Omiya hit with record fine

Former president Seigo Watanabe quit the club last month after admitting to inflating the number of people attending games in order to fill a league quota.

Newly elected president Shigeru Suzuki vowed to clean up the attendance saga when he was voted in last month.

“I plan to make a concerted effort to clean up this club, which is a bed-rock of the local community and dear to all of its fans,” Suzuki said in October.

Omiya were caught exacerbating their home attendance figures by a collective 110,000 people across three years, but were fined the same amount as city rivals Urawa Reds, for harbouring violent fans in 2008.

The club is 14th in the Japanese top flight with 34 points from 30 games this season.