# FC Imabari

FC Imabari (FC今治, Efu Shī Imabari) is a Japanese football club based in Imabari, Ehime Prefecture. They are set to play in the J2 League from 2025 after promotion from J3 League in 2024, Japan's second tier of professional football.

## History

The club was founded in 1976 and were promoted to the Shikoku Football League in 2001.
From 2009 to 2011, they were owned by Ehime FC as their reserve team, Ehime FC Shimanami. In 2014, the majority of FC Imabari was bought by former Japan national team coach Takeshi Okada.
In February 2016, the club made another step forward towards the J. League, as JFA recognised J.League Hundred Year Vision clubs. In November, they won the Regional Promotion Series and were promoted to the Japan Football League. During their debut season on the JFL, they opened their new stadium and acquired a J3 League license from the 2018 season.
In 2019, after finishing on third place at the JFL, FC Imabari were promoted to Japan's professional league system, becoming a professional club, as they were promoted to the J3 for the first time in their history.
FC Imabari acquired a J2 license in 2021, meaning that Imabari can be promoted to the J2 League once they are able to finish the season in the promotion zone.
On 10 November 2024, FC Imabari secure promotion to J2 League for the first time in history from next season after defeat Gainare Tottori 0-5 in Matchweek 36 and ending five years stint in third tier.

## Stadium
### Arigato Service Dream Stadium (2017–2022)

FC Imabari played their J3 League matches on the Arigato Service Dream Stadium from 2017 to 2022. They played their final league match there (as their home stadium) at the club's last home match of the 2022 season. Imabari played this match against Nagano Parceiro on 13 November 2022, at the 33rd Matchweek, with the match ending tied by 3–3.

### ASICS Satoyama Stadium (2023–)

From 2023, Imabari decided to change its home stadium to their newly built ASICS Satoyama Stadium. The opening ceremony was decided to be held on 29 January 2023. Satoyama Stadium was opened to the public on 29 January 2023, with a charity match contested between an XI of J-League Legends against FC Imabari U-18 and Ladies, respectively. On 5 March of the same year, FC Imabari played their first match of the season at their new stadium against Fukushima United in the J3 League, which ended in a 1–0 win for Imabari.

## League and cup records

| Champions | Runners-up | Third place | Promoted | Relegated |
| League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | J. League Cup | Emperor's Cup | Shakaijin Cup |
| Season | Division | Tier | Pos | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | Attendance/G | J. League Cup | Emperor's Cup | Shakaijin Cup |
| 2011 | Shikoku Soccer League | 4 | 1st | 14 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 52 | 4 | 48 | 34 | | Not eligible | 1st round | 3rd place |
| 2012 | Shikoku Soccer League | 4 | 1st | 14 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 44 | 10 | 34 | 34 | | Not eligible | 3rd round | 1st round |
| 2013 | Shikoku Soccer League | 4 | 1st | 14 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 72 | 7 | 65 | 40 | | Not eligible | 2nd round | 1st round |
| 2014 | Shikoku Soccer League | 5 | 3rd | 14 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 78 | 16 | 62 | 34 | | Not eligible | 1st round | Did not play |
| 2015 | Shikoku Soccer League | 5 | 1st | 14 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 58 | 5 | 53 | 37 | | Not eligible | 1st round | 2nd round |
| 2016 | Shikoku Soccer League | 5 | 1st | 14 | 13 | 0 | 1 | 54 | 7 | 47 | 39 | | Not eligible | 1st round | 2nd round |
| 2017 | JFL | 4 | 6th | 30 | 12 | 12 | 6 | 54 | 36 | 18 | 48 | 2,182 | Not eligible | 2nd round | Not eligible |
| 2018 | JFL | 4 | 5th | 30 | 14 | 7 | 9 | 63 | 32 | 31 | 49 | 3,081 | Not eligible | 2nd round | Not eligible |
| 2019 | JFL | 4 | 3rd | 30 | 13 | 12 | 5 | 41 | 26 | 15 | 51 | 3,101 | Not eligible | Did not qualify | Not eligible |
| 2020 † | J3 | 3 | 7th | 34 | 15 | 10 | 9 | 39 | 27 | 12 | 55 | 1,355 | Not eligible | Did not qualify | Not eligible |
| 2021 † | J3 | 3 | 11th | 28 | 7 | 9 | 12 | 34 | 33 | 1 | 30 | 1,660 | Not eligible | 2nd round | Not eligible |
| 2022 | J3 | 3 | 5th | 34 | 18 | 6 | 10 | 55 | 40 | 15 | 60 | 2,320 | Not eligible | 1st round | Not eligible |
| 2023 | J3 | 3 | 4th | 38 | 16 | 11 | 11 | 54 | 42 | 12 | 59 | 3,711 | Not eligible | 2nd round | Not eligible |
| 2024 | J3 | 3 | 2nd | 38 | 22 | 7 | 9 | 62 | 38 | 24 | 73 | 3,786 | 2nd round | 1st round | Not eligible |
| 2025 | J2 | 2 | TBD | 38 | | | | | | | | | TBC | TBC | Not eligible |

