 | |||
| Full name | Iwate Grulla Morioka | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | Tsuru (The Cranes) | ||
| Founded | 2003; 22 years ago (2003) | ||
| Stadium | Iwagin Stadium Morioka,Iwate | ||
| Capacity | 4,938 | ||
| Chairman | Yutaka Akita | ||
| Manager | Kei Hoshikawa | ||
| League | Japan Football League | ||
| 2025 | 9th of 16 | ||
| Website | grulla-morioka | ||
Iwate Grulla Morioka (いわてグルージャ盛岡,Iwate Gurūja Morioka) is a Japaneseassociation football club based inMorioka, capital ofIwate Prefecture. They play inJapan Football League from 2025, the Japanese fourth tier of semi-professional football after relegation fromJ3 League in 2024.
"Grulla" is the Spanish word of "crane", which was used in themon ofNanbu clan of formerMorioka han and later became the local symbol of Morioka.
Initially known asVillanova Morioka (ヴィラノーバ盛岡,Viranōba Morioka), the team was organised by alumni ofMorioka Commercial High School andMorioka Chuo High School in 2000.
In 2003, anonprofit organisationAssociation of Setting Up a J. League Team in Morioka (Jリーグチームを盛岡に作る会,J Rīgu chīmu wo Morioka ni tsukuru kai) was founded, and the team was reorganised and changed their name toGrulla Morioka (グルージャ盛岡) in February 2004 with the intention of achieving promotion to theJ. League by 2008.
Under the new organisation, formerJEF United andOita Trinita playerShinichi 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 theTohoku Soccer League second division in 2004 and therefore promotion to the first division for the 2005 season. In 2005 season, they won their first of six league championships, which they shared withTDK S.C.
In 2013 they won theRegional Promotion Series and were promoted directly to the newly formedJ3 League, skipping theJapan 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 theJ2 League as J3 runners-up and made 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.
The team played in the inaugural season ofJ3 League in 2014 after winning theTohoku Soccer League, one of theJapanese Regional Leagues, in 2013. Iwate played in the J3 until 2021, when was promoted to theJ2 for the 2022 season.
After just one season in the second division, the club were relegated back to the J3 after finishing in 22nd and last place in the league with a total of thirty-four points.
On 3 November 2024, Iwate finished in 20th and last place after drawing 1-1 againstZweigen Kanazawa playing away from home and possibility relegation to JFL for the first time in history from the 2025 season.[2][3] On 17 November, relegation to JFL was confirmed for Iwate afterTochigi City FC secured promotion automatically to J3 League for the first time in their history.[4][5]
Iwate plays at (or have played) at three stadiums. Their main stadium isIwagin Stadium, which has a capacity of 4,938.
The second stadium is theKitakami Stadium, located in the city ofKitakami, Iwate, which has a capacity of 6,376.
They have played before at theIwate Morioka Stadium.
| Champions | Runners-up | Third place | Promoted | Relegated |
| League | J. League Cup | Emperor's Cup | Shakaijin Cup | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Division | Tier | Teams | Pos. | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | Attendance\G | |||
| Grulla Morioka | ||||||||||||||||
| 2003 | Tohoku League Div. 2 North | 5 | 6 | 4th | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 16 | 12 | 4 | 18 | Not eligible | |||
| 2004 | 6 | 1st | 10 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 54 | 9 | 45 | 28 | ||||||
| 2005 | Tohoku League Div. 1 | 4 | 7 | 1st | 12 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 36 | 10 | 26 | 29 | 1st round | |||
