Iwate Grulla Morioka

Iwate Grulla Morioka
いわてグルージャ盛岡

Full name	Iwate Grulla Morioka
Nickname(s)	Tsuru (The Cranes)
Founded	2003 (2003)
Stadium	Iwagin Stadium Morioka, Iwate
Capacity	4,938
Chairman	Yutaka Akita
Manager	Kei Hoshikawa
League	J3 League
2023	J3 League, 10th of 20
Website	http://grulla-morioka.jp/
Home colours Away colours

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 set to play in Japan Football League from 2025, the Japanese fourth tier of semi-professional football after relegation from J3 League in 2024.

Name origin

"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.

History

Initially known as Villanova Morioka (ヴィラノーバ盛岡, Viranōba Morioka), the team was organised by alumni of Morioka Commercial High School and Morioka Chuo High School in 2000.

In 2003, a nonprofit organisation 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 reorganised and changed their name to Grulla Morioka (グルージャ盛岡) in February 2004 with the intention of achieving promotion to the J. League by 2008.

Under the new organisation, 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 Tohoku Soccer League second division in 2004 and therefore promotion to the first division for the 2005 season. In 2005 season, they won their first of six league championships, which they 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". In 2021 they earned promotion to the J2 League as J3 runners-up and made 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.

The team 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.

Downfall to Third and Fourth tier in two years

After just one season in the second division, the club were relegated back to the J3 after finishing in 22nd and last place in the league with a total of thirty-four points.

On 3 November 2024, Iwate finished last position after draw 1-1 against Zweigen Kanazawa on away game and possibility relegation to JFL for the first time in history from 2025. On 17 November at same year, relegation to JFL was confirmed by Iwate after Tochigi City FC secure promotion automatic to J3 League for the first time in history.

Stadium

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.

League & cup record

Champions

Runners-up

Third place

Promoted

Relegated

League														J. League Cup	Emperor's Cup	Shakaijin Cup
Season	Division	Tier	Teams	Pos.	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts	Attendance\G
Grulla Morioka
2003	Tohoku League Div. 2 North	5	6	4th	10	5	3	2	16	12	4	18		Not eligible
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
Iwate Grulla Morioka
2019	J3	3	18	18th	34	7	5	22	36	63	−27	26	1,368	Not eligible	2nd round	Not eligible
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	10th	38	15	9	14	48	49	-1	54	1,254		2nd round
2024			20	20th	38									2nd round	2nd round
2025	JFL	4	16	TBD	30									Not eligible

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 season attendance reduced by COVID-19 worldwide pandemic
• Source: J.League Data Site

Honours

Iwate Grulla Morioka Honours

Honour	No.	Years
Tohoku League Div. 2 North	1	2004
Tohoku League Div. 1	6	2005 (Shared with TDK), 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013
Regional Football Champions League	1	2013

Current squad

As of 7 August 2024. Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	JPN	Takuo Okubo
3	DF	JPN	Ryo Saito
4	DF	JPN	Daisuke Fukagawa
5	DF	JPN	Maaya Sako (on loan from Tokyo Verdy)
6	DF	JPN	Shunki Takahashi
7	FW	JPN	Shumpei Fukahori
8	MF	JPN	Tsubasa Yuge
9	FW	JPN	Ken Tokura
10	MF	NGA	Kenneth Otabor
11	MF	JPN	Sota Kiri
13	MF	JPN	Daiki Kogure
14	MF	JPN	Koki Matsubara
15	MF	JPN	Toi Kagami
16	DF	PRK	Ryu Se-gun
17	MF	JPN	Ryo Niizato
18	DF	JPN	Tsuyoshi Miyaichi
19	FW	JPN	Miyu Sato
20	MF	JPN	Shota Shimogami

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
21	GK	JPN	Agashi Inaba
22	DF	JPN	Daigo Nishi
23	FW	JPN	Koki Toyoda (on loan from Nagoya Grampus)
25	DF	JPN	Yuzuki Yamato (on loan from Ventforet Kofu)
27	DF	JPN	Kaio Yabunaka
29	MF	JPN	Koki Mizuno
30	MF	JPN	Shuto Adachi (on loan from Vissel Kobe)
31	GK	KOR	Kim Sung-kon
32	FW	JPN	Mamoru Kamisasanuki
33	DF	KOR	Lee Byung-chan
44	DF	JPN	Eiru Aratama
45	FW	JPN	Hayata Mizuno (on loan from Ventforet Kofu)
46	MF	JPN	Atsutaka Nakamura
51	DF	JPN	Kota Fukatsu
77	MF	JPN	Kanta Komatsu
88	GK	KOR	Kim Jae-young
—	MF	JPN	Shusei Yamauchi (on loan from FC Ryukyu)

Club staff

Position	Staff
Chairman	Yutaka Akita
Manager	Takuya Jinno
Assistant managers	Tetsuji Nakamikawa Kim Song-yong
First-team coach and Technical coach	Kazuki Fukayama
Goalkeeper coach	Izumi Niinuma
Physical coach	Yusuke Hoshigami
Trainer	Nobuyuki Sasaki Yuji Hanzawa Takuya Miyagawa
Physiotherapist	Kotaro Watanabe
Competent	Kazuki Oshima
Side affairs	Yuto Sugawara
Team doctor	Moritaka Maruyama Goro Tajima Ryunosuke Oikawa Shinya Oikawa Yasutaka Oya Ko Tanifuji Hiroki Kaneko Shuntaro Wada Yusuke Chiba Masanori Matsuura
Sports pharmacist	Ikumi Sugiyama

Managerial history

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	7 May 2024
Takuya Jinno	Japan	8 May 2024	current

Kit evolution

Home Kits - 1st
2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
2020	2021	2022	2023	2024 -

Away Kits - 2nd
2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
2020	2021	2022	2023	2024 -

Sprcial Kits - 3rd
2021 3rd -

External links

• Grulla Morioka official site (in Japanese)
• GO！GO！GRULLA, a supporting TV program produced by Iwate Menkoi Television (in Japanese)
• グルージャまったり日記, fan site (in Japanese)