Iwate Grulla Morioka

"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.

Initially known as Villanova Morioka (ヴィラノーバ盛岡, Viranōba Morioka), the team was organized by alumni of Morioka Commercial High School and Morioka Chuo High School in 2000.

In 2003, a nonprofit organization Association 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 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.

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.

Key

• Tohoku League Div. 2 North Champions
  • 2004
• Tohoku League Div. 1 Champions
  • 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013

As of 17 August 2023.[2][3] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  JPN Kenta Tanno 2 DF  JPN Tatsuya Tabira 4 DF  JPN Daisuke Fukagawa 5 DF  JPN Masakazu Tashiro 7 FW  JPN Masashi Wada 8 MF  JPN Tsubasa Yuge 9 FW  BRA Douglas Oliveira (on loan from Consadole Sapporo) 11 FW  JPN Sota Kiri 13 DF  JPN Ryoma Ishida 14 MF  JPN Takuto Minami (on loan from Yokohama F. Marinos) 15 MF  JPN Toi Kagami 17 DF  PRK Ri Yong-jik 18 DF  JPN Tsuyoshi Miyaichi 19 MF  KOR Jang Hyun-soo 20 DF  JPN Shota Shimogami

No. Pos. Nation Player 21 GK  JPN Agashi Inaba 22 FW  JPN Miyu Sato 27 MF  JPN Ren Yamakawa 29 MF  JPN Koki Mizuno 31 GK  JPN Ken Tajiri 32 FW  JPN Mamoru Kamisasanuki 36 MF  JPN Koki Matsubara 44 DF  JPN Ryo Saito 46 MF  JPN Atsutaka Nakamura 48 DF  JPN Kaili Shimbo (on loan from Renofa Yamaguchi) 51 DF  JPN Kota Fukatsu 55 DF  JPN Daisuke Nasu 80 FW  NGA Kenneth Otabor 89 MF  HKG Au Yeung Yiu Chung 99 MF  JPN Daigo Nishi (on loan from Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo)

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 28 MF  JPN Shunji Masuda (at SC Sagamihara)

For the 2023 season.

Position	Staff
Chairman	Yutaka Akita
Manager	Tetsuji Nakamikawa
First-Team Coach	Kim Song-yong
Goalkeeper Coach	Izumi Niinuma
Physical Coach	Hirofumi Sakamoto
Technical Coach	Kazuki Fukayama
Team Doctor	Moritaka Maruyama Goro Tajima Ryunosuke Oikawa Shinya Oikawa Shuhei Kikuchi Yasutaka Oya Ko Tanifuji Hiroki Kaneko Shuntaro Wada
Athletic Trainer	Tomoaki Mikiya
Trainer	Nobuyuki Sasaki
Physiotherapist	Kotaro Watanabe
Interpreter	Sergio Iwasaki
Competent	Hiroki Abe
Side Affairs	Kazuki Oshima

• Grulla Morioka official site (in Japanese)
• GO！GO！GRULLA, a supporting TV program produced by Iwate Menkoi Television (in Japanese)
• グルージャまったり日記, fan site (in Japanese)