| 2006 | 8 | 2nd | 14 | 11 | 0 | 3 | 32 | 18 | 14 | 30 | ||||||
| 2007 | 8 | 1st | 14 | 13 | 0 | 1 | 65 | 14 | 51 | 39 | ||||||
| 2008 | 8 | 1st | 14 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 63 | 8 | 55 | 38 | 2nd round | |||||
| 2009 | 8 | 1st | 14 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 59 | 15 | 44 | 36 | 1st round | |||||
| 2010 | 8 | 1st | 14 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 57 | 11 | 46 | 37 | 2nd round | |||||
| 2011 | 7 | 2nd | 12 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 35 | 15 | 20 | 27 | 1st round | 2nd round | ||||
| 2012 | 7 | 2nd | 12 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 48 | 5 | 43 | 30 | 1st round | |||||
| 2013 | 10 | 1st | 18 | 16 | 1 | 1 | 95 | 10 | 85 | 49 | 1st round | Runner's up | ||||
| 2014 | J3 | 3 | 12 | 5th | 33 | 12 | 9 | 12 | 34 | 25 | 9 | 45 | 1,522 | 1st round | Not eligible | |
| 2015 | 13 | 11th | 36 | 11 | 8 | 17 | 36 | 47 | −11 | 35 | 1,239 | 1st round | ||||
| 2016 | 16 | 13th | 30 | 6 | 12 | 12 | 43 | 47 | −4 | 30 | 1,182 | 3rd round | ||||
| 2017 | 17 | 15th | 32 | 7 | 8 | 17 | 32 | 49 | −17 | 29 | 1,337 | 2nd round | ||||
| 2018 | 17 | 13th | 32 | 12 | 4 | 16 | 41 | 56 | −15 | 40 | 1,216 | 1st round | ||||
| Iwate Grulla Morioka | ||||||||||||||||
| 2019 | J3 | 3 | 18 | 18th | 34 | 7 | 5 | 22 | 36 | 63 | −27 | 26 | 1,368 | Not eligible | 2nd round | Not eligible |
| 2020† | 18 | 11th | 34 | 11 | 9 | 14 | 36 | 47 | -11 | 42 | 481 | Did not qualify | ||||
| 2021 | 15 | 2nd | 28 | 15 | 8 | 5 | 43 | 28 | 15 | 53 | 1,394 | 3rd round | ||||
| 2022 | J2 | 2 | 22 | 22nd | 42 | 9 | 7 | 26 | 35 | 80 | -45 | 34 | 3,087 | 3rd round | ||
| 2023 | J3 | 3 | 20 | 10th | 38 | 15 | 9 | 14 | 48 | 49 | -1 | 54 | 1,254 | 2nd round | ||
| 2024 | 20 | 20th | 38 | 5 | 7 | 26 | 27 | 80 | -53 | 22 | 1,362 | 2nd round | 2nd round | |||
| 2025 | JFL | 4 | 16 | TBD | 30 | Not eligible | 2nd round | |||||||||
| Honour | No. | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Tohoku League Div. 2 North | 1 | 2004 |
| Iwate Prefectural Football Championship (Emperor's Cup Iwate Prefectural Qualifiers) | 17 | 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2023, 2024, 2025 |
| Tohoku League Div. 1 | 6 | 2005 (Shared with TDK),2007,2008,2009,2010,2013 |
| Regional Football Champions League | 1 | 2013 |
As of 7 July 2025[update].[6]Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
| Position | Staff |
|---|---|
| Chairman |  Yutaka Akita |
| Manager | Kei Hoshikawa |
| 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 |
| Manager | Nationality | Tenure | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start | Finish | ||
| Shinobu Yoshida | Japan | 2003 | |
| Shinichi Muto | Japan | 2004 | 2005 |
| Toru Yoshida | Japan | 2006 | 2010 |
| Naoki Naruo | Japan | 1 February 2012 | 31 January 2016 |
| Akihiko Kamikawa | Japan | 1 February 2016 | 31 December 2016 |
| Toshimi Kikuchi | Japan | 1 February 2017 | 31 January 2020 |
| Yutaka Akita | Japan | 1 February 2020 | 31 January 2023 |
| Yoshika Matsubara | Japan | 1 February 2023 | 19 September 2023 |
| Tetsuji Nakamikawa | Japan | 20 September 2023 | 7 May 2024 |
| Takuya Jinno | Japan | 8 May 2024 | 17 August 2024 |
| Kei Hoshikawa | Japan | 18 August 2024 | Current |
| Home Kits - 1st | ||||
          2015 |      2016 |      2017 |     2018 |     2019 |
   2020 |     2021 |      2022 |    2023 |   2024 |
     2025 - | ||||
| Away Kits - 2nd | ||||
     2015 |      2016 |      2017 |     2018 |     2019 |
    2020 |      2021 |      2022 |   2023 |   2024 |
     2025 - | ||||
| Special Kits - 3rd | ||||
     2021 3rd |    2024 20th Anniversary | |||
