# Mito HollyHock

Mito HollyHock (水戸ホーリーホック, Mito Hōrīhokku) is a Japanese professional football (soccer) club located in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture. The team currently playing in the J2 League, Japanese second tier of professional football.

## Name origin

Its nickname "HollyHock" derives from the family crest of the Tokugawa clan who governed from Mito in the Edo period.

## History

The club was founded in 1990 as Prima Aseno FC by the factory workers of Prima Ham (a food company) in Tsuchiura. It changed its name to Prima Ham FC Tsuchiura and gained promotion to the Japan Football League after finishing as runner-up in the 1996 Regional League play-off. It merged with FC Mito (founded in 1994) and re-branded itself as Mito HollyHock before the start of the 1997 season when Prima Ham decided to discontinue its financial support to the club.
Mito's application to play in the inaugural 1999 season of J. League Division 2 was initially turned down due to financial unstability, and low home attendance at their stadium. However, after finishing 3rd in the Japan Football League in 1999, and having an increasing stadium attendance, the club was invited into the J. League in 2000.
Mito HollyHock also fields teams in e-sports and in Ice Hockey (Ibaraki Prefectural League).

## League and cup record

| 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 |
| Season | Div. | Teams | Pos. | P | W (OTW / PKW) | D | L (OTL / PKL) | F | A | GD | Pts | Attendance/G | J. League Cup | Emperor's Cup |
| 1997 | Old JFL | 16 | 16th | 30 | 3 (1) | - | 26 | 24 | 69 | -45 | 10 | | Not eligible | 2nd round |
| 1998 | Old JFL | 16 | 14th | 30 | 7 (1) | - | 22 | 37 | 69 | -32 | 23 | | Not eligible | 3rd round |
| 1999 | New JFL | 9 | 3rd | 24 | 13 (3) | 0 | 8 (0) | 48 | 32 | 16 | 45 | 891 | Not eligible | 3rd round |
| 2000 | J2 | 10 | 9th | 40 | 9 (6) | 4 | 19 (2) | 37 | 61 | -24 | 43 | 2,021 | 1st round | 3rd round |
| 2001 | J2 | 12 | 11th | 44 | 5 (3) | 4 | 26 (6) | 41 | 93 | -52 | 25 | 1,559 | 1st round | 3rd round |
| 2002 | J2 | 12 | 10th | 44 | 11 | 7 | 26 | 45 | 73 | -28 | 40 | 2,739 | Not eligible | 3rd round |
| 2003 | J2 | 12 | 7th | 44 | 15 | 11 | 18 | 37 | 41 | -4 | 56 | 3,085 | Not eligible | 3rd round |
| 2004 | J2 | 12 | 9th | 44 | 6 | 19 | 19 | 33 | 60 | -27 | 37 | 3,773 | Not eligible | 4th round |
| 2005 | J2 | 12 | 10th | 44 | 13 | 13 | 18 | 41 | 57 | -16 | 52 | 3,334 | Not eligible | 4th round |
| 2006 | J2 | 13 | 10th | 48 | 14 | 9 | 25 | 48 | 69 | -21 | 51 | 3,017 | Not eligible | 3rd round |
| 2007 | J2 | 13 | 12th | 48 | 8 | 10 | 30 | 32 | 70 | -38 | 34 | 2,415 | Not eligible | 4th round |
| 2008 | J2 | 15 | 11th | 42 | 13 | 8 | 21 | 52 | 70 | -18 | 47 | 3,044 | Not eligible | 4th round |
| 2009 | J2 | 18 | 8th | 51 | 21 | 10 | 20 | 70 | 79 | -9 | 73 | 2,673 | Not eligible | 2nd round |
| 2010 | J2 | 19 | 16th | 36 | 8 | 14 | 14 | 29 | 45 | -16 | 38 | 3,608 | Not eligible | 3rd round |
| 2011 | J2 | 20 | 17th | 38 | 11 | 9 | 18 | 40 | 49 | -9 | 42 | 3,349 | Not eligible | 4th round |
| 2012 | J2 | 22 | 13th | 42 | 15 | 11 | 16 | 47 | 49 | -2 | 56 | 3,973 | Not eligible | 3rd round |
| 2013 | J2 | 22 | 15th | 42 | 14 | 13 | 15 | 50 | 58 | -8 | 55 | 4,630 | Not eligible | 3rd round |
| 2014 | J2 | 22 | 15th | 42 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 46 | 46 | 0 | 50 | 4,734 | Not eligible | 3rd round |
| 2015 | J2 | 22 | 19th | 42 | 10 | 16 | 16 | 40 | 47 | -7 | 46 | 4,816 | Not eligible | 4th round |
| 2016 | J2 | 22 | 13th | 42 | 10 | 18 | 14 | 45 | 49 | -4 | 48 | 5,365 | Not eligible | 2nd round |
| 2017 | J2 | 22 | 14th | 42 | 14 | 12 | 16 | 45 | 48 | -3 | 54 | 4,931 | Not eligible | 2nd round |
| 2018 | J2 | 22 | 10th | 42 | 16 | 9 | 17 | 48 | 46 | 2 | 57 | 4,938 | Not eligible | 3rd round |
| 2019 | J2 | 22 | 7th | 42 | 19 | 13 | 10 | 56 | 37 | 19 | 70 | 6,087 | Not eligible | 3rd round |
| 2020 † | J2 | 22 | 9th | 42 | 16 | 10 | 16 | 68 | 62 | 6 | 58 | 2,018 | Not eligible | Did not qualify |
| 2021 † | J2 | 22 | 10th | 42 | 16 | 11 | 15 | 59 | 50 | 9 | 59 | 2,696 | Not eligible | 2nd round |
| 2022 | J2 | 22 | 13th | 42 | 14 | 12 | 16 | 47 | 46 | -1 | 54 | 3,140 | Not eligible | 2nd round |
| 2023 | J2 | 22 | 17th | 42 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 49 | 66 | -17 | 47 | 3,726 | Not eligible | 3rd round |
| 2024 | J2 | 20 | 15th | 38 | 11 | 11 | 16 | 39 | 51 | -12 | 44 | 4,406 | First round | 3rd round |
| 2025 | J2 | 20 | TBA | 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 = 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

