is a Japanese professional football club based in Kyoto. "Sanga" comes from the Sanskrit word sangha, a term meaning "group" or "club" and often used to denote the Buddhist priesthood, associating the club with Kyoto's many Buddhist temples. The club was formerly known as Kyoto Purple Sanga with "purple", the colour of the team uniforms, an imperial colour reflecting Kyoto's status as Japan's ancient imperial capital city. It was decided that, from 2007, the team will simply be known as "Kyoto Sanga". They are the oldest club competing in the J.League. History The club was started as Kyoto Shiko Club, one of the few proper Japanese football clubs in the sense of being strictly dedicated to football and not being part of a company. Like Ventforet Kofu, it could not rise to a Japan Soccer League First Division dominated by company teams; in 1993, after the J.League was created, Kyoto Shiko Club, aided by funds from local new sponsors Kyocera and Nintendo, professionalized (though some players broke away and formed their own clubs, see below) and joined the former Japan Football League under the new name Kyoto Purple Sanga. First joining the J.League in 1996, Kyoto Sanga hold the dubious distinction of being the League's most relegated side, having been demoted on three separate occasions. Relegation to J2 occurred at the end of the 2000, 2003 and 2006 seasons; more than any other team. The 2003 relegation happened despite having many national team players such as Park Ji-sung and Daisuke Matsui on its roster and they eventually left for European clubs. In December 2007 the club gained J1 status for the fourth time in their history via the promotion/relegation playoff. A 0-2 home defeat to Urawa Reds on 14 November 2010 confirmed Sanga's relegation back to J2, bringing an end to their three-season spell in the top flight. Record as J.League member Key Honours League J.League Division 2 2001, 2005 Kansai Soccer League 1969, 1971, 1979, 1988 Cups Emperor's Cup 2002 All Japan Senior Football Championship 1988 Current squad Out on loan Reserve squad (U-18s) Club captains Naohiko Minobe 1994 Makoto Sugiyama 1995 Satoru Mochizuki 1996 Ruy Ramos 1997 Yuji Okuma 1997 Hajime Moriyasu 1998 Hisashi Kurosaki 1999 Kazuyoshi Miura 2000 Naoto Otake 2001 Hiroshi Noguchi 2002 Kiyotaka Ishimaru 2003–2004 Daisuke Nakaharai 2005-2006 Daisuke Saito 2007 Yuto Sato 2008-2009 Atsushi Yanagisawa 2010 Diego 2011 Hiroki Nakayama 2012 Jun Ando 2013