Iwate Grulla Morioka Explained

Clubname:Iwate Grulla Morioka
いわてグルージャ盛岡
Upright:0.6
Fullname:Iwate Grulla Morioka
Nickname:Tsuru (The Cranes)
Stadium:Iwagin Stadium
Morioka, Iwate
Capacity:4,938
Chairman:Yutaka Akita
Manager:Takuya Jinno
Website:http://grulla-morioka.jp/
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is a Japanese association football club based in Morioka, capital of Iwate Prefecture. They currently play in J3 League, the Japanese third tier of professional football.

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, the team was organized by alumni of Morioka Commercial High School and Morioka Chuo High School in 2000.

In 2003, a nonprofit organization was founded, and the team was reorganized and changed their name to Grulla Morioka (グルージャ盛岡) in February 2004 with the intention of achieving elevation to the J. League by 2008.

Under the new organization, 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 second division Tohoku Soccer League in 2004 and moved to the first division in 2005. In the same year, they won their first league championship, which was 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".[1] In 2021 they earned promotion to the J2 League as J3 runners-up and will make 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.

It 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. After just a season in the second division, the club was relegated back to the J3 with a bottom-league finish of 34 points won in 42 matches.

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

bgcolor=goldChampionsbgcolor=silverRunners-upThird placebgcolor=palegreenPromotedbgcolor=pinkRelegated
League J. League
Cup
Shakaijin
Cup
Season Division Tier Teams Pos. P W D L F A GD Pts Attendance\G
2003Tohoku League
Div. 2 North
5 64th 10 5 3 2 16 12 4 18 Not eligible
20046 bgcolor=gold1st 10 9 1 0 54 9 45 28
2005Tohoku League
Div. 1
4 7 bgcolor=gold1st 12 9 2 1 36 10 26 29
20068 bgcolor=silver2nd 14 11 0 3 32 18 14 30
20078 bgcolor=gold1st 14 13 0 1 65 14 5139
20088 bgcolor=gold1st 14 12 2 0 63 8 5538
20098 bgcolor=gold1st 14 11 3 0 59 15 4436
20108 bgcolor=gold1st 14 12 1 1 57 11 46 37
20117 bgcolor=silver2nd 12 8 3 1 35 15 20 27 2nd round
20127 bgcolor=silver2nd 12 10 0 2 48 5 43 30
201310 bgcolor=gold1st 18 16 1 1 95 10 85 49 bgcolor=silverRunner's up
20143 12 5th 33 12 9 12 34 25 9 45 1,522 Not eligible
201513 11th 36 11 8 17 36 47 −11 35 1,239 1st round
201616 13th 30 6 12 12 43 47 −4 30 1,182 3rd round
201717 15th 32 7 8 17 32 49 −17 29 1,337 2nd round
201817 13th 32 12 4 16 41 56 −15 40 1,216 1st round
201918 18th 34 75223663−2726 1,368 2nd round
2020 18 11th 34 11 9 14 36 47 -11 42 481 Did not qualify
202115 bgcolor=silver2nd 28 15 8 5 43 28 15 53 1,394 3rd round
2022J2 2 22 bgcolor=pink22nd 42 9 7 26 35 80 -45 34 3,087 3rd round
2023J33 20 10th 38 15 9 14 48 49 -1 54 1,254 2nd round
202420 TBA 38 2nd round
Key

Honours

Honour!scope=col
No.scope=colYears
In chronological order-->scope=rowTohoku League Div. 2 North12004
scope=rowTohoku League Div. 162005 (Shared with TDK), 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013

Current squad

.[2]

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 <--!colspan="5"Managerial Record-->
Start Finish P W D L W %-->
2003<--!-->
2004 2005-->
2006 2010-->
1 February 2012 31 January 2016-->
1 February 2016 31 December 2016-->
1 February 2017 31 January 2020-->
1 February 2020 31 January 2023-->
1 February 2023 19 September 2023-->
20 September 2023 7 May 2024-->
8 May 2024 current-->

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://grulla-morioka.jp/tab09_club/181204news_001/ Iwate Grulla Morioka
  2. Web site: PROFILE. 1 February 2023. ja. grulla-morioka.jp.