Mito HollyHock

Mito HollyHock
水戸ホーリーホック

Full name	Football Club Mito HollyHock Ibaraki
Nicknames	Hollyhock, Tokugawa, