In 1994, the city of Kobe reached an agreement with Kawasaki Steel, the parent company, to move the club to Kobe and compete for a spot in the professional J. League as VisselKobe.
Vissel is a combination of the words "victory" and "vessel", a nod to Kobe's history as a port city.
Vissel finished 13th in the league in 2004, the same position as the previous year, and finished 18th and last place, resulting in automatic relegation from J. League Division 1, or J1, to J2.
en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Vissel_Kobe (453 words)
J League Teams: Vissel Kobe(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-10)
VisselKobe's roots lie in the Ito Ham soccer club, which was never a particularly great club team, but performed well enough to earn promotion to the J.League at the end of 1996.
VisselKobe was originally formed in 1994, as "Kobe Orange Soccer Club" (dont even ASK what the "orange" is supposed to mean), with the support of the Kobe city government and seven corporate backers, including Daiei Inc. and Itoham Foods Inc..
Kobe went out of its way to sign Kazu Miura, who was one of Japan's finest football players in his heyday, but had reached a low point in his career due to a combination of age and arrogance.
www.wldcup.com /Asia/j2/vissel.html (1256 words)
Seattle Pitch - Kobe Relief Fund Soccer Match(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-10)
In the 16th, VisselKobe almost scored when a corner kick from the left side was headed sharply down toward the right post.
Kobe put together a beautiful series of passes to successive overlappers, ending with a shot on goal from close in on the right side.
Kobe's last shot was a header over Hahnemann, but the shot hit the crossbar and bounced over.
Seattle Pitch - Vissel Kobe v. Sounders(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-10)
Sadly, he couldn't control and by the time he did the keeper was at his feet and the ball in his hands.
D Crook 4.5 Nothing spectacular and had some problems with Vissel's speed D James 6 A little slow to react and always laying back but his size came in handy against the smaller Vissel.
D James Dunn 5 Nothing really to mention, good or bad D Morrill 5 Had a bad first half, but made it up with solid defense down the stretch MF Megson 5.5 Quite honestly, he was great when needed to make the nice pass but kind of absent from where the ball was.
VisselKobe (jap:: ヴィッセル神戸) ist ein japanischer Fußballverein und seit 1997 Mitglied der J.
Das Glück, das Kawasaki 1993 gefehlt hatte, ereilte Vissel 1996, nur ein Jahr, nachdem das große Hanshin-Erdbeben die Stadt in großen Teilen verwüstet und die ganze Region in die Krise gestürzt hatte.
Seit 1997 hat VisselKobe das Oberhaus zwar nicht mehr verlassen, doch konnte sich der Verein, der 2002 vom Stadion der Universiade (erbaut 1985) in die neue WM-Arena "Kobe Wing Stadium" umzog, nie richtig etablieren und hat noch nie eine Saison unter den besten zehn abgeschlossen.
Besiktas manager Sinan Engin announced that the Kobe move was "99 percent certain" but added, "Until the ink is dry on the contract, it would be wrong to say that the transfer has gone through." However, Ilhan was pulled from the squad for last night's Ankaragucu match at his own request.
What it is worth to Ilhan is less clear, but there are confident reports that he will be on a flat rate $2 million a year for five years which could rise to $3 million with a cut of advertising which the Japanese club has promised him.
VisselKobe must also be aware that his disciplinary record is not the best.
The rumour is that Vissel have approached a forward who is plaing in the Toyota Cup/World Club Championship in Tokyo this week.....
Yes, it's true, the Vissel faithful were rewarded with a 1-1 draw, and the away goal in Fukuoka was enough to send Vissel into J1, after a 0-0 draw at home.
Avispa take on VisselKobe for a J1 place in the play-off on Wednesday 6th (in Kobe) and Saturday 9th in Fukuoka.
VisselKobe was in financial trouble and knew that Laudrup's 1.2 million dollar salary was going to be an insuperable problem in the next season.
This gentleman's agreement would lift the burden of his salary off VisselKobe's shoulders, while it would allow Laudrup to join Ajax on a free transfer.
Just before he officially signed his contract with Ajax, Laudrup was suddenly transferred from VisselKobe to Celik Zenica, a club playing in the highest division of Bosnia-Hercegovina, on a free transfer.
