Why follow Shonan Bellmare? - A Club by the Enoshima Water

Bellmare - an amalgamation of two italian words, "bello" and "mare". Put the two together in a sentence, and you get "beautiful sea". This is exaclty the essence and spirit of the football club that is Shonan Bellmare, situated on the beautiful waterfront just an hour or so away from Tokyo.

1993 saw the name Shonan Bellmare adapted by then-named Fujita Kogyo SC. The club has saw a host of legendary talent turn out in the green shirts, such as Hidetoshi Nakata - a man once dubbed as "extraterrestial" by Roma legend Francesco Totti, for reading a book amidst the electric Serie A crowd.

Today, Bellmare focus on youth development intensely- all while competing at the heights of the J-League. Albeit balancing the two being a challenging task, Bellmare fans enjoy seeing the emergence of talents like Akito and Junnosuke Suzuki, Sho Fukuda, Ishii Hisatsugu, Soki Tamura and a lot more names.

The dream for such young players is of course, to emulate the likes of Hidetoshi Nakata - and what better club to develop at than Shonan Bellmare.

Shonan Bellmare's average starting XI age is 26.8 this season, which goes to show how many young players are able to make a mark with the club on the biggest stage in Japan, and one of the best leagues in Asia.

And at time of writing, Shonan Bellmare have been off to a brilliant start within the 2025 season, currently sitting fifth in the table, daring to lock horns for the league title against clubs like Kashima Antlers.

The fan essence of this amazing club shines through traditional shrines, temples, the seafront of Enoshima, a very humble abode for a fantastic football team that dons the bright Green and Blue.

Many people internationally who were caught by the unique colour of club attire have realised there's more to this humble J-League side. Follow this team for regular youth players emerging, overachievement, and most importantly, a warm and welcoming club community.

The tightly-knit fanbase drives the players to continue to overperform and carry the pride on their sleeves. Will we see Bellmare swoop in for the title in 2025?