 | |||
| Full name | Ehime Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Short name | Ehime | ||
| Founded | 1970; 55 years ago (1970) | ||
| Stadium | Ningineer Stadium Matsuyama, Ehime | ||
| Capacity | 20,919 | ||
| Chairman | Fumio Kamei | ||
| Manager | Kiyotaka Ishimaru | ||
| League | J2 League | ||
| 2024 | J2 League, 17th of 20 | ||
| Website | ehimefc | ||
 Current season | |||
Ehime Football Club (愛媛フットボールクラブ,Ehime Futtobōrukurabu) commonly known asEhime FC (愛媛FC,Ehime Efu Shī) is a professionalfootball club based inMatsuyama, the capital city ofEhime Prefecture of Japan. The club currently compete inJ2 League, the second tier of Japanese professional football. They returned toJ2 League in 2024, following promotion as third-tier league champions of 2023.
The club was founded in 1970 as Matsuyama Soccer Club and renamed itself as Ehime Football Club in 1995.[1] For many years it competed in the regional and prefectural league, as Matsuyama was represented in theJapan Soccer League by thelocal club belonging to theTeijin company.
Ehime F.C. was promoted to theJapan Football League in 2003. After winning theJFL in 2005 season, Ehime spent 16 seasons in theJ2 League before being relegated to theJ3 League at the end of the 2021 season.
On 28 November 2007, Ehime pulled off a major shock by consigning theUrawa Red Diamonds, theAFC Champions League 2007 winners, to a fourth-round exit from theEmperor's Cup courtesy of a 2–0 win on Urawa's home soil,Urawa Komaba Stadium.[2]
On 11 November 2023, after two years absence from Japanese second division, Ehime FC officially returned to J2 League for 2024 season.[3] They were promoted as J3 League champions of2023 season with a narrow 1–0 win against their local rivals,FC Imabari on the matchweek 35, withRiki Matsuda scored the only goal of the match.[4][5]
The club plays its home games at Ningineer Stadium in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture. The stadium, which is owned by Ehime Prefecture, has a capacity of 20,919 spectators.[6] The sports facility is operated and managed by the Ehime Prefectural Sports Promotion Corporation as the designated manager.
| Champions | Runners-up | Third place | Promoted | Relegated |
| League | J. League Cup | Emperor's Cup | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Div. | Teams | Pos. | P | W | D | L | G | A | GD | Pts | Attendance/G | ||
| 2006 | J2 | 13 | 9th | 48 | 14 | 11 | 23 | 51 | 63 | −13 | 53 | 4,139 | Not eligible | 4th round |
| 2007 | 13 | 10th | 48 | 12 | 9 | 27 | 39 | 66 | −27 | 45 | 3,317 | Quarter-final | ||
| 2008 | 15 | 14th | 42 | 9 | 10 | 23 | 39 | 66 | −27 | 37 | 3,704 | 4th round | ||
| 2009 | 18 | 15th | 51 | 12 | 11 | 28 | 54 | 80 | −26 | 47 | 3,694 | 2nd round | ||
| 2010 | 19 | 11th | 36 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 34 | 34 | 0 | 48 | 4,386 | 2nd round | ||
| 2011 | 20 | 15th | 38 | 10 | 14 | 14 | 44 | 54 | −10 | 44 | 3,475 | 4th round | ||
| 2012 | 22 | 16th | 42 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 47 | 46 | 1 | 50 | 3,629 | 2nd round | ||
| 2013 | 22 | 17th | 42 | 12 | 11 | 19 | 43 | 52 | −9 | 47 | 3,950 | 2nd round | ||
| 2014 | 22 | 19th | 42 | 12 | 12 | 18 | 54 | 58 | −4 | 48 | 3,820 | 4th round | ||
