Omiya Ardija president admits to attendance shame

Seigo Watanabe, president of J-League club Omiya Ardija, has apologised inflating attendance figures at a recent match.

Reports suggest that 33,660 fans turned up to Omiya’s Saitama stadium for the derby with Urawa Reds on October 2 but Watanabe confirmed that those figures had been inflated.

“I’m sorry for the trouble we have caused,” Watanabe said ahead of a league executive committee meeting. “We want to get to the bottom of things as soon as possible. We will make a statement once our investigation is complete.”

It is also believed that Omiya may have acted in similar fashion when reporting other attendance figures and will go under investigation by the league.