# Giravanz Kitakyushu

Giravanz Kitakyushu (ギラヴァンツ北九州, Giravantsu Kitakyūshū) is a Japanese football club based in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture. They currently play in J3 League, Japanese third tier of professional league football.

## History
### Mitsubishi Chemical SC (1947–2000)

The club was formed in 1947 as part of Mitsubishi Chemical's Kurosaki factory. The club was a founding member of Kyushu regional league since 1973. Most of its career was spent in the regional and prefectural leagues, as Kitakyushu was represented in the Japan Soccer League by Yahata Steel F.C. Yahata was a founding member of the JSL in 1965, and finished as runner-up in its first two seasons in that league. Yahata was renamed New Nippon Steel F.C. in 1970, when Yahata Steel merged with Fuji Steel to form (New) Nippon Steel. It ultimately was relegated to the Second Division in 1982, then relegated from the Second Division to Kyushu regional league after 1990–91 season, and closed in 1999.

### New Wave Kitakyushu (2001–2009)

In 2001, the club became a community-oriented club (New Wave) Kitakyushu F.C.
In 2007 New Wave took second place in the Regional League promotion series, and was promoted to the JFL for the 2008 season.
The club applied for J. League Associate Membership in January 2008, and the application was accepted at the J. League board meeting on February 19, 2008.
On 1 April 2009, the club made an announcement that they would be accepting suggestions for a new name. This was because the name "New Wave" may cause trademark or tradename disputes. Therefore, the new name had to be something not yet registered as a trademark.

### Giravanz Kitakyushu (2010–)

On 2 October 2009, they announced that the new club name for the 2010 season would be Giravanz Kitakyushu (ギラヴァンツ北九州, Giravantsu Kitakyūshū). According to the official news release, the name "Giravanz" is coined from two Italian words: "Girasole", which means "sunflower", and "Avanzare", which means "moving forward". (The sunflower is one of Kitakyushu's symbol flowers.)
On 23 November 2009, after a 2–1 win away against Arte Takasaki, Kitakyushu secured a top four position in the JFL for the 2009 season, regardless of the result at the final week of 2009 JFL. This means they will play in J. League Division 2 for the 2010 season, something which was confirmed by the J.League board meeting on 30 November 2009.
In its inaugural year in the pro ranks, despite attaining a large number of draw matches, Kitakyushu set new records for fewest wins and points in the season standings.
After several seasons in J2 League, on 20 November 2016 they suffered their first relegation to J3 League.
After the 2018 J3 League season when they eventually ranked bottom, they named Shinji Kobayashi as the new manager, who also took a role as the newly established Sports Director position concurrently. In 2019 J3 League, Kobayashi led the club to become the champions & promoted to the 2020 J2 League. Although they are successful enough as far as ranked top at the end of the first half, and eventually ranked 5th at the end of the 2020 season, they had a dozen of key players, including Akira Silvano Disaro who scored 18 goals in 2020 season, transferred to other clubs after the season. In 2021, they have ranked at or near the bottom for the entire season, which resulted in suffering relegation to the 2022 J3 League, becoming the first J.League club relegated to the J3 League a second time. The club played its 4th consecutive season in the J3 on 2025, in which they ranked the bottom second time after 2018, although they were not relegated to the Japan Football League (JFL) as both Honda FC and Briobecca Urayasu, champions and runners-up of 2023 JFL, have not applied for J3 license, thus were not eligible to promote to the J3 League.

## Stadium

Giravanz played in the Honjo Athletic Stadium from 2010 until 2016.
Giravanz moved to the Mikuni World Stadium Kitakyushu, for the 2017 season.

