Kashima Antlers

are a professional football club based in Kashima, Ibaraki, Japan. They currently play in the J1 League, the top tier of Japanese professional football leagues. The club has financial backing from Mercari, a Japanese e-commerce company. Since the J.League's creation and introduction of professional Japanese football in 1993, Kashima have proven themselves to be by far Japan's most successful football club in terms of trophies won, having won the J.League title a record eight times, the J.League Cup a record six times and the Emperor's Cup five times for an unprecedented nineteen major domestic titles. Kashima became Asian champions for the first and most recent time as they won the AFC Champions League in 2018. Kashima are also one of only two clubs to have competed in Japan's professional top-flight football every year since its inception (the other being Yokohama F. Marinos). Name origin The name Antlers is derived from the city name, Kashima, which literally means "deer island".