Zweigen Kanazawa

The club was formed in 1956 under the simple name Kanazawa Soccer Club and adopted its current identity in 2006. The Hokushinetsu region, long sleepy in football terms and whose potential only arose with Albirex Niigata leading the way, provided few opportunities for Kanazawa to rise in Japan's football ranks until the late 2000s. On 19 December 2009 they were promoted to the JFL after beating FC Kariya at the promotion/relegation playoff with 2–1 aggregate score, following a third-place finish in the 2009 All Japan Regional Football Promotion League Series. On December 15, 2010, a new management company called Zweigen, Inc. was established in order to apply to the J-League associate membership. On January 7, 2011, the team applied for J-League associate membership. On 16 November 2014, Zweigen became the inaugural J3 League champions, and gained a licence to compete in J2 League from 2015. On 22 October 2023, Zweigen officially relegated to J3 League for the 2024 season after a narrow by Montedio Yamagata 0–1, thus ending their 9 years stay in J2.

Name and symbolism

The name "Zweigen" is a portmanteau of the German zwei, for the number 2, and gen, to advance. In Kanazawa dialect, the phrase tsuyoi noda! (We're strong!) became tsuee gen! by double entendre. In German, the word Zweigen means branches (dative—nominative: Zweige), and owing to this, a fleur-de-lis is a key part of the club's crest.

Key