Mito HollyHock honours :
| Honour | No. | Years |
| Kantō Soccer League | 1 | 1995 |
| Shakaijin Cup | 1 | 1995 |

## Current squad

As of 12 February 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 |
| 2 | DF | JPN | Sho Omori |
| 3 | DF | JPN | Koshi Osaki |
| 4 | DF | JPN | Takeshi Ushizawa |
| 5 | DF | JPN | Tetsuya Chinen (on loan from Vegalta Sendai) |
| 6 | DF | JPN | Takahiro Iida |
| 7 | FW | JPN | Arata Watanabe |
| 8 | MF | JPN | Shunsuke Saito |
| 9 | FW | JPN | Mizuki Ando |
| 10 | DF | JPN | Ryosuke Maeda |
| 11 | FW | JPN | Yuki Kusano |
| 14 | MF | JPN | Fumiya Sugiura |
| 15 | MF | JPN | Yuto Nagao |
| 17 | MF | JPN | Kosei Ashibe (on loan from Machida Zelvia) |
| 18 | DF | JPN | Yuhi Ono |
| 19 | DF | JPN | Koichi Murata |
| 20 | FW | JPN | Kaito Umeda |
| 21 | GK | JPN | Shuhei Matsubara |
| 22 | FW | JPN | Seiichiro Kubo |
| 23 | MF | JPN | Takumi Tsukui |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 24 | MF | JPN | Kiichi Yamazaki |
| 25 | FW | JPN | Keisuke Tada |
| 27 | DF | JPN | Sora Okita |
| 28 | MF | JPN | Kota Saga |
| 31 | GK | JPN | Kenta Matsuyama |
| 32 | MF | JPN | Asuma Ikari |
| 34 | GK | JPN | Konosuke Nishikawa |
| 35 | DF | JPN | Ryoya Iizumi |
| 36 | DF | JPN | Kenta Itakura |
| 39 | MF | JPN | Hayata Yamamoto |
| 40 | MF | JPN | Shunta Morimura |
| 41 | MF | JPN | Ryusei Nose |
| 44 | FW | JPN | Koya Okuda |
| 45 | FW | JPN | Shimon Teranuma |
| 49 | FW | JPN | Yusei Uchida |
| 77 | GK | JPN | Uwabright Hayakawa |
| 82 | MF | JPN | Kotatsu Kawakami |
| 97 | DF | JPN | Travis Takahashi |

### 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 |
| — | GK | JPN | Ryusei Haruna (at Tegevajaro Miyazaki) |
| — | DF | JPN | Hayate Matsuda (at Hannover 96) |
| — | DF | JPN | Kazuma Nagai (at Blaublitz Akita) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | MF | JPN | Yota Tanabe (at Kochi United) |
| 30 | FW | JPN | Soki Tokuno (at Kochi United) |

## Club officials

| Position | Name |
| Manager | Naoki Mori |
| Assistant manager | Yoshitaka Yasuda Daisuke Kimori |
| Analyst & First-team coach | Ryosuke Sato |
| Development coach | Naoki Mori |
| Goalkeeper coach | Takahiro Kono |
| Analyst | Tsukasa Takahashi |
| Physical coach | Yuki Nakamura |
| Chief trainer | Tatsuya Doi |
| Trainer | Takahiro Yamada |
| Physiotherapist | Toru Yaguchi |
| Equipment manager | Shunki Iwata Yoshifumi Yoshida |
| Competent | Hiromitsu Nonaka |

## Managerial history

| Manager | Nationality | Tenure | Tenure |
| Manager | Nationality | Start | Finish |
| Gert Engels | Germany | 1 July 1990 | 30 January 1993 |
| Yuji Nakano | Japan | 1 January 1992 | 31 December 1997 |
| Toshiya Miura | Japan | 1 February 1998 | 31 January 1999 |
| Branko Babić | Serbia | 1 January 2000 | 31 December 2000 |
| Hiroshi Kobayashi | Japan | 1 February 2001 | 16. July 2001 |
| Masaaki Kanno | Japan | 17 July 2001 | 31 January 2003 |
| Hideki Maeda | Japan | 1 January 2003 | 31 December 2007 |
| Takashi Kiyama | Japan | 1 February 2008 | 31 January 2011 |
| Tetsuji Hashiratani | Japan | 1 February 2011 | 7 June 2015 |
| Takayuki Nishigaya | Japan | 27 June 2015 | 31 January 2018 |
| Shigetoshi Hasebe | Japan | 1 February 2018 | 31 January 2020 |
| Tadahiro Akiba | Japan | 1 February 2020 | 31 January 2023 |
| Yoshimi Hamasaki | Japan | 1 February 2023 | 4 May 2024 |
| Naoki Mori | Japan | 9 May 2024 | current |

## Kit evolution

Home Jersey :
| 2000 - 2002 | 2003 - 2004 | 2005 | 2006 - 2007 | 2008 - 2009 |
| 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 |
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
| 2020 | 2021 - | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
| 2025 - |
Away Jersey :
| 2000 - 2002 | 2003 - 2005 | 2006 - 2007 | 2008 - 2009 | 2010 |
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
| 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
| 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 - |

## Images from the former home stadium

* Home side goal seat section
* Home side A seat section, with supporters
* Mito vs. Sapporo, 18 November 2006