## League and cup record

| Champions | Runners-up | Third place | Promoted | Relegated |
| League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | J. League Cup | Emperor's Cup |
| Season | Div. | Tier | Teams | Pos. | P | W (PKW) | D | L (PKL) | F | A | GD | Pts | Attendance/G | J. League Cup | Emperor's Cup |
| New Wave Kitakyushu ||||||||||||||||
| 2003 | Kyushu Soccer League | 4 | 12 | 4th | 22 | 12 (1) | - | 5 (4) | 65 | 46 | 19 | 42 | - | Not eligible | – |
| 2004 | Kyushu Soccer League | 4 | 10 | 6th | 18 | 9 (0) | - | 8 (1) | 41 | 39 | 2 | 28 | - | Not eligible | Did not qualify |
| 2005 | Kyushu Soccer League | 4 | 10 | 6th | 18 | 10 (0) | - | 5 (3) | 51 | 30 | 21 | 33 | - | Not eligible | Did not qualify |
| 2006 | Kyushu Soccer League | 4 | 9 | 3rd | 16 | 11 (1) | - | 3 (1) | 45 | 23 | 22 | 36 | - | Not eligible | Did not qualify |
| 2007 | Kyushu Soccer League | 4 | 11 | 1st | 20 | 17 (1) | - | 1 (1) | 53 | 7 | 46 | 54 | - | Not eligible | Did not qualify |
| 2008 | JFL | 3 | 18 | 10th | 34 | 13 | 10 | 11 | 49 | 48 | 1 | 49 | 1,149 | Not eligible | 3rd round |
| 2009 | JFL | 3 | 18 | 4th | 34 | 16 | 10 | 8 | 49 | 31 | 18 | 58 | 3,411 | Not eligible | 1st round |
| Giravanz Kitakyushu ||||||||||||||||
| 2010 | J2 | 2 | 19 | 19th | 36 | 1 | 12 | 28 | 20 | 65 | -45 | 15 | 4,189 | Not eligible | 3rd round |
| 2011 | J2 | 2 | 20 | 8th | 38 | 16 | 10 | 12 | 45 | 46 | -1 | 58 | 4,051 | Not eligible | 3rd round |
| 2012 | J2 | 2 | 22 | 9th | 42 | 19 | 7 | 16 | 53 | 47 | 6 | 64 | 3,346 | Not eligible | 2nd round |
| 2013 | J2 | 2 | 22 | 16th | 42 | 13 | 10 | 19 | 50 | 60 | -10 | 49 | 3,175 | Not eligible | 3rd round |
| 2014 | J2 | 2 | 22 | 5th | 42 | 18 | 11 | 13 | 50 | 50 | 0 | 65 | 3,622 | Not eligible | Quarter finals |
| 2015 | J2 | 2 | 22 | 7th | 42 | 18 | 5 | 19 | 59 | 58 | 1 | 59 | 3,488 | Not eligible | 2nd round |
| 2016 | J2 | 2 | 22 | 22nd | 42 | 8 | 14 | 20 | 43 | 64 | -21 | 38 | 3,224 | Not eligible | 2nd round |
| 2017 | J3 | 3 | 17 | 9th | 32 | 13 | 7 | 12 | 44 | 37 | 7 | 46 | 5,939 | Not eligible | 2nd round |
| 2018 | J3 | 3 | 17 | 17th | 32 | 6 | 9 | 17 | 22 | 42 | -20 | 27 | 4,501 | Not eligible | Did not qualify |
| 2019 | J3 | 3 | 18 | 1st | 34 | 19 | 9 | 6 | 51 | 27 | 24 | 66 | 6,049 | Not eligible | 2nd round |
| 2020 † | J2 | 2 | 22 | 5th | 42 | 19 | 8 | 15 | 59 | 51 | 8 | 65 | 3,352 | Not eligible | Did not qualify |
| 2021 † | J2 | 2 | 22 | 21st | 42 | 7 | 14 | 21 | 35 | 66 | -31 | 35 | 2,974 | Not eligible | 2nd round |
| 2022 | J3 | 3 | 18 | 13th | 34 | 11 | 7 | 16 | 41 | 45 | -4 | 40 | 3,613 | Not eligible | 1st round |
| 2023 | J3 | 3 | 20 | 20th | 38 | 7 | 10 | 21 | 33 | 45 | -12 | 31 | 3,857 | Not eligible | 2nd round |
| 2024 | J3 | 3 | 20 | 7th | 38 | 15 | 11 | 12 | 41 | 39 | 2 | 56 | 4,649 | 2nd round | 2nd round |
| 2025 | J3 | 3 | 20 | TBD | 38 | | | | | | | | | TBD | TBD |

### Key

* Pos. = Position in league; P = Games played; W = Games won; D = Games drawn; L = Games lost; F = Goals scored; A = Goals conceded; GD = Goal Difference; Pts = Points gained
* Attendance/G = Average home league attendance.
* † 2020 & 2021 seasons attendances reduced by COVID-19 worldwide pandemic.
* Source: J. League Data Site.

