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, Japan. They play in the J3 League, the third tier of Japanese professional football.
 | |||
| Full name | Gifu Football Club Co., Ltd. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2001 | ||
| Ground | Gifu Nagaragawa Stadium Gifu, Gifu Prefecture | ||
| Capacity | 26,109 | ||
| Chairman | Hiroyuki Miyata | ||
| Manager | Yusaku Ueno | ||
| League | J3 League | ||
| 2023 | J3 League, 8th of 20 | ||
| Website | Club website | ||
 Nagaragawa Sports Plaza houses the headquarters |
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.
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 December 3, 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 and narrowly avoiding relegation until 2019 when they finished last in the league and were relegated to J. League Division 3.
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 | ||
| 2007 | JFL | 18 | 3rd | 34 | 17 | 9 | 8 | 45 | 31 | 14 | 60 | 3,529 | Not eligible | 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 | 3rd 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 | TBD | 38 | 1st round | 2nd round | |||||||||
- 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
| Honour | No. | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Gifu Prefecture Division 1 | 2 | 2002, 2003 |
| Tokai Division 1 | 1 | 2006 |
Current squad
As of 5 April 2024.[4][5]Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | GK |  JPN | Shotaro Hayashi |
| 21 | MF | JPN | Takuya Aoki |
| 22 | MF |  PRK | Mun In-ju |
| 23 | DF | JPN | Kodai Hagino |
| 24 | FW | JPN | Shohei Aihara |
| 26 | DF | JPN | Ippei Hada |
| 27 | FW | JPN | Tomoya Yokoyama |
| 29 | DF | JPN | Riku Nozawa (on loan from Ventforet Kofu) |
| 30 | MF | JPN | Kowa Yonaha |
| 31 | GK | JPN | Tomoki Ueda |
| 38 | MF | JPN | Takayuki Arakaki (on loan from Montedio Yamagata) |
| 39 | DF | JPN | Genichi Endo |
| 40 | MF | JPN | Ryu Kawakami |
| 50 | GK | JPN | Daiki Goto |
| 99 | FW |  KOR | Lee Yong-jae |
Out on loan
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
|---|---|---|---|
| — | FW | JPN | Tsubasa Kusumoto (at Veertien Mie) |
Coaching staff
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Manager | Yusaku Ueno |
| Assistant manager | Kenichi Amano |
| First-team coach | Yusuke Noda Takuya Honda Yuki Yoshimura |
| Goalkeeper coach | Teppei Uesugi |
| Conditioning coach | Shuichi Yoshimura |
| Conditioning advisor | Nobuyuki Nozaki |
| Doctor | Atsushi Yamaga |
| Trainer | Hitoshi Suzuki Yudai Kato Yuki Hirano |
| Competent | Kotaro Sakaguchi |
| Side affairs | Hideaki Nobuta |
Managerial history
| Manager | Nationality | From | To | P | W | D | L | W % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tetsuya Totsuka | Japan | 1 February 2006 | 31 January 2007 | |||||
| Hideki Matsunaga | Japan | 1 February 2007 | 31 January 2010 | 111 | 33 | 32 | 46 | 29.73 |
| Yasuharu Kurata | Japan | 1 January 2010 | 31 December 2010 | 36 | 13 | 6 | 17 | 36.11 |
| Takahiro Kimura | Japan | 1 February 2011 | 31 January 2012 | 38 | 6 | 6 | 26 | 15.79 |
| Kōji Gyōtoku | Japan | 1 January 2012 | 18 August 2013 | 71 | 13 | 20 | 38 | 18.31 |
| Keiju Karashima[6] | Japan | 18 August 2013 | 31 January 2014 | 13 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 23.08 |
| Ruy Ramos[7] | Japan | 1 February 2014 | 22 July 2016 | 108 | 32 | 20 | 56 | 29.63 |
| Megumu Yoshida | Japan | 22 July 2016 | 31 January 2017 | 18 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 27.78 |
| Takeshi Ōki[8] | Japan | 1 February 2017 | 17 June 2019 | 102 | 25 | 25 | 52 | 24.51 |
| Makoto Kitano | Japan | 18 June 2019 | 31 January 2020 | |||||
| Zdravko Zemunović |  Serbia | 1 February 2020 | 20 September 2020 | |||||
| Kenji Nakada | Japan | 21 September 2020 | 31 January 2021 | |||||
| Takayoshi Amma | Japan | 1 February 2021 | 31 January 2022 | |||||
| Toshiya Miura | Japan | 1 February 2022 | 5 May 2022 | |||||
| Yuji Yokoyama | Japan | 6 May 2022 | 10 November 2022 | |||||
| Yusaku Ueno | Japan | 1 February 2023 | present |
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
External links
- Official website
(in Japanese)
