Suzuyo Buys Danish Top-Flight Club Randers FC — 5ch: “Even Honda’s Done This”

From our other sites

The story

Suzuyo, which owns the operating company behind J1 side Shimizu S-Pulse, has announced it will acquire 80% of the shares in Danish top-flight club Randers FC. The move is reportedly aimed at building a foothold for securing fairer transfer terms, addressing the recurring problem of Japanese players being undervalued when they move to Europe. The thread ranged widely — covering Suzuyo’s revenue scale, comparisons with the financial muscle of other J.League parent companies, and how the cost of stadium renovations is being split.

Suzuyo, based in Shimizu Ward, Shizuoka City, and parent company of J1 club Shimizu S-Pulse’s operator, has announced the acquisition of a professional football club in Denmark.

Suzuyo has signed an agreement to acquire 80% of the shares in the operating company of Randers FC, a club in Denmark’s top division, saying the two sides aim to grow together by sharing expertise.

With the low transfer fees for Japanese players moving to Europe seen as a persistent issue, the company also stated that “achieving transfers with fairer valuations and terms is one of the important themes” going forward.

Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here

What people said

4AnonymousAug 31, 2026 20:42
Denmark, though? Feels kinda underwhelming, no?
33AnonymousAug 31, 2026 20:51
Re: #4
Yuito Suzuki earned his move from Denmark to Germany.
And just yesterday he scored a hat-trick on opening day.
102AnonymousAug 31, 2026 21:15
Re: #33
Daaaamn, that's insane
7AnonymousAug 31, 2026 20:42
Denmark's turned out guys like Schmeichel and the Laudrup brothers, after all
22AnonymousAug 31, 2026 20:47
Re: #7
There's not exactly a ton of them though lol
10AnonymousAug 31, 2026 20:43
Baseball should just start buying up MLB teams too
16AnonymousAug 31, 2026 20:46
Re: #10
No way you're buying an MLB team, settle for a Double-A club
19AnonymousAug 31, 2026 20:47
Re: #10
How much did this actually cost? Like 100 million yen? Nothing in MLB goes for that cheap.
Even the cheapest team, the Marlins, runs about 230 billion yen.
For reference, the cheapest Premier League clubs are Brighton or Everton at around 130 billion yen.
12AnonymousAug 31, 2026 20:44
Re: #1
Well, of course you'd get your hopes up 🙂‍↔

Lee Kang-in >>> Kubo Takefusa
Kim Ye-gon >> Mitsudera Makoto
Yang Min-hyeok > Shiogai Kento
43AnonymousAug 31, 2026 20:53
Re: #12
Yang Min-hyeok? Isn't he the guy getting bounced around on loans who can't even make the bench?
50AnonymousAug 31, 2026 20:55
Re: #12
Yang Min-hyeok — the guy getting shuffled from loan to loan, who lost his spot to a Japanese player, Saito, and can't even crack the bench?
146AnonymousAug 31, 2026 21:38
Re: #12
They're all Marinos players lol
29AnonymousAug 31, 2026 20:50
If you've got that kind of money,
build the stadium with your own cash instead of taxpayer money
34AnonymousAug 31, 2026 20:51
Re: #29
Tell that to the Chiba Lotte Marines lol
39AnonymousAug 31, 2026 20:52
Re: #29
That's basically every club except Imabari and Nagasaki — a whole league running on tax money lol
41AnonymousAug 31, 2026 20:53
Actually, why don't guys like Uniqlo's Yanai or SoftBank's Son just buy a Premier League club?
They could do it just for fun.
96AnonymousAug 31, 2026 21:12
Re: #41
If anyone, it'd be Rakuten's Mikitani — though I doubt he's got that kind of money.
Those guys care about making money, but football comes with the hassle of dealing with supporters, and relegation means huge losses, so I doubt they'd bother.
46AnonymousAug 31, 2026 20:54
This is some seriously large-scale stuff they're pulling off
61AnonymousAug 31, 2026 20:58
Re: #46
Even Honda's done this kind of thing (Keisuke Honda has invested in overseas clubs before)
48AnonymousAug 31, 2026 20:55
Suzuyo's revenue is pretty impressive if I recall.
I think they mentioned putting company offices inside the new stadium or something.
They're paying a ton in corporate and property taxes, so the local government can't really complain lol
Shizuoka football thrives thanks to Suzuyo.
Thank you 🥲
56AnonymousAug 31, 2026 20:56
Re: #48
Even with high revenue, logistics is a low-margin business, so the actual profit isn't that huge.
Instead, they need heavy, ongoing capital investment.
58AnonymousAug 31, 2026 20:57
Re: #48
With football, I get the impression the main sponsors are genuine football fans.
Baseball feels more like it's purely for corporate advertising.
76AnonymousAug 31, 2026 21:03
Re: #48
Suzuyo is around 170 billion yen [in revenue].
That's actually pretty low as far as J.League parent companies go.