| 2015 | 22 | 5th | 42 | 19 | 8 | 15 | 47 | 39 | 8 | 65 | 3,771 | 3rd round | ||
| 2016 | 22 | 10th | 42 | 12 | 20 | 10 | 41 | 40 | 1 | 56 | 4,089 | 3rd round | ||
| 2017 | 22 | 15th | 42 | 14 | 9 | 19 | 54 | 68 | −14 | 51 | 3,866 | 3rd round | ||
| 2018 | 22 | 18th | 42 | 12 | 12 | 18 | 34 | 52 | −18 | 48 | 3,161 | 2nd round | ||
| 2019 | 22 | 19th | 42 | 12 | 6 | 24 | 46 | 62 | −16 | 42 | 3,780 | 2nd round | ||
| 2020† | 22 | 21st | 42 | 8 | 10 | 24 | 38 | 68 | −30 | 34 | 1,512 | Did not qualify | ||
| 2021† | 22 | 20th | 42 | 7 | 14 | 21 | 38 | 67 | −29 | 35 | 1,854 | 1st round | ||
| 2022 | J3 | 18 | 7th | 34 | 14 | 10 | 10 | 51 | 41 | 10 | 52 | 2,938 | Did not qualify | |
| 2023 | 20 | 1st | 38 | 21 | 10 | 7 | 59 | 48 | 11 | 73 | 3,674 | |||
| 2024 | J2 | 20 | 17th | 38 | 10 | 10 | 18 | 41 | 69 | −28 | 40 | 4,721 | First round | Round of 16 |
| 2025 | 20 | TBA | 38 | |||||||||||
| Honour | No. | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Shikoku Football League | 3 | 1998,1999,2000 |
| Japan Football League | 1 | 2005 |
| J3 League | 1 | 2023 |
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.
|
|
Club officials for 2025[10]
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Manager |  Kiyotaka Ishimaru |
| Assistant managers | Shinya Aono Kazuhisa Kawahara Ong Byung-hun |
| Goalkeeper coach | Keisuke Hada |
| Physical coach | Takehisa Tsugawa |
| Analytical coach | Toya Takemoto |
| Interpreter | Yohei Murayama Wongthawat Kuntarakornkiti |
| Chief trainer | Haruhiko Tsukada |
| Physiotherapist | Yukinari Miyamoto |
| Conditioning coach | Hiroshi Maezuru |
| Chief doctor | Kazuki Morizane |
| Doctor | Takashi Inoue Yoshito Homma Shinji Iwata Tomofumi Kinoshita Koji Yamashita |
| Competent | Hideki Ikenaga |
| Deputy Officers | Manato Fujitsu Taichi Zen |
| Mental advisor | Konomi Kimura |
| Home kit – 1st | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
         2006 |      2007 |      2008 |     2009 |     2010 |
   2011 |     2012 |     2013 |     2014 |     2015 |
    2016 |      2017 |      2018 |      2019 |      2020 |
     2021 |      2022 |      2023 |      2024 |      2025 - |
| Away kit – 2nd | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
    2006 |      2007 |     2008 |      2009 |     2010 |
    2011 |     2012 |     2013 |      2014 |     2015 |
    2016 |      2017 |      2018 |      2019 |      2020 |
     2021 |     2022 |      2023 |      2024 |      2025 - |
| Manager | Nationality | Tenure | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start | Finish | ||
| Takashi Onishi | Japan | 1 February 2001 | 31 January 2005 |
| Kazuhito Mochizuki | Japan | 1 February 2005 | 14 September 2009 |
| Ivica Barbarić |  Bosnia | 15 September 2009 | 15 November 2012 |
| Kiyotaka Ishimaru | Japan | 1 February 2013 | 31 January 2015 |
| Takashi Kiyama | Japan | 1 February 2015 | 31 January 2017 |
| Shuichi Mase | Japan | 1 February 2017 | 15 May 2018 |
| Kenta Kawai | Japan | 15 May 2018 | 31 January 2021 |
| Shigenari Izumi | Japan | 1 February 2021 | 4 April 2021[11] |
| Noritada Saneyoshi | Japan | 7 April 2021 | 16 December 2021[12] |
| Kiyotaka Ishimaru | Japan | 17 December 2021[13] | |
