| Clubname: | Azul Claro Numazu アスルクラロ沼津 |
| Upright: | 0.6 |
| Fullname: | Football Club Azul Claro Numazu |
| Short Name: | AZN |
| Founded: | as Numazu Arsenal SC |
| Ground: | Shizuoka Ashitaka Athletic Stadium Numazu, Shizuoka |
| Capacity: | 10,000 |
| Owntitle: | Managing Organisation |
| Owner: | Azul Claro Suruga Corporation (NPO) |
| Chairman: | Takehiro Takashima |
| Manager: | Masashi Nakayama |
| Website: | http://www.azul-claro.jp/ |
| Pattern La1: | _Azul claro Numazu 2024 HOME FP |
| Pattern B1: | _Azul claro Numazu 2024 HOME FP |
| Pattern Ra1: | _Azul claro Numazu 2024 HOME FP |
| Pattern Sh1: | _Azul claro Numazu 2024 HOME FP |
| Pattern So1: | _Azul claro Numazu 2024 HOME FP |
| Pattern La2: | _Azul claro Numazu 2024 AWAY FP |
| Pattern B2: | _Azul claro Numazu 2024 AWAY FP |
| Pattern Ra2: | _Azul claro Numazu 2024 AWAY FP |
| Pattern Sh2: | _Azul claro Numazu 2024 AWAY FP |
| Pattern So2: | _Azul claro Numazu 2024 AWAY FP |
is a Japanese professional football team based in Numazu, Shizuoka Prefecture. They currently play in J3 League, the Japanese third tier of professional football.
Azul Claro Numazu was established in 1977 as Numazu Arsenal and slowly progressed through the tiers of Shizuoka prefectural leagues. In 2006 the club began the process of transformation into a professional organisation with the ultimate goal of joining the J.League. The same year the club adopted its current name, Azul Claro (Meaning "light blue" in Portuguese and Spanish).
In 2012 Azul Claro won promotion to Tōkai Adult Soccer League and quickly progressed through its ranks, spending only a season in each of its divisions. Though they have finished only fourth in 2013 Tōkai League, they were considered as serious contenders for admission to the newly created J3 League. On September 17, 2013, the club has been granted the J. League Associate Membership and passed all stages of licensing and inspection by the league. However, they were only the 3rd choice club for the only Regional League spot in J3 so eventually, they had to give way to Iwate Grulla Morioka. The club has won the promotion anyway though—they were selected by the Japan Football League board as one of the teams to play in the 2014 season.
After a 3rd-place finish in the 2016 season, they've been welcomed to play professional football from 2017 and onward, as they'll be the 14th original club in the J3 League.[1]
On 24 October 2023, Azul Claro Numazu announced that the club was officially granted a J2 license after a decision by the J.League's Club Licensing Board.[2]
| bgcolor=gold | Champions | bgcolor=silver | Runners-up | Third place | bgcolor=palegreen | Promoted | bgcolor=pink | Relegated |
| League | Emperor's Cup | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Division | Tier | Pos. | P | W | L | D | F | A | GD | Pts | Attendance/G | ||
| Numazu Arsenal | ||||||||||||||
| 2004 | Shizuoka Prefectural League (Div. 2) | 7 | 4th | 11 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 33 | 24 | 9 | 18 | - | Not eligible | Did not qualify |
| 2005 | bgcolor=gold | 1st | 11 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 54 | 26 | 28 | 29 | - | |||
| Azul Claro Numazu | ||||||||||||||
| 2006 | Shizuoka Prefectural League (Div. 1) | 6 | 9th | 11 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 14 | 25 | -11 | 11 | - | Not eligible | Did not qualify |
| 2007 | 11th | 11 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 11 | 27 | -16 | 10 | - | ||||
| 2008[3] | 8th | 11 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 20 | 27 | -7 | 10 | - | ||||
| 2009[4] | bgcolor=silver | 2nd | 11 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 32 | 30 | 2 | 20 | - | |||
| 2010[5] | 3rd | 11 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 27 | 18 | 9 | 21 | - | ||||
| 2011[6] | bgcolor=palegreen | 2nd | 11 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 50 | 23 | 27 | 27 | - | |||
| 2012 | Tokai Football League (Div. 2) | 5 | bgcolor=palegreen | 2nd | 14 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 22 | 15 | 7 | 26 | - | |
| 2013 | Tokai Football League (Div. 1) | 4 | bgcolor=palegreen | 4th | 14 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 20 | 21 | –1 | 25 | - | |
| 2014 | 8th | 26 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 26 | 35 | –9 | 32 | 1,777 | ||||
| 2015 | 5th | 30 | 16 | 6 | 8 | 36 | 28 | 8 | 54 | 2,198 | ||||
| 2016 | bgcolor=palegreen | 3rd | 30 | 18 | 5 | 7 | 47 | 24 | 23 | 59 | 2,332 | |||
| 2017 | 3 | 3rd | 32 | 16 | 11 | 5 | 60 | 27 | 33 | 59 | 3,029 | 3rd round | ||
| 2018 | 4th | 32 | 14 | 10 | 8 | 40 | 29 | 11 | 52 | 2,857 | Did not qualify | |||
| 2019 | 12th | 34 | 11 | 6 | 17 | 35 | 43 | –8 | 39 | 2,470 | ||||
| 2020 † | 12th | 34 | 12 | 5 | 17 | 36 | 40 | –4 | 41 | 925 | ||||
| 2021 † | 14th | 28 | 7 | 6 | 15 | 32 | 44 | –12 | 27 | 1,482 | ||||
| 2022 | 15th | 34 | 8 | 7 | 19 | 27 | 46 | -19 | 31 | 1,684 | ||||
| 2023 | 13th | 38 | 15 | 6 | 17 | 48 | 48 | 0 | 51 | 1,961 | 1st round | |||
| 2024 | TBA | 38 | 1st round | |||||||||||
| No. | scope=col | Years | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| scope=row | Shizuoka Prefectural League (Div. 2) | 1 | 2005 |
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Manager |  Masashi Nakayama |
| Assistant manager | Hideto Suzuki |
| First-team coach | Daiki Tajiri |
| Transition coach | Keita Goto |
| Coach and interpreter |  Landow Takai |
| Goalkeeper coach | Yukio Takeda |
| Physical coach | Yoshiki Hirano |
| Doctor | Shunsuke Mukoyama |
| Trainer | Takuya Kawasaki Kentaro Taki Takashi Tanaka |
| Manager | Daiki Ito |
| Manager | Nationality | Tenure < | --!colspan="5" | Managerial Record--> | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start | Finish | --> | |||
| Japan | 1 February 2014 | 31 January 2015 | --> | ||
| Japan | 1 February 2015 | 31 January 2020 | --> | ||
| Japan | 1 February 2020 | 23 August 2022 | --> | ||
| Japan | 24 August 2022 | 31 January 2023 | --> | ||
| Japan | 1 February 2023 | current | --> | ||
| Season(s) | Main Shirt Sponsor | Collarbone Sponsor | Additional Sponsor(s) | Kit Manufacturer | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | SURUGA bank | – | – | – | – | NNH | – | Puma |
| 2014 | USUi | MEIDEN | 雄大 | |||||
| 2015 | USUi | SURUGA Bank | – | MEIDEN | ||||
| 2016 | MEIDEN | – | ||||||
| 2017 | ||||||||
| 2018 | Kawata Construction (Left) | Kawata Construction (Right) | ||||||
| 2019 | ||||||||
| 2020 | MEIDEN (Left) | MEIDEN (Right) | Kawata Construction | |||||