Honda FC

commonly known as is a Japanese professional football club based in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka. They currently play in the Japan Football League, the country's 4th tier of semi-professional league football.

History

The club was founded as Honda Motor, Honda works team in 1971. They were promoted to the Japan Soccer League Division 2 in 1975 and to the JSL Division 1 in 1981; the closest they came to the title was in 1985–86 and 1990–91 seasons, when they finished in third place. In 1991 they also made the finals of both the Japan Soccer League Cup and Konica Cup, but lost both times. They also made the Emperor's Cup semi-finals in 1990 and 1991. They stayed in the top flight until the conclusion of the league in 1992.

In the early 1990s, the club considered the possibilities of turning professional and participating in J. League. They sought the merger with their sister club Honda Motor Sayama F.C. and Urawa was chosen as a possible hometown. However, they failed to persuade the owner Honda Motor who insisted they should abide by their principle to concentrate on their core business of automobile manufacturing.

As a result of this decision, many players left the club. They played in the newly formed Japan Football League Division 1 in 1992 and finished 9th out of 10. They were relegated to Division 2 where they won the championship in 1993. The 2 divisions of the JFL were merged in 1994 and the club joined the league.

In 1996, they won the championship in the JFL. Around that time, the club made the second effort to be a professional club. They acquired associate membership in J. League under new name Acute Hamamatsu but the inadequate stadium and insufficient local support (the closest professional club is Júbilo Iwata, formerly part of Yamaha Motor Corporation), forced them to give it up. Iwata was a common derby foe in the JSL and their fixtures were known as Tenryu-side Derby (天竜川決戦).

In 1999, the JFL was reorganised as the new JFL. They have been playing in the league since its inception.

J's Gatekeeper

Honda F.C. does not intend to be promoted to the J. League due to the mandatory loss of corporate backing, although they have been always considered one of the JFL title contenders. They provide a big hurdle for those independent sides who wish to gain promotion. In order to achieve this goal, these teams need to finish in the top two in the league. Honda perennially occupying one of these spots makes their challenge even more difficult. Supporters of these clubs have dubbed Honda F.C. as J's Gatekeeper (the Gatekeeper of J. League) with respect and some resentment.

Honda F.C., having played in the old Japan Soccer League in the past but never contending for the title, has in 2007 given some J1 teams a run for their money in the Emperor's Cup, reaching the quarterfinals after disposing of former champions Kashiwa Reysol and top contenders Nagoya Grampus (their first quarterfinals since 1991). They were nevertheless defeated by J1 champions Kashima Antlers on 22 December. The 2008 cup did not go well for them, as they were eliminated by Sagan Tosu 4–0 in the third round, but they still won the JFL championship.

Stadium

File:MIYAKODA.jpg

Miyakoda Soccer Stadium

The club's home arena is the Honda Miyakoda Soccer Stadium located in Hamana-ku, Hamamatsu. It is owned by Honda Motor Company. The stadium was redeveloped in 1996. This reconstruction included the building of a new mobile platform (1,000 seats) and corner floodlights. The stadium now holds 4,000 spectators.

League & cup record

Champions

Runners-up

Third place

Promoted

Relegated

League													League Cup	Emperor's Cup
Season	Division	Tier	Teams	Pos.	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1971	Western Shizuoka			1st									–	Did not qualify
1972	Shizuoka			1st
1973	Tōkai	-	8	1st	14	12	1	1	48	13	35	25		3rd round
1974			10	1st	13	9	3	1	53	11	42	21		2nd round
1975	JSL Div.2	2	10	4th	18	10	2	6	33	29	4	22		Did not qualify
1976			10	4th	18	6	9	3	25	17	8	21	Quarter final	1st round
1977			10	7th	18	8	0	10	25	24	1	29	Semi final	2nd round
1978			10	1st	18	14	0	4	39	9	30	57	Quarter final	2nd round
1979			10	4th	18	11	0	7	31	25	6	44	2nd round	2nd round
1980			10	1st	18	13	2	3	43	17	26	28	2nd round	2nd round
1981	JSL Div.1	1	10	6th	18	5	4	9	23	28	-5	14	2nd round	2nd round
1982			10	9th	18	4	6	8	17	29	-12	14	Quarter final	1st round
1983			10	8th	18	4	6	8	17	23	-6	14	Quarter final	Quarter final
1984			10	5th	18	7	5	6	26	23	3	19	Semi final	Quarter final
1985–86			12	3rd	22	8	12	2	30	20	10	28	Semi final	2nd round
1986–87			12	9th	22	6	8	8	20	24	-4	20	Semi final	Quarter final
1987–88			12	8th	22	6	8	8	19	22	-3	20	Semi final	Quarter final
1988–89			12	9th	22	7	6	9	20	23	-3	27	2nd round	Quarter final
1989–90			12	6th	22	10	2	10	32	29	3	22	2nd round	2nd round
1990–91			12	3rd	22	10	8	4	29	21	8	38	Semi final	Semi-final
1991–92			12	10th	22	5	8	9	18	25	-7	23	Final	Semi-final
1992	JFL (former) Div.1		10	9th	18	4	4	10	19	36	-17	16	–	2nd round
1993	JFL (former) Div.2	3	10	1st	18	15	-	3	62	21	41	-		Did not qualify
1994	JFL (former)	2	16	9th	30	12	-	18	49	62	-13	-
1995			16	7th	30	16	-	14	58	42	16	49		1st round
1996			16	1st	30	25	-	5	83	3	48	75		3rd round
1997			16	4th	30	23	-	7	60	37	23	65		3rd round
1998			16	5th	30	19	-	11	57	45	12	54		4th round
1999	JFL	3	9	2nd	24	18	1	5	69	34	35	50		3rd round
2000			12	2nd	22	17	0	5	51	29	22	49		3rd round
2001			16	1st	30	22	5	3	74	19	55	71		3rd round
2002			18	1st	17	13	2	2	39	14	25	41		3rd round
2003			16	2nd	30	21	4	5	73	30	43	67		3rd round
2004			16	2nd	30	19	5	6	64	36	28	62		4th round
2005			16	5th	30	17	5	8	59	37	22	56		4th round
2006			18	1st	34	26	5	3	77	36	41	83		4th round
2007			18	5th	34	16	10	8	61	42	19	58		Quarter final
2008			18	1st	34	22	8	4	80	33	47	74		3rd round
2009			18	7th	34	13	12	9	49	38	11	51		2nd round
2010			18	4th	34	18	5	11	52	43	9	59		2nd round
2011			18	6th	34	15	7	11	40	36	4	52		Did not qualify
2012			17	5th	32	16	5	11	55	39	16	53
2013			18	5th	34	14	11	9	54	38	16	53
2014		4	14	1st	26	16	5	5	58	28	30	53
2015			16	3rd	30	21	5	4	73	22	51	68
2016			16	1st	30	18	7	5	52	29	23	61		Round of 16
2017			16	1st	30	21	7	2	72	20	52	70		2nd round
2018			16	1st	30	25	4	1	76	25	51	79		2nd round
2019			16	1st	30	19	6	5	59	30	29	63		Quarter final
2020			16	4th	15	5	7	3	20	12	8	22		Quarter final
2021			17	2nd	32	20	5	5	69	25	44	67		3rd round
2022			16	3rd	30	16	8	6	47	23	24	56		2nd round
2023			15	1st	28	14	8	5	48	25	23	50		2nd round
2024			16	7th	30	11	10	9	34	27	7	43		2nd round
2025			16	TBD	30									1st 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
• Source: JFL, Honda FC website

