Mito HollyHock

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Mito HollyHock
水戸ホーリーホック
Full nameFootball Club Mito HollyHock Ibaraki
NicknamesHollyHock, FC Mito, Mitochan
Founded1994; 31 years ago (1994)
StadiumK's denki Stadium Mito
Mito, Ibaraki
Capacity12,000
ChairmanKunio Numata
ManagerNaoki Mori
LeagueJ1 League
2025J2 League, 1st of 20 (champions, promoted)
Websitewww.mito-hollyhock.net
Current season

Mito HollyHock (水戸ホーリーホック, Mito Hōrīhokku) is a Japanese professional football (soccer) club located in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture. The team will compete in the J1 League for the first time in the club's history after clinching the 2025 J2 League title.

Name origin

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Its nickname "HollyHock" derives from the family crest of the Tokugawa clan who governed from Mito in the Edo period.

History

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The club was founded in 1990 as Prima Aseno FC by the factory workers of Prima Ham (a food company) in Tsuchiura. It changed its name to Prima Ham FC Tsuchiura and gained promotion to the Japan Football League after finishing as runner-up in the 1996 Regional League play-off. It merged with FC Mito (founded in 1994) and re-branded itself as Mito HollyHock before the start of the 1997 season when Prima Ham decided to discontinue its financial support to the club.

Mito's application to play in the inaugural 1999 season of J. League Division 2 was initially turned down due to financial unstability, and low home attendance at their stadium. However, after finishing 3rd in the Japan Football League in 1999, and having an increasing stadium attendance, the club was invited into the J. League in 2000. Following a close campaign in the 2025 season, Mito were promoted to the J1 League for the first time, after a 2−0 victory against Oita Trinita.

Mito HollyHock also fields teams in e-sports and in Ice Hockey[1] (Ibaraki Prefectural League).

League and cup record

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Champions Runners-up Third place Promoted Relegated
League J. League
Cup		 Emperor's
Cup
Season Div. Teams Pos. P W (OTW / PKW) D L (OTL / PKL) F A GD Pts Attendance/G
1997 Old JFL 16 16th 30 3 (1) - 26 24 69 −45 10 Not eligible 2nd round
1998 16 14th 30 7 (1) - 22 37 69 −32 23 3rd round
1999 New JFL 9 3rd 24 13 (3) 0 8 (0) 48 32 16 45 891 3rd round
2000 J2 10 9th 40 9 (6) 4 19 (2) 37 61 −24 43 2,021 1st round 3rd round
2001 12 11th 44 5 (3) 4 26 (6) 41 93 −52 25 1,559 1st round 3rd round
2002 12 10th 44 11 7 26 45 73 −28 40 2,739 Not eligible 3rd round
2003 12 7th 44 15 11 18 37 41 −4 56 3,085 3rd round
2004 12 9th 44 6 19 19 33 60 −27 37 3,773 4th round
2005 12 10th 44 13 13 18 41 57 −16 52 3,334 4th round
2006 13 10th 48 14 9 25 48 69 −21 51 3,017 3rd round
2007 13 12th 48 8 10 30 32 70 −38 34 2,415 4th round
2008 15 11th 42 13 8 21 52 70 −18 47 3,044 4th round
2009 18 8th 51 21 10 20 70 79 −9 73 2,673 2nd round
2010 19 16th 36 8 14 14 29 45 −16 38 3,608 3rd round
2011 20 17th 38 11 9 18 40 49 −9 42 3,349 4th round
2012 22 13th 42 15 11 16 47 49 −2 56 3,973 3rd round
2013 22 15th 42 14 13 15 50 58 −8 55 4,630 3rd round
2014 22 15th 42 12 14 16 46 46 0 50 4,734 3rd round
2015 22 19th 42 10 16 16 40 47 −7 46 4,816 4th round
2016 22 13th 42 10 18 14 45 49 −4 48 5,365 2nd round
2017 22 14th 42 14 12 16 45 48 −3 54 4,931 2nd round
2018 22 10th 42 16 9 17 48 46 2 57 4,938 3rd round
2019 22 7th 42 19 13 10 56 37 19 70 6,087 3rd round
2020† 22 9th 42 16 10 16 68 62 6 58 2,018 Did not qualify
2021† 22 10th 42 16 11 15 59 50 9 59 2,696 2nd round
2022 22 13th 42 14 12 16 47 46 −1 54 3,140 2nd round
2023 22 17th 42 11 14 17 49 66 −17 47 3,726 3rd round
2024 20 15th 38 11 11 16 39 51 −12 44 4,406 1st round 3rd round
2025 20 1st 38 20 10 8 55 34 21 70 6,005 2nd round 1st round
2026–27 J1 20 TBA 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

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Mito HollyHock honours
Honour No. Years Notes
Ibaraki Prefecture Division 1 2 1992, 1993 as Prima Ham Football Club
Ibaraki Prefecture Division 4 H Block 1 1994 as FC Mito
Ibaraki Prefecture Division 3 H Block 1 1995 as FC Mito
Kantō Soccer League 1 1995 as Prima Ham Football Club
Shakaijin Cup 1 1995 as Prima Ham Football Club
J2 League 1 2025

