 | |||
| Full name | Iwate Grulla Morioka | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Tsuru (The Cranes) | ||
| Founded | 2003 | ||
| Stadium | Iwagin Stadium Morioka, Iwate | ||
| Capacity | 4,938 | ||
| Chairman | Yutaka Akita | ||
| Manager | Tetsuji Nakamikawa | ||
| League | J3 League | ||
| 2023 | J3 League, 10th of 20 | ||
| Website | Club website | ||
|
| |||
Iwate Grulla Morioka (いわてグルージャ盛岡, Iwate Gurūja Morioka) is a Japanese association football club based in Morioka, capital of Iwate Prefecture. They currently play in J3 League, the Japanese third tier of professional football.
"Grulla" is the Spanish word of "crane", which was used in the mon of Nanbu clan of former Morioka han and later became the local symbol of Morioka.
Initially known as Villanova Morioka (ヴィラノーバ盛岡, Viranōba Morioka), the team was organized by alumni of Morioka Commercial High School and Morioka Chuo High School in 2000.
In 2003, a nonprofit organization Association of Setting Up a J. League Team in Morioka (Jリーグチームを盛岡に作る会, J Rīgu chīmu wo Morioka ni tsukuru kai) was founded, and the team was reorganized and changed their name to Grulla Morioka (グルージャ盛岡) in February 2004 with the intention of achieving elevation to the J. League by 2008.
Under the new organization, former JEF United and Oita Trinita player Shinichi Muto was invited to coach and captain the team with the company of players from the defunct Villanova Morioka and from J2 league. They played their first match on May 9, 2004, and it could be seen as an introduction to the local press beforehand. They won the second division Tohoku Soccer League in 2004 and moved to the first division in 2005. In the same year, they won their first league championship, which was shared with TDK S.C.
In 2013 they won the Regional Promotion Series and were promoted directly to the newly formed J3 League, skipping the Japan Football League which became the new fourth tier.
From the 2019 season, the club has adopted the new name as "Iwate Grulla Morioka".[1] In 2021 they earned promotion to the J2 League as J3 runners-up and will make their debut in the second tier in 2022.
On 28 October 2022, Iwate Grulla Morioka acquired the J1 License, meaning that from the 2022 season, they can now be promoted to the J1 League if the club finishes in J2's Top 2.
It played in the inaugural season of J3 League in 2014 after winning the Tohoku Soccer League, one of the Japanese Regional Leagues, in 2013. Iwate played in the J3 until 2021, when was promoted to the J2 for the 2022 season. After just a season in the second division, the club was relegated back to the J3 with a bottom-league finish of 34 points won in 42 matches.
Iwate plays at (or have played) at three stadiums. Their main stadium is Iwagin Stadium, which has a capacity of 4,938.
The second stadium is the Kitakami Stadium, located in the city of Kitakami, Iwate, which has a capacity of 6,376.
They have played before at the Iwate Morioka Stadium.
