Before the 1998 season, the club invited the former manager of the Japan national football team, Hans OOFT, as manager, and in addition to that, acquired experienced former members of the Japan national football team in succession, such as Hajime MORIYASU, Teruo IWAMOTO, Takahiro YAMADA and Hisashi KUROSAKI, and this became a topic at the time.
1998年のシーズン前、元日本代表監督のハンス・オフトを監督に迎え、さらには森保一、岩本輝雄、山田隆裕、黒崎久志といった日本代表経験者を次々と獲得し話題となった。