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.Official website (Japanese only) Therefore, the new name had to be something not yet registered as a trademark.
Giravanz Kitakyushu (2010–present) On 2 October 2009, they announced that the new club name for the 2010 season would be . 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". New Wave Kitakyushu official website news release : dated 2 October 2009 (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. They played in J. League Division 2 from 2010-2016.Official website (Japanese only) J's Goal Website (Japanese only)http://www.tvq.co.jp/news/news.php?did=5162
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 coming in last in the 2018 J3 League season, they named Shinji Kobayashi as the new manager and Sports Director. In 2019, Kobayashi led a turnaround; the club became league champions and were promoted to the 2020 J2 League. They finished 5th in 2020. At the end of the 2021 season, they were relegated to the J3 League, becoming the first J.League club relegated to the J3 League a second time. They finished 13th in 2022, and finished last in 2023. The 2023 season was the first J3 season to have relegation to the JFL, but Kitakyushu avoided it because both Honda FC and Briobecca Urayasu, the respective champions and runners-up of the JFL that season, did not have the necessary license for promotion. In 2024, Kitakyushu finished seventh, missing qualification to the playoffs by two points. The 2025 J3 season was the last season played on a calendar year format.
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 ChampionsRunners-upThird placePromotedRelegated League J. League CupEmperor'sCupSeason Div. Tier Teams Pos. P W (PKW) D L (PKL) F A GD Pts Attendance/G New Wave Kitakyushu2003Kyushu SoccerLeague 4 12 4th 22 12 (1) - 5 (4) 65 46 19 42 - Not eligible –200410 6th 18 9 (0) - 8 (1) 41 39 2 28 - Did not qualify200510 6th 18 10 (0) - 5 (3) 51 30 21 33 -20069 3rd 16 11 (1) - 3 (1) 45 23 22 36-200711 1st 20 17 (1) - 1 (1) 53 7 46 54-2008JFL3 18 10th 34 13 10 11 49 48 1 49 1,1493rd round200918 4th 34 16 10 8 49 31 18 58 3,411 1st roundGiravanz Kitakyushu2010J2 2 19 19th 36 1 12 28 20 65 -45 15 4,189 Not eligible 3rd round201120 8th 38 16 10 12 45 46 -1 58 4,051 3rd round201222 9th 42 19 7 16 53 47 6 64 3,346 2nd round201322 16th 42 13 10 19 50 60 -10 49 3,175 3rd round201422 5th 42 18 11 13 50 50 0 65 3,622 Quarter final201522 7th 42 18 5 19 59 58 1 59 3,488 2nd round201622 22nd 42 8 14 20 43 64 -21 38 3,224 2nd round2017J3 3 17 9th 32 13 7 12 44 37 7 46 5,939 2nd round201817 17th 32 6 9 17 22 42 -20 27 4,501 Did not qualify201918 1st 34 19 9 6 51 27 24 66 6,049 2nd round2020 †J2 2 22 5th 42 19 8 15 59 51 8 65 3,352 Did not qualify2021 †22 21st 42 7 14 21 35 66 -31 35 2,974 2nd round2022J3 3 18 13th 34 11 7 16 41 45 -4 40 3,613 1st round202320 20th 38 7 10 21 33 45 -12 31 3,857 2nd round202420 7th 38 15 11 12 41 39 2 56 4,649 2nd round 2nd round202520 8th 38 17 5 16 46 41 5 56 5,563 2nd round 3rd round202610 TBD 18 N/A N/A2026-2720 TBD 38 TBD TBD
Key
Honours +Giravanz Kitakyushu HonoursHonour No. YearsKyushu Soccer League81973, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1989, 2007Fukuoka Prefectural Football Championship Emperor's Cup Fukuoka Prefectural Qualifiers62017, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025J3 League12019
Players Current squad .
Out on loan
Coaching staff Position NameManager Kohei MasumotoAssistant manager Norichika KanemuraFirst-team coach Yusuke SudoGoalkeeper coach Shuto YoshikawaPhysical coach Gakuya TatsutaTrainer Tatsuya Murakoshi Shinichi Todake Yuji Nakamura Side managers Tetsuya Tsuda Riku Namihira
Managerial history Manager Nationality Tenure Start Finish Yoshinori Sembiki 1 February 2005 31 January 2007George Yonashiro 1 February 2007 31 January 2011Yasutoshi Miura 1 February 2011 31 January 2013Kōichi Hashiratani 1 February 2013 31 January 2017Takeo Harada 1 February 2017 31 January 2018Hitoshi Morishita 1 February 2018 17 June 2018Tetsuji Hashiratani 20 June 2018 31 January 2019Shinji Kobayashi 1 February 2019 31 January 2022Kenichi Amano 1 February 2022 31 January 2023Kazuaki Tasaka 1 February 2023 5 September 2023Shinji Kobayashi 6 September 2023 Current
Colour, sponsors and manufacturers Season(s)Main Shirt SponsorCollarbone SponsorAdditional Sponsor(s)Kit Manufacturer2020TOTO--Yaskawa-NafcoZenrinPenalty2021YaskawaWingArc1stTOTOAso Group2022WingArc1stdejiren2023
Kit evolution Home kit - 1st
Away kit - 2nd
References
External links
Club organization and subsidiary teams