Please tell us about the purpose and focus of this event.

We hold the “Fan Appreciation Day” once a year with the aim of expressing our gratitude to all the fans who support Cerezo Osaka and to further attract them to become fans and attend our matches. Fan Appreciation Day is a valuable opportunity where players, who would be separated from their fans by the pitch and stands, come together with the fans to exchange words and enjoy fun games. The players also gain tremendous energy from participating in the event alongside the fans.

As a place for “interaction between fans and players,” we want to create an event that allows everyone to feel closer to the Cerezo Osaka team.

Interestingly, this was the first time we decided to have a themed event. We expressed our desire to create an event that attendees would continue to talk about, and the idea of a “school festival” theme was proposed.

We put a lot of effort into making the event feel like a school festival, such as featuring photos of players in school uniform on the special website, naming various areas of the venue after school facilities, creating T-shirts inspired by school uniforms, designing the stage to resemble a classroom, dividing players into teams by grade, and even making original student handbooks as gifts for attendees.

How was it in practice?

The biggest achievement was the number of participants. In the past, we had a maximum of about 3,000 participants, but this year we had over 8,500 participants, which is more than 2.5 times the previous record. It was a great success!

Having a themed event, especially with the theme of a “school festival,” was refreshing, and the players enthusiastically took photos in their school uniforms. The special webpage and event information piqued the interest of fans who saw it, which I believe contributed to this result. Players are already asking, “What are we doing next?” expressing their anticipation (laugh).

What would you like to try in the future?

Having a themed event was effective, and we had a large number of participants, with 8,500 people attending. With this momentum, we aim to have 15,000 participants next year!