Honours

Honda FC honours

Honour	No.	Years
All Japan Senior Football Championship	2	1974, 1999
Japan Soccer League Division 2	2	1978, 1980
Japan Football League (former) Division 2	1	1993
Japan Football League (former)	1	1996
Japan Football League	10	2001, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2023

Current squad

As of 4 April 2024. 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	Template:Fba/core	Yuta Aoki (captain)
2	DF	Template:Fba/core	Daiki Ikematsu
3	DF	Template:Fba/core	Masafumi Miura
4	DF	Template:Fba/core	Yuta Hachinohe
5	MF	Template:Fba/core	Yuya Suzuki
6	MF	Template:Fba/core	Ryusei Kusakari
7	MF	Template:Fba/core	Kazuki Matsumoto
8	MF	Template:Fba/core	Toshiki Sasaki
9	FW	Template:Fba/core	Reon Kodama
10	MF	Template:Fba/core	Yuya Tomita
11	DF	Template:Fba/core	Hayato Kawabata
13	FW	Template:Fba/core	Yuki Okazaki
14	FW	Template:Fba/core	Riku Suzuki

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
15	DF	Template:Fba/core	Yusuke Kishida
16	DF	Template:Fba/core	Tappei Kawanami
17	MF	Template:Fba/core	Fumiya Matsuoka
18	FW	Template:Fba/core	Yumenosuke Shoji
19	MF	Template:Fba/core	Kenshin Iwakiri
20	GK	Template:Fba/core	Raisei Ono
21	GK	Template:Fba/core	Yuki Kusumoto
22	DF	Template:Fba/core	Koshiro Chibana
23	MF	Template:Fba/core	Kosuke Shimizu
24	DF	Template:Fba/core	Go Nakashima
25	DF	Template:Fba/core	Daichi Miwa
26	MF	Template:Fba/core	Takaya Hirakawa

Coaching staff

Position	Staff
Manager	Template:Flagicon Hidekazu Kobayashi
Assistant Manager	Template:Flagicon Takahiro Tsuchiya Template:Flagicon Shota Itokazu
Goalkeeper coach	Template:Flagicon Moto Nakamura
Physical coach	Template:Flagicon Shoji Takagi
Analyst	Template:Flagicon Tatsuya Furuhashi
Trainer	Template:Flagicon Masataka Oba Template:Flagicon Tomoya Oba
Manager	Template:Flagicon Shunsei Mashiyama

Managerial history

Manager	Nationality	Tenure
		Start	Finish
Katsuyoshi Kuwabara		1 February 1973	31 January 1983
Masakatsu Miyamoto		1 February 1983	30 June 1990
Masataka Imai		1 July 1990	31 December 1992
Kazuaki Nagasawa		1 February 1997	31 January 1998
Akiyoshi Ohashi		1 January 2000	31 December 2001
Takayoshi Amma		1 February 2002	31 January 2005
Hideo Yoshizawa		1 February 2005	31 December 2006
Masakazu Ishibashi		1 January 2007	31 December 2009
Takahiro Ōkubo		1 January 2010	31 December 2011
Yoshitaka Maeda		1 February 2012	31 January 2014
Hiroyasu Ibata		1 February 2014	31 January 2021
Hiroyuki Abe		1 February 2021	31 January 2023
Hidekazu Kobayashi		1 February 2023	31 January 2025
Shota Itokazu		1 February 2025	current

External links

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