## Honours

Giravanz Kitakyushu Honours :
| Honour | No. | Years |
| Kyushu Soccer League | 8 | 1973, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1989, 2007 |
| Fukuoka Prefectural Football Championship Emperor's Cup Fukuoka Prefectural Qualifiers | 5 | 2017, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024 |
| J3 League | 1 | 2019 |

## Players
### Current squad

As of 3 March 2025.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | JPN | Go Ito |
| 4 | DF | JPN | Koki Hasegawa |
| 6 | MF | JPN | Kota Hoshi |
| 7 | MF | JPN | Ryuki Hirahara |
| 8 | MF | JPN | Yamato Machida |
| 9 | FW | JPN | Shuntaro Kawabe |
| 10 | FW | JPN | Ryo Nagai |
| 11 | MF | JPN | Kohei Kiyama |
| 13 | DF | JPN | Renta Higashi (on loan from FC Tokyo) |
| 14 | MF | JPN | Haruki Izawa (captain) |
| 17 | MF | JPN | Rinpei Okano |
| 18 | FW | JPN | Sota Watanabe |
| 19 | FW | JPN | Futo Yoshihara |
| 20 | MF | JPN | Asahi Yada |
| 21 | MF | JPN | Taku Ushinohama |
| 22 | DF | JPN | Kaoru Yamawaki |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 23 | DF | JPN | Kakeru Sakamoto |
| 24 | FW | JPN | Mahiro Yoshinaga |
| 25 | FW | JPN | Raiki Tsubogo |
| 27 | GK | JPN | Yuya Tanaka |
| 28 | MF | JPN | Kaito Konomi |
| 29 | FW | KOR | Koh Seung-jin |
| 31 | GK | JPN | Koki Otani |
| 32 | MF | JPN | Fumiya Takayanagi |
| 34 | MF | JPN | Shoma Takayoshi |
| 39 | GK | JPN | Rissei Taniguchi |
| 41 | GK | JPN | Mitsuki Sugimoto |
| 42 | DF | JPN | Tsukasa Sera |
| 44 | DF | JPN | Yuma Tsujioka |
| 50 | DF | JPN | Koji Sugiyama |
| 76 | DF | JPN | Kiriya Sakamoto |
| 99 | FW | JPN | Ryosuke Kabayama |

### Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 3 | DF | JPN | Shinnosuke Ito (at Fukuyama City) |
| 5 | DF | JPN | Takeaki Hommura (at Tokyo 23 FC) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 25 | FW | JPN | Raiki Tsubogo (at Belugarosso Iwami) |

## Coaching staff

| Position | Name |
| Manager | Kohei Masumoto |
| Assistant manager | Norichika Kanemura |
| First-team coach | Yusuke Sudo |
| Goalkeeper coach | Shuto Yoshikawa |
| Physical coach | Gakuya Tatsuta |
| Trainer | Tatsuya Murakoshi Shinichi Todake Yuji Nakamura |
| Side managers | Tetsuya Tsuda Riku Namihira |

## Managerial history

| Manager | Nationality | Tenure | Tenure |
| Manager | Nationality | Start | Finish |
| Yoshinori Sembiki | Japan | 1 February 2005 | 31 January 2007 |
| George Yonashiro | Japan | 1 February 2007 | 31 January 2011 |
| Yasutoshi Miura | Japan | 1 February 2011 | 31 January 2013 |
| Kōichi Hashiratani | Japan | 1 February 2013 | 31 January 2017 |
| Takeo Harada | Japan | 1 February 2017 | 31 January 2018 |
| Hitoshi Morishita | Japan | 1 February 2018 | 17 June 2018 |
| Tetsuji Hashiratani | Japan | 20 June 2018 | 31 January 2019 |
| Shinji Kobayashi | Japan | 1 February 2019 | 31 January 2022 |
| Kenichi Amano | Japan | 1 February 2022 | 31 January 2023 |
| Kazuaki Tasaka | Japan | 1 February 2023 | 5 September 2023 |
| Shinji Kobayashi | Japan | 6 September 2023 | Current |

## Colour, sponsors and manufacturers

| Season(s) | Main Shirt Sponsor | Collarbone Sponsor | Collarbone Sponsor | Additional Sponsor(s) | Additional Sponsor(s) | Additional Sponsor(s) | Additional Sponsor(s) | Kit Manufacturer |
| 2020 | TOTO | - | - | Yaskawa | - | Nafco | Zenrin | Penalty |
| 2021 | Yaskawa | WingArc1st | WingArc1st | TOTO | Aso Group | Nafco | Zenrin | Penalty |
| 2022 | Yaskawa | WingArc1st | dejiren | TOTO | Aso Group | Nafco | Zenrin | Penalty |
| 2023 | Yaskawa | WingArc1st | dejiren | TOTO | Aso Group | Nafco | Zenrin | Penalty |

### Kit evolution

Home kit - 1st :
| 2010 - 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
| 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 - |
Away kit - 2nd :
| 2010 - 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
| 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 - |