Kashima's parent Mercari: about 150 billion
Nagasaki's Japanet: around 270 billion
Verdy's Xebio: around 250 billion
Machida's CyberAgent: nearly 900 billion
Hiroshima's Edion: around 700 billion
Beyond that it's mostly massive corporations topping 1 trillion yen

When you think about it that way, Suzuyo really went all in.
FC Tokyo's parent Mixi has been branching out from Monster Strike into sports business too, with the Chiba Jets and the Chari Loto keirin betting platform — maybe Suzuyo is doing something similar, kicking off a serious sports business centered on Shimizu.
49AnonymousAug 31, 2026 20:55
Re: #44
The roof cost more than the stands though lololol
Can't foot the whole bill? If football's so profitable you'd pay for all of it, right? lol
63AnonymousAug 31, 2026 20:58
Re: #49
This is a rebuild of the aging Nihondaira stadium — the city covers the existing baseline spec, while Suzuyo and other private funders cover the pro-level upgrades.
If you're going to bash this, you'd have to bash Chiba Lotte too, since they use the same scheme.
67AnonymousAug 31, 2026 21:00
Re: #63
Lotte's paying their share, but how much is S-Pulse putting up? What percentage is Suzuyo covering?
What about Akita? What about Okinawa?
What percentage did Urawa pay?
Why does everyone dodge this question?
93AnonymousAug 31, 2026 21:11
The Suzuyo Group's ad jingle, "Kujira ~Itsuka Kitto~" ("Whale ~Someday, For Sure~," written, composed, and sung by Akane Toriyama)

Things I've never seen, I want to see them
A whale's dance, the aurora up north, an ant's tears
Someday, for sure, I'll see them
Someday, for sure, I'll see them
119AnonymousAug 31, 2026 21:27
Re: #93
Lately they've also got a commercial with Mana Ashida
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=__rEfC7YOQ8
95AnonymousAug 31, 2026 21:12
You mean Suzuyo Holdings — group-wide revenue is about 590 billion yen, roughly double Japanet Holdings.
99AnonymousAug 31, 2026 21:14
Re: #95
Sure, revenue's high, but profit is only 9.1 billion yen, so Japanet's actual profit is far bigger — though Japanet doesn't disclose its numbers.
101AnonymousAug 31, 2026 21:15
Will it end up like Sint-Truiden, Oliveirense, or Grenoble?
114AnonymousAug 31, 2026 21:25
Re: #101
My guess is it turns into another FC Imabari
105AnonymousAug 31, 2026 21:18
Baseball should set up a minor-league team somewhere in the Dominican Republic too
106AnonymousAug 31, 2026 21:19
Re: #105
Didn't the Hiroshima Carp used to have ties with the Dominican Republic back in the day?

Background and Key Points of the Discussion

Suzuyo is a group centered on logistics, with the holding company’s overall revenue reported at roughly 590 billion yen and profit at 9.1 billion yen. Comparisons raised in the thread noted that several other J.League parent companies are considerably larger — Kashima’s parent Mercari at around 150 billion yen, Nagasaki’s Japanet at around 270 billion yen, and Machida’s CyberAgent at nearly 900 billion yen — making Suzuyo’s scale a point of debate. Comments mocking baseball fans (using the slur “yakibuta,” literally “grilled pig”) or personally attacking named individuals have been excluded. The main points of contention were how the acquisition might address the problem of Japanese players’ transfer fees being undervalued in moves to Europe, and how to interpret the split between public funding and Suzuyo’s contribution toward the new stadium. Note that Keisuke Honda has also invested in clubs abroad, so this isn’t the first time a Japanese company or individual has taken a stake in an overseas club.

*This article is compiled as an excerpt and summary from the 5channel (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[Football] Suzuyo Acquires Denmark’s Top-Flight Randers FC, to Serve as Hub for Shimizu S-Pulse Players’ Moves to Europe.”

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *