FC Gifu

FC Gifu
FC岐阜
Full nameGifu Football Club Co., Ltd.
Founded2001; 24 years ago (2001)
GroundGifu Nagaragawa Stadium
Gifu, Gifu Prefecture
Capacity26,109
ChairmanHiroyuki Miyata
ManagerKenichi Amano
LeagueJ3 League
2024J3 League, 8th of 20
Websitehttp://www.fc-gifu.com/
Current season
Gifu Football Club Co., Ltd.

Football Club Gifu (フットボールクラブ岐阜, Futtobōrukurabu Gifu), abbreviated as FC Gifu (FC岐阜, Efu Shī Gifu)[1] is a Japanese football club based in Gifu, capital of Gifu Prefecture, Japan. They play in the J3 League, the third tier of Japanese professional football.

History

During the Japan Soccer League and former Japan Football League years, the city and prefecture of Gifu were represented by the Seino Transportation Co. (西濃運輸 Seinō Un'yu) works team, which was relegated from the old JFL for the last time in 1997 and folded shortly thereafter in January 1998.

The modern-day Gifu club was founded in 2001 (Seino's last manager Masayuki Katsuno was among the founders, and a former Seino player, Takashi Umeda, recently returned to town and joined the club following a decade-long stint with Oita Trinita). The club was promoted to the new Japan Football League in 2007 after beating Honda Lock S.C. in the promotion/relegation play-offs.

The team earned third place at the end of the 2007 season, meaning it qualified for promotion to J.League Division 2. On 3 December 2007, J. League approved a promotion for the team for the 2008 season.[2]

The club finished the 2012 season in 21st place, narrowly missing out on relegation to the Japan Football League.[3]

Between 2013 and 2018, the team has constantly been placed in the lower realms of J.League Division 2 (now renamed to J2 League) and narrowly avoiding relegation until 2019 when they finished last in the league and were relegated to J3 League. Since then the club has played in the J3 League.

Crest

The team's crest was designed to represent Gifu Prefecture. The top of the crest represents the mountain ranges of the northern part of the prefecture. The flowers are Chinese milk vetch, which are the prefectural flower. Each of the three lines represents one of the Kiso Three Rivers flowing through the prefecture. The banner at the base of the crest is the same as the symbol on the helmet of the victorious Tokugawa clan at the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600.

League & cup record

Champions Runners-up Third place Promoted Relegated
League J.League
Cup		 Emperor's
Cup
Season Div. Teams Pos. P W D L F A GD Pts Attendance/G
2001 GPD1 5 2nd 10 8 1 1 40 7 33 25 Not eligible Did not qualify
2002 5 1st 10 10 0 0 40 4 36 30 Did not qualify
2003 5 1st 10 10 0 0 34 4 30 30 Did not qualify
2004 JRL 8 3rd 14 8 0 6 22 21 1 24 Did not qualify
2005 8 2nd 14 8 5 1 26 7 19 29 Did not qualify
2006 8 1st 16 14 2 0 46 3 43 44 3rd round
2007 JFL 18 3rd 34 17 9 8 45 31 14 60 3,529 3rd round
2008 J2 15 13th 42 10 12 20 41 69 -28 42 3,745 4th round
2009 18 12th 51 16 14 21 62 72 -10 62 4,302 Quarter final
2010 19 14th 36 13 6 17 32 45 -13 45 3,108 2nd round
2011 20 20th 38 6 6 26 39 83 -44 24 4,120 2nd round
2012 22 21st 42 7 14 21 27 55 -28 35 4,270 2nd round
2013 22 21st 42 9 10 23 37 80 -43 37 4,525 2nd round
2014 22 17th 42 13 10 19 54 61 -7 49 7,584 2nd round
2015 22 20th 42 12 7 23 37 71 -34 43 6,179 2nd round
2016 22 20th 42 12 7 23 47 71 -24 43 5,662 1st round
2017 22 18th 42 11 13 18 56 68 -12 46 6,977 3rd round
2018 22 20th 42 11 9 22 44 62 -18 42 6,858 2nd round
2019 22 22nd 42 7 9 26 33 78 -45 30 6,692 2nd round
2020 † J3 18 6th 34 16 8 10 50 39 11 56 2,643 Did not qualify
2021 † 15 6th 28 12 5 11 38 35 3 41 3,505 1st round
2022 18 14th 34 10 7 17 43 53 -10 37 4,194 2nd round
2023 20 8th 38 14 12 12 44 35 9 54 4,733 3rd round
2024 20 8th 38 15 8 15 64 56 8 53 4,684 1st round 2nd round
2025 20 TBD 38 TBD TBD
Key
  • Pos. = Position in league; P = Games played; W = Games won; D = Games drawn; L = Games lost; F = Goals scored; A = Goals conceded; GD = Goals difference; Pts = Points gained
  • Attendance/G = Average home league attendance
  • † 2020 & 2021 seasons attendances reduced by COVID-19 worldwide pandemic
  • Source: J.League Data Site

Honours

FC Gifu Honours
Honour No. Years
Gifu Prefecture Division 1 2 2002, 2003
Tōkai Division 1 1 2006
Gifu Prefectural Football Championship
Emperor's Cup Shizuoka Prefectural Qualifiers 		6 2006, 2007, 2021,
2022, 2023, 2024

Current squad

As of 8 January 2025.[4][5] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK Japan JPN Shu Mogi
3 DF Japan JPN Riku Nozawa
4 DF Japan JPN Kentaro Kai
5 DF Japan JPN Ryoma Ishida
6 MF Japan JPN Sora Igawa
7 MF Japan JPN Jiro Nakamura (on loan from Gamba Osaka)
8 MF Japan JPN Daigo Araki
10 MF Japan JPN Ryoma Kita
11 FW Japan JPN Kai Sasaki
14 MF Japan JPN Yoshiatsu Oiji
15 MF Japan JPN Naoki Yamada
16 MF Japan JPN Ryo Nishitani (on loan from Tokyo Verdy)
17 FW Japan JPN Yuya Nagai
19 MF Japan JPN Ayumu Matsumoto
No. Pos. Nation Player
21 GK Japan JPN Sera Yamaguchi
22 MF North Korea PRK Mun In-ju
23 DF Japan JPN Kodai Hagino
24 FW Japan JPN Shohei Aihara
26 DF Japan JPN Shohei Ogushi
27 FW Japan JPN Tomoya Yokoyama
28 MF Japan JPN Tatsuya Hakozaki
31 GK Spain ESP Jon Ander Serantes
32 FW Japan JPN William Owie (on loan from Kashiwa Reysol)
33 DF South Korea KOR Kim Yu-geon
37 DF Japan JPN Shogo Terasaka (on loan from Vissel Kobe)
39 MF Japan JPN Jin Izumisawa
50 GK Japan JPN Daiki Goto
55 DF Japan JPN Ryo Toyama

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
— MF Japan JPN Kowa Yonaha (at Fukui United)

Coaching staff

Position Name
Manager Japan Kenichi Amano
First-team coach Japan Yusuke Noda
Japan Takuya Honda
Japan Yuki Yoshimura
Goalkeeper coach Japan Teppei Uesugi
Conditioning coach Japan Shuichi Yoshimura
Conditioning advisor Japan Nobuyuki Nozaki
Doctor Japan Atsushi Yamaga
Trainer Japan Hitoshi Suzuki
Japan Yudai Kato
Japan Yuki Hirano
Competent Japan Kotaro Sakaguchi
Side affairs Japan Hideaki Nobuta

Managerial history

Manager Nationality From To P W D L W %
Masayuki Katsuno  Japan 1 January 2001 31 January 2006 63 44 6 13 69.84
Tetsuya Totsuka  Japan 1 February 2006 21 June 2007 38 29 5 4 76.32
Hideki Matsunaga  Japan 21 June 2007 31 January 2010 120 39 32 49 032.50
Yasuharu Kurata  Japan 1 February 2010 31 January 2011 36 13 6 17 036.11
Takahiro Kimura  Japan 1 February 2011 31 January 2012 38 6 6 26 015.79
Kōji Gyōtoku  Japan 1 February 2012 18 August 2013 71 13 20 38 018.31
Keiju Karashima[6]  Japan 18 August 2013 31 January 2014 13 3 4 6 023.08
Ruy Ramos[7]  Japan 1 February 2014 22 July 2016 108 32 20 56 029.63
Megumu Yoshida  Japan 22 July 2016 31 January 2017 18 5 4 9 027.78
Takeshi Ōki[8]  Japan 1 February 2017 17 June 2019 102 25 25 52 024.51
Makoto Kitano  Japan 18 June 2019 31 January 2020 25 4 6 15 16.00
Zdravko Zemunović  Serbia 1 February 2020 20 September 2020 15 7 4 4 46.67
Kenji Nakada  Japan 21 September 2020 31 January 2021 19 9 4 6 47.37
Takayoshi Amma  Japan 1 February 2021 31 January 2022 29 12 5 12 41.38
Toshiya Miura  Japan 1 February 2022 5 May 2022 7 2 1 4 28.57
Yuji Yokoyama  Japan 6 May 2022 30 November 2022 29 9 6 14 31.34
Yusaku Ueno  Japan 1 December 2022 27 June 2024 62 24 17 21 38.71
Kenichi Amano  Japan 28 June 2024 2 December 2024 20 8 3 9 47.50

Kit evolution

Home
2007
2008 - 2009
2010 - 2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024 -
Away
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024 -

Other teams

They also run as a reserve team FC Gifu Second, which currently plays in the Tōkai Adult League Division 2. They have played in the Emperor's Cup and Shakaijin Cup in the past.

References

  1. ^ "Club profile". FC Gifu. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
  2. ^ "Ｊリーグ.jp（日本プロサッカーリーグ）：Ｊリーグ.jp". Archived from the original on 10 September 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  3. ^ "FC Gifu club information". 29 December 2012. Archived from the original on 26 July 2017. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  4. ^ "【レポート】2025 新体制・新加入選手記者会見". fc-gifu.com (in Japanese). FC Gifu. 9 January 2025. Retrieved 15 January 2025.
  5. ^ "Players". Retrieved 4 February 2022.
  6. ^ J.League Data Site (in Japanese)
  7. ^ "Official statistics J League". data.j-league.or.jp. J League. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  8. ^ "Official J League Statistics". data.j-league.or.jp. J League. Retrieved 12 February 2023.