| Nickname | Nara | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1991; 34 years ago (1991) | ||
| Stadium | Rohto Field Nara,Nara[1] | ||
| Capacity | 30,600 | ||
| Coordinates | 34°41′54″N135°49′45″E / 34.69833°N 135.82917°E /34.69833; 135.82917 | ||
| Owner | BG Sports (14.98%) | ||
| Chairman | Mitsuru Hamada[2] | ||
| Manager | Michiharu Otagiri | ||
| League | J3 League | ||
| 2024 | J3 League, 17th of 20 | ||
| Website | naraclub | ||
Nara Club (奈良クラブ,Nara Kurabu) is a Japanesefootball (soccer) club based in theNara city, capital ofNara Prefecture. They currently play inJ3 League, the third tier professional in theJapanese football.
The club was originally established in Nara in1991 under the nameTonan Club (都南クラブ,Tonan Kurabu) and it became a member of the Football Association of Nara. The club went up to the top division in 1997.
It was renamed to its current name in 2008, and was promoted to the regional league in 2009. In 2014, they won theRegional League promotion series, earning promotion to theJapan Football League, where they played from 2015 to 2022.
On 5 November 2022, Nara was promoted to theJ3 League for the first time in their history, after beatingVeertien Mie in a narrow 1–0 win, with Sotaro Yamamoto scoring the winning goal in the 86th minute, to confirm their early access to the J3, a few rounds before the end of the season. TheNara-based club was promoted after eight consecutive seasons in theJFL. 15 days later at the same month, Nara secured their first JFL title, after drawing 1–1 withSony Sendai at the last round of the competition. A ten-goal difference in Nara's favor them and FC Osaka was the determining factor that gave Nara the league title.
On 24 October 2023, Nara Club announcement officially granted J2 License after approval of Club Licensing Board.[3]
Starting in 2024, the club partnered with BG Group from theKingdom of Thailand as one of their shirt sponsors and Thai players Patrick Gustavssonn andKiadtiphon Udom joined from BG Pathum United FC, which is owned by BG.[4] On January 24, 2025, it was announced that a capital alliance would be formed with BG Group, which will acquire and hold 14.98% of the shares for approximately 92 million yen.[5][6]
Nara Club currently plays its home matches at theRohto Field Nara. The capacity is 30,600.
| Champions | Runners-up | Third place | Promoted | Relegated |
| League | Emperor's Cup | J.League Cup | Shakaijin Cup | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Division | Tier | Teams | Pos. | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |||
| Tonan Club | |||||||||||||||
| 1992 | Nara Pref. League Edu. | 11 | * | 3rd | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | Not eligible | * |
| 1993 | Nara Pref. League Div. 5 | 10 | 1st | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | ||||
| 1994 | Nara Pref. League Div. 4 | 8 | 1st | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | ||||
| 1995 | Nara Pref. League Div. 3 | 7 | 1st | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | ||||
| 1996 | Nara Pref. League Div. 2 | 6 | 1st | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | ||||
| 1997 | Nara Pref. League (Div. 1) | 5 | 6th | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | ||||
| 1998 | 4th | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | ||||||
| 1999 | 6 | 3rd | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | |||||
| 2000 | 2nd | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | ||||||
| 2001 | 1st | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | ||||||
| 2002 | 11 | 7th | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 14 | 14 | 0 | 12 | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | |||
| 2003 | 5th | 10 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 17 | 14 | 3 | 18 | ||||||
| 2004 | 1st | 10 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 25 | 8 | 17 | 25 | ||||||
| 2005[* 1] | 3rd | 10 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 25 | 11 | 14 | 19 | ||||||
| 2006[* 2] | 1st | 10 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 31 | 11 | 20 | 25 | ||||||
| 2007 | 12 | 3rd | 11 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 22 | 10 | 12 | 22 | |||||
| Nara Club | |||||||||||||||
