Dreading the prospect of 3 whole months with no football this summer? Well, the Japanese football season has just started so why not adopt a team to get you through those harsh summer months?
Kawasaki Frontale are one of the leading lights in J.League football. Follow the team's progress in the 2007 season as they march towards their first J1 title and sample their first taste of AFC Champions League glory!
Fascinating facts about the club
Based in Kawasaki, in the Tokyo suburbs, Frontale won promotion to the J1 division in 2004 and finished as runners-up last year in only their second season back in the top flight.
They play their home games at Todoroki Athletics Stadium, which was built in 1965 and has a capacity of 25,000. The stadium will host the final of the 2007 IFAF World Cup - an international competition held every four years to decide a "world champion" of American football. America has never competed in it, which seems odd as they'd probably do quite well.
The team's mascot is a dolphin called Fronta-kun. Some claim that it's a river dolphin, which would make sense with Kawasaki being nowhere near the sea.
The team are sponsored by Fujitsu and actually trace their roots back to the Fujitsu company team, founded in 1955.
"Frontale" is the Italian word for "in the front" or "first class", which must have an ironic appeal seeing as they've never won anything.
When they're not busy training, the current squad can be found performing the "Algorithm March"...