Current squad

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As of 12 September 2025.[2] 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
2 DF  JPN Sho Omori
3 DF  JPN Koshi Osaki
4 DF  JPN Takeshi Ushizawa
5 DF  JPN Tetsuya Chinen (on loan from Vegalta Sendai)
6 DF  JPN Takahiro Iida
7 FW  JPN Arata Watanabe
8 MF  JPN Shunsuke Saito
9 FW  JPN Mizuki Ando
13 FW  JPN Shohei Aihara
15 MF  JPN Yuto Nagao
16 MF  JPN Koki Tsukagawa (on loan from FC Tokyo)
19 DF  JPN Koichi Murata
20 FW  JPN Kaito Umeda
21 GK  JPN Shuhei Matsubara
22 FW  JPN Seiichiro Kubo
24 MF  JPN Kiichi Yamazaki
25 FW  JPN Keisuke Tada
27 DF  JPN Sora Okita
No. Pos. Nation Player
28 MF  JPN Kota Saga DSP
34 GK  JPN Konosuke Nishikawa
36 DF  JPN Kenta Itakura
37 GK  JPN Minato Kamiyama Type 2
39 MF  JPN Hayata Yamamoto
40 MF  JPN Shunta Morimura
44 FW  JPN Koya Okuda
47 MF  JPN Taishi Semba (on loan from Sanfrecce Hiroshima)
51 GK  JPN Ryusei Haruna
70 MF  JPN Mizuki Arai
71 DF  JPN Malick Fofana
76 FW  JPN Ryo Nemoto
77 GK  JPN Uwabright Hayakawa
87 FW  JPN Kishin Gokita DSP
89 DF  JPN Kirato Sasaki DSP
97 DF  JPN Travis Takahashi
99 MF  JPN Chihiro Kato

Out on loan

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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
10 DF  JPN Ryosuke Maeda (at Ehime FC)
11 FW  JPN Yuki Kusano (at Renofa Yamaguchi)
14 MF  JPN Fumiya Sugiura (at Vanraure Hachinohe)
18 DF  JPN Yuhi Ono (at Yokogawa Musashino)
31 GK  JPN Kenta Matsuyama (at Urawa Red Diamonds)
32 MF  JPN Asuma Ikari (at Hannover 96 II)
35 DF  JPN Ryoya Iizumi (at Blaublitz Akita)
No. Pos. Nation Player
41 MF  JPN Ryusei Nose (at FC Osaka)
49 FW  JPN Yusei Uchida (at Kochi United)
82 MF  JPN Kotatsu Kawakami (at Matsumoto Yamaga)
— DF  JPN Kazuma Nagai (at Blaublitz Akita)
— MF  JPN Yota Tanabe (at Kochi United)
— FW  JPN Soki Tokuno (at Tiamo Hirakata)

Club officials

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Position Name
Manager Japan Naoki Mori
Assistant manager Japan Yoshitaka Yasuda
Japan Daisuke Kimori
Analyst & First-team coach Japan Ryosuke Sato
Development coach Japan Naoki Mori
Goalkeeper coach Japan Takahiro Kono
Analyst Japan Tsukasa Takahashi
Physical coach Japan Yuki Nakamura
Chief trainer Japan Tatsuya Doi
Trainer Japan Takahiro Yamada
Physiotherapist Japan Toru Yaguchi
Equipment manager Japan Shunki Iwata
Japan Yoshifumi Yoshida
Competent Japan Hiromitsu Nonaka

Managerial history

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Manager Nationality Tenure
Start Finish
Gert Engels  Germany 1 July 1990 30 January 1993
Yuji Nakano  Japan 1 January 1992 31 December 1997
Toshiya Miura  Japan 1 February 1998 31 January 1999
Branko Babić  Serbia 1 January 2000 31 December 2000
Hiroshi Kobayashi  Japan 1 February 2001 16. July 2001
Masaaki Kanno  Japan 17 July 2001 31 January 2003
Hideki Maeda  Japan 1 January 2003 31 December 2007
Takashi Kiyama  Japan 1 February 2008 31 January 2011
Tetsuji Hashiratani  Japan 1 February 2011 7 June 2015
Takayuki Nishigaya  Japan 27 June 2015 31 January 2018
Shigetoshi Hasebe  Japan 1 February 2018 31 January 2020
Tadahiro Akiba  Japan 1 February 2020 31 January 2023
Yoshimi Hamasaki[3]  Japan 1 February 2023 4 May 2024[4]
Naoki Mori  Japan 9 May 2024 current

Kit evolution

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Home Jersey
2000 - 2002
2003 - 2004
2005
2006 - 2007
2008 - 2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021 -
2022
2023
2024
2025 -
Away Jersey
2000 - 2002
2003 - 2005
2006 - 2007
2008 - 2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025 -

Images from the former home stadium

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  • Home side goal seat section
    Home side goal seat section
  • Home side A seat section, with supporters
    Home side A seat section, with supporters
  • Mito vs. Sapporo, 18 November 2006
    Mito vs. Sapporo, 18 November 2006

References

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  1. ^ "水戸ホーリーホックアイスホッケー部". Archived from the original on 2022-07-11. Retrieved 2022-07-05.
  2. ^ "トップチーム選手名鑑". 水戸ホーリーホック公式サイト. 14 August 2020. Archived from the original on 2 April 2022. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  3. ^ "濱崎芳己ヘッドコーチ 監督就任のお知らせ". mito-hollyhock.net (in Japanese). Mito HollyHock. 27 October 2022. Archived from the original on 27 October 2022. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  4. ^ "濱崎芳己監督 解任のお知らせ". mito-hollyhock.net (in Japanese). Mito HollyHock. 4 May 2024. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
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