Kashima Soccer Stadium


Kashima Football Stadium, currently known as Mercari Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in the city of Kashima, in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. It is the home stadium of club Kashima Antlers. The stadium has a capacity of 40,728.
In 2025, Mercari, the owner of the Kashima Antlers since 2019, acquired the naming rights to the stadium and gave it the "nickname" Mercari Stadium, by which it would be referred in matches and events, while the official name remained unchanged.
Before the creation of the J. League, Kashima's forerunner, Sumitomo Steel S.C., played at the nearby Sumitomo Steel plant's athletic grounds.

2002 FIFA World Cup

Kashima Football Stadium hosted the following three matches in the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
DateTime Team 1ResultTeam 2RoundAttendance
2 June 200214.301–0Group F34,050
5 June 200220.301–1Group E35,854
8 June 200218.001–2Group G36,472

Football at the 2020 Olympic Games

DateTime Team 1ResultTeam 2RoundAttendance
27 July 202120.001–1Group E0
27 July 202117.000–0Group G0
30 July 202118.003–4
Quarter-finals0
2 August 202117.000–1Semi-finals0
5 August 202117.003–4Bronze Medal match0

Other uses

In 2023, the girl group Hinatazaka46 released the music video for "Tomo yo, Ichibanboshi da", set at the stadium.