Kashima Antlers are often referred to by Japanese journalists as the "The Perrennial Winners" (常勝軍団), or more loosely translated "the team that always seems to win". The nickname is apt, though only since the start of the J.League era.

The Antlers organization can trace its history back to the formation of the Sumitomo Metal Industries club team, in 1947. However, it was a small and loosely organized company team until 1974, when it entered the second division of the Japan Soccer League (JSL), and relocated to Kashima, in Ibaraki Prefecture. The team's name is derived from the name of its home town - "Kashima" is Japanese for "deer island". The town is located on a sandy outcrop bordering the Pacific Ocean, and surrounded on almost all of the other three sides by tidal estuaries, the Tonegawa River, and Lake Kitaura. It is the site of Kashima Jinja, one of the most important Shinto Shrines in eastern Japan.

Antlers joined the J.League in 1992, as one of the League's founding members. Since the J.League's creation and introduction of professional Japanese football in 1993, Kashima have proved by far Japan's most successful club team, having won the J.League title a record eight times, the  League Cup (Nabisco/ Levain) six times and the Emperor's Cup on five occasions. Antlers also won their first Asian Champions League trophy in 2018.

Team Name:  Emblem Mascot Team Flag: Home Uniform   --   Away Uniform Management Corporation:   Kashima Antlers FC Co., Ltd. Established:   1 October 1991 President:   Shigeru Ibata Investors:   Funded by local government, local companies,Sumitomo Metal Industries, Ltd., and other members of the Sumitomo Metals family Address: 2887 Aou Higashiyama, Kamisu City, Ibaraki 314-0021 Hometown Area: Kashima City, Kamisu-machi, Hasaki-machi and Itako-City, Ibaraki Prefecture Home Stadium: Kashima Soccer Stadium (capacity:39,026) Joined J.League: 1992