Giravanz Kitakyushu
Template:Short description Template:Short descriptionScript error: No such module "Infobox".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Script error: No such module "Nihongo". is a Japanese football club based in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture. They currently play in J3 League, Japanese third tier of professional league football.
History
Mitsubishi Chemical SC (1947–2000)
The club was formed in 1947 as part of Mitsubishi Chemical's Kurosaki factory. The club was a founding member of Kyushu regional league since 1973. Most of its career was spent in the regional and prefectural leagues, as Kitakyushu was represented in the Japan Soccer League by Yahata Steel F.C. Yahata was a founding member of the JSL in 1965, and finished as runner-up in its first two seasons in that league. Yahata was renamed New Nippon Steel F.C. in 1970, when Yahata Steel merged with Fuji Steel to form (New) Nippon Steel. It ultimately was relegated to the Second Division in 1982, then relegated from the Second Division to Kyushu regional league after 1990–91 season, and closed in 1999.
New Wave Kitakyushu (2001–2009)
In 2001, the club became a community-oriented club (New Wave) Kitakyushu F.C.
In 2007 New Wave took second place in the Regional League promotion series, and was promoted to the JFL for the 2008 season.
The club applied for J. League Associate Membership in January 2008, and the application was accepted at the J. League board meeting on February 19, 2008.
On 1 April 2009, the club made an announcement that they would be accepting suggestions for a new name. This was because the name "New Wave" may cause trademark or tradename disputes.[1] Therefore, the new name had to be something not yet registered as a trademark.
Giravanz Kitakyushu (2010–present)
On 2 October 2009, they announced that the new club name for the 2010 season would be Script error: No such module "Nihongo".. According to the official news release, the name "Giravanz" is coined from two Italian words: "Girasole", which means "sunflower", and "Avanzare", which means "moving forward".[2] (The sunflower is one of Kitakyushu's symbol flowers.)
On 23 November 2009, after a 2–1 win away against Arte Takasaki, Kitakyushu secured a top four position in the JFL for the 2009 season. They played in J. League Division 2 from 2010-2016.[3][4][5]
In its inaugural year in the pro ranks, despite attaining a large number of draw matches, Kitakyushu set new records for fewest wins and points in the season standings. After coming in last in the 2018 J3 League season, they named Shinji Kobayashi as the new manager and Sports Director. In 2019, Kobayashi led a turnaround; the club became league champions and were promoted to the 2020 J2 League. They finished 5th in 2020. At the end of the 2021 season, they were relegated to the J3 League, becoming the first J.League club relegated to the J3 League a second time. They finished 13th in 2022, and finished last in 2023. The 2023 season was the first J3 season to have relegation to the JFL, but Kitakyushu avoided it because both Honda FC and Briobecca Urayasu, the respective champions and runners-up of the JFL that season, did not have the necessary license for promotion. In 2024, Kitakyushu finished seventh, missing qualification to the playoffs by two points. The 2025 J3 season was the last season played on a calendar year format.
Stadium
Giravanz played in the Honjo Athletic Stadium from 2010 until 2016.
Giravanz moved to the Mikuni World Stadium Kitakyushu, for the 2017 season.
League and cup record
| Champions | Runners-up | Third place | Promoted | Relegated |
| League | J. League Cup | Emperor's Cup | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Div. | Tier | Teams | Pos. | P | W (PKW) | D | L (PKL) | F | A | GD | Pts | Attendance/G | ||
| New Wave Kitakyushu | |||||||||||||||
| 2003 | Kyushu Soccer League |
4 | 12 | 4th | 22 | 12 (1) | - | 5 (4) | 65 | 46 | 19 | 42 | - | Not eligible | – |
| 2004 | 10 | 6th | 18 | 9 (0) | - | 8 (1) | 41 | 39 | 2 | 28 | - | Did not qualify | |||
| 2005 | 10 | 6th | 18 | 10 (0) | - | 5 (3) | 51 | 30 | 21 | 33 | - | ||||
| 2006 | 9 | 3rd | 16 | 11 (1) | - | 3 (1) | 45 | 23 | 22 | 36 | - | ||||
| 2007 | 11 | 1st | 20 | 17 (1) | - | 1 (1) | 53 | 7 | 46 | 54 | - | ||||
| 2008 | JFL | 3 | 18 | 10th | 34 | 13 | 10 | 11 | 49 | 48 | 1 | 49 | 1,149 | 3rd round | |
| 2009 | 18 | 4th | 34 | 16 | 10 | 8 | 49 | 31 | 18 | 58 | 3,411 | 1st round | |||
| Giravanz Kitakyushu | |||||||||||||||
| 2010 | J2 | 2 | 19 | 19th | 36 | 1 | 12 | 28 | 20 | 65 | -45 | 15 | 4,189 | Not eligible | 3rd round |
| 2011 | 20 | 8th | 38 | 16 | 10 | 12 | 45 | 46 | -1 | 58 | 4,051 | 3rd round | |||
| 2012 | 22 | 9th | 42 | 19 | 7 | 16 | 53 | 47 | 6 | 64 | 3,346 | 2nd round | |||
| 2013 | 22 | 16th | 42 | 13 | 10 | 19 | 50 | 60 | -10 | 49 | 3,175 | 3rd round | |||
| 2014 | 22 | 5th | 42 | 18 | 11 | 13 | 50 | 50 | 0 | 65 | 3,622 | Quarter finals | |||
| 2015 | 22 | 7th | 42 | 18 | 5 | 19 | 59 | 58 | 1 | 59 | 3,488 | 2nd round | |||
| 2016 | 22 | 22nd | 42 | 8 | 14 | 20 | 43 | 64 | -21 | 38 | 3,224 | 2nd round | |||
| 2017 | J3 | 3 | 17 | 9th | 32 | 13 | 7 | 12 | 44 | 37 | 7 | 46 | 5,939 | 2nd round | |
| 2018 | 17 | 17th | 32 | 6 | 9 | 17 | 22 | 42 | -20 | 27 | 4,501 | Did not qualify | |||
| 2019 | 18 | 1st | 34 | 19 | 9 | 6 | 51 | 27 | 24 | 66 | 6,049 | 2nd round | |||
| 2020 † | J2 | 2 | 22 | 5th | 42 | 19 | 8 | 15 | 59 | 51 | 8 | 65 | 3,352 | Did not qualify | |
| 2021 † | 22 | 21st | 42 | 7 | 14 | 21 | 35 | 66 | -31 | 35 | 2,974 | 2nd round | |||
| 2022 | J3 | 3 | 18 | 13th | 34 | 11 | 7 | 16 | 41 | 45 | -4 | 40 | 3,613 | 1st round | |
| 2023 | 20 | 20th | 38 | 7 | 10 | 21 | 33 | 45 | -12 | 31 | 3,857 | 2nd round | |||
| 2024 | 20 | 7th | 38 | 15 | 11 | 12 | 41 | 39 | 2 | 56 | 4,649 | 2nd round | 2nd round | ||