| Champions | Runners-up | Third place | Promoted | Relegated |
| League | Emperor's Cup |
Shakaijin Cup | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Division | Tier | Teams | Pos. | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | Attendance\G | ||
| 2003 | Tohoku League Div. 2 North |
5 | 6 | 4th | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 16 | 12 | 4 | 18 | |||
| 2004 | 6 | 1st | 10 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 54 | 9 | 45 | 28 | |||||
| 2005 | Tohoku League Div. 1 |
4 | 7 | 1st | 12 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 36 | 10 | 26 | 29 | 1st round | ||
| 2006 | 8 | 2nd | 14 | 11 | 0 | 3 | 32 | 18 | 14 | 30 | |||||
| 2007 | 8 | 1st | 14 | 13 | 0 | 1 | 65 | 14 | 51 | 39 | |||||
| 2008 | 8 | 1st | 14 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 63 | 8 | 55 | 38 | 2nd round | ||||
| 2009 | 8 | 1st | 14 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 59 | 15 | 44 | 36 | 1st round | ||||
| 2010 | 8 | 1st | 14 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 57 | 11 | 46 | 37 | 2nd round | ||||
| 2011 | 7 | 2nd | 12 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 35 | 15 | 20 | 27 | 1st round | 2nd round | |||
| 2012 | 7 | 2nd | 12 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 48 | 5 | 43 | 30 | 1st round | ||||
| 2013 | 10 | 1st | 18 | 16 | 1 | 1 | 95 | 10 | 85 | 49 | 1st round | Runner's up | |||
| 2014 | J3 | 3 | 12 | 5th | 33 | 12 | 9 | 12 | 34 | 25 | 9 | 45 | 1,522 | 1st round | Not eligible |
| 2015 | 13 | 11th | 36 | 11 | 8 | 17 | 36 | 47 | −11 | 35 | 1,239 | 1st round | |||
| 2016 | 16 | 13th | 30 | 6 | 12 | 12 | 43 | 47 | −4 | 30 | 1,182 | 3rd round | |||
| 2017 | 17 | 15th | 32 | 7 | 8 | 17 | 32 | 49 | −17 | 29 | 1,337 | 2nd round | |||
| 2018 | 17 | 13th | 32 | 12 | 4 | 16 | 41 | 56 | −15 | 40 | 1,216 | 1st round | |||
| 2019 | 18 | 18th | 34 | 7 | 5 | 22 | 36 | 63 | −27 | 26 | 1,368 | 2nd round | |||
| 2020 † | 18 | 11th | 34 | 11 | 9 | 14 | 36 | 47 | -11 | 42 | 481 | Did not qualify | |||
| 2021 | 15 | 2nd | 28 | 15 | 8 | 5 | 43 | 28 | 15 | 53 | 1,394 | 3rd round | |||
| 2022 | J2 | 2 | 22 | 22nd | 42 | 9 | 7 | 26 | 35 | 80 | -45 | 34 | 3,087 | 3rd round | |
| 2023 | J3 | 3 | 20 | TBA | 38 | 15 | 9 | 14 | 48 | 49 | -1 | 54 | 1,254 | 2nd round | |
| 2024 | 20 | TBA | 38 | ||||||||||||
As of 17 August 2023[update].[2][3] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
|
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
For the 2023 season.
| Position | Staff |
|---|---|
| Chairman |  Yutaka Akita
|
| Manager | Tetsuji Nakamikawa
|
| First-Team Coach |  Kim Song-yong
|
| Goalkeeper Coach | Izumi Niinuma
|
| Physical Coach | Hirofumi Sakamoto
|
| Technical Coach | Kazuki Fukayama
|
| Team Doctor | Moritaka Maruyama Goro Tajima Ryunosuke Oikawa Shinya Oikawa Shuhei Kikuchi Yasutaka Oya Ko Tanifuji Hiroki Kaneko Shuntaro Wada
|
| Athletic Trainer | Tomoaki Mikiya
|
| Trainer | Nobuyuki Sasaki
|
| Physiotherapist | Kotaro Watanabe
|
| Interpreter | Sergio Iwasaki
|
| Competent | Hiroki Abe
|
| Side Affairs | Kazuki Oshima
|
| Manager | Nationality | Tenure | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start | Finish | ||
| Shinobu Yoshida | Japan |
2003 | |
| Shinichi Muto | Japan |
2004 | 2005 |
| Toru Yoshida | Japan |
2006 | 2010 |
| Naoki Naruo | Japan |
1 February 2012 | 31 January 2016 |
| Akihiko Kamikawa | Japan |
1 February 2016 | 31 December 2016 |
| Toshimi Kikuchi | Japan |
1 February 2017 | 31 January 2020 |
| Yutaka Akita | Japan |
1 February 2020 | 31 January 2023 |
| Yoshika Matsubara | Japan |
1 February 2023 | 19 September 2023 |
| Tetsuji Nakamikawa | Japan |
20 September 2023 | Current |
| Home Kits - 1st | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
          2015 |
     2016 |
     2017 |
    2018 |
    2019 |
   2020 |
    2021 |
     2022 |
   2023 - | |
| Away Kits - 2nd | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
     2015 |
     2016 |
     2017 |
    2018 |
    2019 |
    2020 |
     2021 |
     2022 |
  2023 - | |
| Sprcial Kits - 3rd | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
     2021 3rd - | ||||