### Key

* Pos. = Position in league; P = Games played; W = Games won; D = Games drawn; L = Games lost; F = Goals scored; A = Goals conceded; GD = Goals 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

FC Imabari Honours :
| Honour | No. | Years |
| Ehime Prefectural Football Championship (and Emperor's Cup Ehime Prefectural Qualifiers) | 11 | 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021 |
| Shikoku Soccer League | 5 | 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016 |
| Regional League Promotion Series | 1 | 2016 |

## Players
### Current squad

As of 28 January 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 | Kotaro Tachikawa |
| 2 | DF | JPN | Tetsuya Kato |
| 3 | DF | JPN | Naoya Fukumori |
| 4 | DF | JPN | Ryota Ichihara |
| 5 | DF | BRA | Danilo |
| 6 | MF | JPN | Yuki Kajiura (on loan from FC Tokyo) |
| 7 | MF | JPN | Takafumi Yamada |
| 8 | DF | JPN | Wataru Noguchi |
| 9 | MF | JPN | Takatora Kondo |
| 10 | FW | BRA | Marcus Índio |
| 11 | FW | BRA | Wesley Tanque |
| 13 | FW | JPN | Kosuke Fujioka |
| 14 | MF | JPN | Kenshin Yuba |
| 15 | DF | JPN | Ryota Abe |
| 16 | DF | JPN | Rio Omori (on loan from FC Tokyo) |
| 17 | MF | JPN | Kyota Mochii |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 18 | MF | JPN | Hikaru Arai |
| 20 | MF | BRA | Vinícius Diniz (on loan from Operário) |
| 21 | FW | JPN | Tomoki Hino |
| 22 | DF | JPN | Yuto Saitai |
| 23 | DF | KOR | Lee Young-jun |
| 24 | DF | JPN | Yuri Takeuchi |
| 25 | MF | JPN | Riki Sato |
| 33 | MF | JPN | Shuta Sasa |
| 36 | MF | JPN | Yumeki Yokoyama |
| 37 | DF | JPN | Rei Umeki |
| 38 | MF | JPN | Hikaru Umakoshi |
| 44 | GK | JPN | Genta Ito |
| 47 | GK | JPN | Shunsuke Ueda |
| 50 | MF | JPN | Yuta Mikado |
| 71 | GK | JPN | Toru Takagiwa |
| 77 | MF | JPN | Junya Kato |

## Coaching staff

| Position | Name |
| Sports director | Shogo Kobara |
| Manager | Keiji Kuraishi |
| Assistant manager | Yoshikiyo Kuboyama |
| First-team coach | Takamasa Watanabe |
| Goalkeeper coach | Yuichi Mizutani |
| Analysis | Kohei Nomoto |
| Physical coach | Daiki Makino |
| Chief trainer | Takuya Kishimoto |
| Trainer | Ryosuke Konishi Suguru Sakai |
| Competent | Satsuki Sinohara |
| Side affairs | Ryo Tanaka |
| Interpreter | Daichi Lee Kashiwagi |
| General manager | Tetsuji Koyama |
| Strengthening scout | Naoto Kudo |
| Strengthening commissioner | Kei Nakano |
| Physical advisor | Masaya Sakihana |
| Nutritionist | Kokoro Kawanami |
| Team advisor | Ruy Ramos |
| Doctor | Takahisa Mori Yoji Nagano Yuko Fujii Hiroya Imaoka |

## Managerial history

| Manager | Nationality | Tenure | Tenure |
| Manager | Nationality | Start | Finish |
| Takahiro Kimura | Japan | February 1, 2012 | January 31, 2016 |
| Hirofumi Yoshitake | Japan | February 1, 2016 | June 27, 2018 |
| Naoto Kudo | Japan | June 27, 2018 | January 31, 2019 |
| Takeshi Ono | Japan | February 1, 2019 | January 31, 2020 |
| Lluís Planagumà | Spain | February 1, 2020 | May 19, 2021 |
| Kazuaki Hashikawa | Japan | May 19, 2021 | May 23, 2021 |
| Keiichiro Nuno | Japan | May 24, 2021 | 29 September 2021 |
| Kazuaki Hashikawa | Japan | September 29, 2021 | January 31, 2023 |
| Riki Takagi | Japan | February 1, 2023 | August 16, 2023 |
| Naoto Kudo | Japan | August 16, 2023 | January 31, 2024 |
| Toshihiro Hattori | Japan | February 1, 2024 | January 31, 2025 |
| Keiji Kuraishi | Japan | February 1, 2025 | present |

## Kit evolution

Home kit - 1st :
| 2015 | 2016 - 2018 | 2019 - 2020 | 2021 | 2022 - 2023 |
| 2024 - | | | |
Away kit - 2nd :
| 2015 | 2016 - 2018 | 2019 - 2020 | 2021 | 2022 - 2023 |
| 2024 - | | | |