| 2008 | Nara Pref. League (Div. 1) | 6 | 12 | 2nd | 11 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 39 | 9 | 30 | 27 | Did not qualify | Not eligible | 1st round |
| 2009 | Kansai Soccer League (Div. 2) | 5 | 8 | 1st | 14 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 47 | 18 | 29 | 30 | 2nd round | Did not qualify | |
| 2010 | Kansai Soccer League (Div. 1) | 4 | 4th | 14 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 36 | 24 | 12 | 24 | 1st round | |||
| 2011 | 1st | 14 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 42 | 13 | 29 | 35 | 1st round | |||||
| 2012 | 2nd | 14 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 28 | 11 | 17 | 29 | 2nd round | |||||
| 2013 | 5th | 14 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 22 | −11 | 14 | 2nd round | |||||
| 2014 | 5 | 1st | 14 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 30 | 11 | 19 | 33 | 3rd round | Quarter-finals | |||
| 2015 | JFL | 4 | 16 | 7th | 30 | 13 | 7 | 10 | 33 | 28 | 5 | 46 | 1st round | Not eligible | |
| 2016 | 10th | 30 | 11 | 7 | 12 | 41 | 48 | -7 | 37 | 1st round | |||||
| 2017 | 7th | 30 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 41 | 51 | -10 | 40 | 1st round | |||||
| 2018 | 8th | 30 | 12 | 6 | 12 | 33 | 32 | 1 | 42 | 2nd round | |||||
| 2019 | 14th | 30 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 27 | 32 | -5 | 34 | 1st round | |||||
| 2020 | 13th | 15 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 21 | 21 | 0 | 18 | 2nd round | |||||
| 2021 | 17 | 10th | 32 | 10 | 13 | 9 | 39 | 36 | 3 | 43 | Did not qualify | ||||
| 2022 | 16 | 1st | 30 | 16 | 11 | 3 | 48 | 25 | 23 | 59 | 1st round | ||||
| 2023 | J3 | 3 | 20 | 5th | 38 | 15 | 12 | 11 | 45 | 32 | 13 | 57 | 1st round | ||
| 2024 | 17th | 38 | 7 | 18 | 13 | 43 | 56 | -13 | 39 | 2nd round | 2nd round | ||||
| 2025 | TBD | 38 | 2nd round | 1st round | |||||||||||
| Honour | No. | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Nara Prefecture League Division 5 | 1 | 1993 |
| Nara Prefecture League Division 4 | 1 | 1994 |
| Nara Prefecture League Division 3 | 1 | 1995 |
| Nara Prefecture League Division 2 | 1 | 1996 |
| Nara Prefecture League Division 1 | 3 | 2001, 2004, 2006 |
| Kansai League Division 2 | 1 | 2009 |
| Nara Prefectural Football Championship (Emperor's Cup Prefectural Qualifiers) | 16 | 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 |
| Kansai League Division 1 | 2 | 2011, 2014 |
| KSL Cup | 2 | 2012, 2014 |
| Japan Football League | 1 | 2022 |
As of 18 August 2025[update].[9]Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
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 |
|---|---|
| Manager |  Michiharu Otagiri[10] |
| Assistant manager | Kenta Betsuki |
| Goalkeeper coach | Masatoshi Hayashi |
| Interpreter | Yosuke Fukuda |
| Analyst and side affairs | Kazuki Fujiwara |
| Chief trainer | Hiroshi Fujimoto |
| Chief trainer | Kazushi Matsumura |
| Manager | Nationality | Tenure | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start | Finish | ||
| Koji Yamaguchi | Japan | 1991 | 2009 |
| Ken'ichiro Fujimoto | Japan | 2010 | |
| Satoru Yoshida | Japan | 1 January 2011 | 31 December 2011 |
| Masashi Hachūda | Japan | 1 February 2012 | 3 January 2013 |
| Jiro Yabe | Japan | 3 July 2012 | 7 October 2013 |
| Jun Mizukoshi | Japan | 8 October 2013 | 31 January 2014 |
| Atsushi Nakamura | Japan | 1 February 2014 | 31 January 2017 |
| Norihiro Satsukawa | Japan | 12 February 2017 | 31 January 2019 |
| Koichi Sugiyama | Japan | 12 February 2019 | 31 January 2020 |
| Maiki Hayashi | Japan | 1 February 2020 | 31 January 2021 |
| Julián Marín Bazalo |  Spain | 1 February 2021 | 4 September 2024 |
| Ichizo Nakata | Japan | 4 September 2024 | 12 June 2025[11] |
| Michiharu Otagiri[12] | Japan | 12 June 2025 | present |
| Home kit - 1st | ||||
          2009 - 2010 |      2011 |      2012 |      2013 |      2014 |
     2015 |     2016 |      2017 |      2018 |      2019 |
     2020 |     2021 |   2022 |      2023 |      2024 |
     2025 - | ||||
| Away kit - 2nd | ||||
     2009 - 2010 |      2011 |      2012 |      2013 |      2014 |
     2015 |     2016 |      2017 |      2018 |      2019 |
     2020 |     2021 |    2022 |      2023 |      2024 |
     2025 - | ||||
| Others - 3rd | ||||
     2021 SP FP |      2022 SP FP |      2023 SP FP |      2024 SP FP |     2025 SP FP |
