up finish at the Club Youth Championship.
2012 — Second place in WEST in the first season up.
2013 — WEST champions and J Youth Cup winners; beaten by RKU Kashiwa on penalties in the national final.
2017 — WEST champions again; two goals ahead in the national final against FC Tokyo, and beaten 3-2.
2025 — A third WEST title, and a third national final, lost on penalties to Kashima Antlers Youth.
2026 — YAMAMICHI Kohei takes over as head coach.

Development pathway

Next door to the champions. The academy trains at Ibuki-no-mori, the club's own ground, on the same site as a first team that has just won consecutive league titles. The club describes the purpose plainly: to change what a teenager thinks normal looks like.
Individual development plans. Every player is assessed on a three-month cycle across four areas, and the assessment is a conversation rather than a verdict.
Two under-15 sites. The junior-youth programme runs from Kobe and Itami, covering a wide area of Hyogo, and players also arrive from strong clubs elsewhere in the Kansai region.
A squad from several countries. This is the most internationally mixed academy squad in the Premier League: a goalkeeper recruited from a Chinese development club, a defender who came from Sydney FC, and players with Korean roots alongside the locally raised majority. Training every day in a group that does not share one first language is, the club argues, its own education.

Former players

YAMAKAWA Tetsushi (defender) — a central figure in the first team's defence during the title years.
SASAKI Daiju (forward) — promoted from this academy and part of the same successful side.
HOMMA Justin (defender) — promoted in 2024, and quick enough to cover a whole flank.
FUJITANI So (defender) — an age-group international who came through in 2016.
ADACHI Shuto, TERASAKA Shogo, TOMINAGA Niina, HAMASAKI Kento, SEGUCHI Taiga, WATANABE Hayato and ONISHI Sota — promoted to the first team between 2023 and 2025.
YONEZAWA Rei (forward) — the scorer of the 2013 J Youth Cup run.

Players to watch in 2026

Players worth knowing in the 2026 season:

KAWABATA Hyoei (forward, third year, no. 10) — named in the J.League U-18 selection for the NEXT GENERATION MATCH in February 2026, and a product of Kyoto Sanga's under-15 team.
UENO Sota (midfielder, third year, no. 6) — the captain, playing off the striker.
SATOMI Tafuku (midfielder, second year, no. 7) — in Japan's squad at the 2026 AFC U-17 Asian Cup, where he scored twice, and registered with the first team.
HANAMOTO Yohan (midfielder, first year, no. 38) — a Japan under-16 international, registered with the first team as a first-year.
ASADA Ren (midfielder, first year, no. 32) and YAMADA Ryoya (first year, no. 42) — both Japan under-15 internationals. YAMADA scored a hat-trick on his Premier League WEST debut.
HU Yunhao (goalkeeper, third year, no. 1) — recruited from a development club in Shanghai.
LEIGH Jamison Yamato (defender, second year, no. 29) — arrived from Sydney FC.

Two more are worth watching but are not named here, because the JFA and the J.League have not published English spellings for them: the centre-back picked alongside KAWABATA for the J.League under-18 selection, and a first-year defender with Korean roots who came up through the club's own under-15 team.

The mix of Japanese, Chinese, Australian and Korean-rooted players in one age group is not an accident; it is what the club means when it says it wants the daily environment to be an international one.

Notes

Full profile in Japanese, with the current squad list and every result: ヴィッセル神戸U-18.

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