Sanfrecce Hiroshima trace their roots to 1938 with the founding of Toyo Industries Football Club, the works team of the Toyo Industries (now Mazda) corporation in Hiroshima. The club joined Japan's first nationwide league in 1965 and rebranded as Sanfrecce Hiroshima in 1992 to align with the J.League launch. The name "Sanfrecce" combines the Japanese number "san" (three) with the Italian "frecce" (arrows), referencing the legendary three arrows of Mōri Motonari — a 16th-century warlord whose lesson "three arrows together cannot be broken" symbolises unity. The club has played at the new Edion Peace Wing Hiroshima since 2024.
The Toyo Industries era of the 1960s saw the club win the inaugural Japan Soccer League title in 1965-66, a foundational achievement in Japanese football. After the J.League launched, Sanfrecce had to wait until the 2010s for their breakthrough — three J1 League titles in a four-year span (2012, 2013, 2015) under manager Hajime Moriyasu (later Japan national team coach). The championship squad featured Hisato Sato as the talismanic striker, Toshihiro Aoyama as midfield orchestrator, and Tomoaki Makino at the back. Sato's prolific goalscoring made him one of the J.League's most beloved figures.
Sanfrecce's culture of producing technically gifted Japanese players continues to this day. Tomoaki Makino, Hayato Sumino, Tsukasa Shiotani, Yuya Asano, Kosei Tani, and Hayao Kawabe have all worn the violet and red. The 2022 J.League Cup victory and the relocation to the modern Edion Peace Wing Hiroshima — built within the city's symbolic peace-themed urban design — mark a new chapter for one of Japan's most storied football clubs.