| 2025 | 20 | TBD | 38 | 2nd round | TBD | ||||||||||
- Key
Honours
| Honour | No. | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Kyushu Soccer League | 8 | 1973, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1989, 2007 |
| Fukuoka Prefectural Football Championship Emperor's Cup Fukuoka Prefectural Qualifiers |
5 | 2017, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024 |
| J3 League | 1 | 2019 |
Players
Current squad
As of 23 June 2025.[6]
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Out on loan
<templatestyles src="Template:Football squad player/styles.css" /> Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
|
Coaching staff
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Manager | Template:Flagicon Kohei Masumoto |
| Assistant manager | Template:Flagicon Norichika Kanemura |
| First-team coach | Template:Flagicon Yusuke Sudo |
| Goalkeeper coach | Template:Flagicon Shuto Yoshikawa |
| Physical coach | Template:Flagicon Gakuya Tatsuta |
| Trainer | Template:Flagicon Tatsuya Murakoshi Template:Flagicon Shinichi Todake Template:Flagicon Yuji Nakamura |
| Side managers | Template:Flagicon Tetsuya Tsuda Template:Flagicon Riku Namihira |
Managerial history
| Manager | Nationality | Tenure | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start | Finish | ||
| Yoshinori Sembiki | Script error: No such module "flag". | 1 February 2005 | 31 January 2007 |
| George Yonashiro | Script error: No such module "flag". | 1 February 2007 | 31 January 2011 |
| Yasutoshi Miura | Script error: No such module "flag". | 1 February 2011 | 31 January 2013 |
| Kōichi Hashiratani | Script error: No such module "flag". | 1 February 2013 | 31 January 2017 |
| Takeo Harada | Script error: No such module "flag". | 1 February 2017 | 31 January 2018 |
| Hitoshi Morishita | Script error: No such module "flag". | 1 February 2018 | 17 June 2018 |
| Tetsuji Hashiratani | Script error: No such module "flag". | 20 June 2018 | 31 January 2019 |
| Shinji Kobayashi | Script error: No such module "flag". | 1 February 2019 | 31 January 2022 |
| Kenichi Amano | Script error: No such module "flag". | 1 February 2022 | 31 January 2023 |
| Kazuaki Tasaka | Script error: No such module "flag". | 1 February 2023 | 5 September 2023 |
| Shinji Kobayashi | Script error: No such module "flag". | 6 September 2023 | Current |
Colour, sponsors and manufacturers
| Season(s) | Main Shirt Sponsor | Collarbone Sponsor | Additional Sponsor(s) | Kit Manufacturer | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | TOTO | - | - | Yaskawa | - | Nafco | Zenrin | Penalty |
| 2021 | Yaskawa | WingArc1st | TOTO | Aso Group | ||||
| 2022 | WingArc1st | dejiren | ||||||
| 2023 | ||||||||
Kit evolution
| Home kit - 1st | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
2010 - 2012 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
2013 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
2014 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
2015 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
2016 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
2017 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
2018 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
2019 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
2020 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
2021 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
2022 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
2023 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
2024 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
2025 - Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | |
| Away kit - 2nd | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
2010 - 2012 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
2013 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
2014 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
2015 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
2016 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
2017 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
2018 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
2019 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
2020 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
2021 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
2022 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
2023 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
2024 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". |
2025 - Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | |
References
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
- ↑ Official website (Japanese only)Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "Nihongo". Script error: No such module "webarchive". New Wave Kitakyushu official website news release : dated 2 October 2009
- ↑ Official website (Japanese only) Script error: No such module "webarchive".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". J's Goal Website (Japanese only)
- ↑ http://www.tvq.co.jp/news/news.php?did=5162 Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
External links
- Script error: No such module "Official website".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Template:In lang
- Club organization and subsidiary teams Template:In lang
Template:Giravanz Kitakyushu Template:J.League Script error: No such module "Navbox with collapsible groups". Script error: No such module "Authority control".
- Pages with script errors
- Pages using football kit with incorrect pattern parameters
- Pages with broken file links
- Giravanz Kitakyushu
- Football clubs in Japan
- J.League clubs
- Sport in Kitakyushu
- Sports clubs and teams in Fukuoka Prefecture
- Association football clubs established in 2001
- 2001 establishments in Japan
- Japan Football League clubs
- Pages with too many expensive parser function calls