The Daily Star Web Edition Vol. 5 Num 350(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-10)
Known for his aerial strength and power-packed left foot, the lanky Mboma powered Cameroon to triumph at the 2000 and 2002 African Nations Cups as well as the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
Kobe currently lie at the bottom of the 18-club J-League.
Clad in a business suit, Mboma received bouquets from his family, veteran Kobe striker Kazuyoshi Miura, 38, once the Asian Footballer of the Year, and another teammate Ryuji Bando, who cried in the arms of the Cameroon star.
While some J.League clubs make do with substandard stadiums, VisselKobe is in the rare position of having two top-class facilities in very convenient locations.
Of course, the premier venue in the city is the brand-new, soccer-only Kobe Wing Stadium, which serves as a World Cup venue in 2002.
It CAN seem somewhat stark when Vissel draws only a small crowd of 6,000 to 8,000, but when it is full, Universiade can be a very lively venue.
Mansiz and his German lawyer who arrived from Germany were greeted by the Turkish Embassy officials and Mansiz's fans at the Narita Airport in Tokyo with Turkish flags and flowers.
After signing the deal, Mansiz is expected to hold a news conference together with officials of his new team Kobe.
He said that he would proceed to Kobe later in the same day to meet his new team mates.
TOKYO (AP) - Cameroon's veteran striker Patrick Mboma, currently contracted to Japanese club VisselKobe, has decided to end his playing career after repeated injuries, his J-League club said Monday.
Mboma, 34, joined Kobe from Tokyo Verdy last August but injuries have restricted him to just four matches this season.
Kobe will hold a retirement ceremony for Mboma at Kobe Wing Stadium on Saturday, the club said.
When VisselKobe came in with an offer of $4.5 million, for him a lot of the supporters felt that the safest course of action was to take the money and run.
After all, they reasoned, it was better to have cash in the bank than to risk being saddled with a worthless player whose career had been cut short by injury.
Now, if Sabah is correct, VisselKobe is planning to report both Besiktas and Ilhan himself to FIFA.
BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Bolton Wanderers | Vissel Kobe 1-1 Bolton(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-10)
El-Hadji Diouf scored to salvage a draw for Bolton against VisselKobe.
Kunie Kitamoto gave the Japanese outfit the lead on 50 minutes before Diouf capitalised on confusion caused by an Ivan Campo ball into the box to level.
"Kobe had some good skilful players and they caused quite a few problems in the first half," said boss Sam Allardyce.
Tokyo (Reuters) - Japanese club VisselKobe want their J-League match against Kashiwa Reysol to be replayed after a refereeing blunder.
Referee Yoshitsugu Katayama showed Ryo Kobayashi his second yellow card for time-wasting as the player dallied in walking off the pitch to make way for a substitute.
Kobe, who are bottom of the Japanese first division, lost the match 1-0.
League champion with Juventus, Barcelona (four times) and Real, Spanish Cup winner with Barcelona, European-South American Cup winner with Juventus in 1985, he also played in the 1986 World Cup and has frequently been his country's Footballer of the Year.
He wanted less stress and joined VisselKobe (Japan) two years ago.
But the indications are that if he does, he is likely to enjoy just as much success in that side of the game as he did as a player.
TOKYO, April 6 (Reuters) - Japan midfielder Takashi Fukunishi snatched a sudden-death winner as Jubilo Iwata won 1-0 at VisselKobe on Saturday to stay top of the J-League first division on goal difference from Vegalta Sendai.
Experienced Japan midfielder Hiroshi Nanami made his long-awaited return from a knee injury, but Iwata were still less than convincing against Kobe until Fukunishi scored two minutes into extra time to give Jubilo the points.
Teams are awarded two points for a win in extra time under J-League rules.
Out of these five clubs, three will be allowed to stay at J1 and two will be dropped to division 2.
JEF United Ichihara, VisselKobe, and Avispa Fukuoka survived, while Kawasaki Frontale failed to win J1 promotion and Consadole Sapporo became the first club in J.LEAGUE history to relegate to J2.
These two clubs and other eight clubs from JFL (former) were brought up to create the division 2.
en.wikipedia.org /wiki/J._League (2554 words)
Soccer> Japan/J.League Division 1> Kawasaki Frontale vs Vissel Kobe(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-10)
Soccer> Japan/J.League Division 1> Kawasaki Frontale vs VisselKobe
Soccer > Japan/J.League Division 1 > Kawasaki Frontale vs. VisselKobe
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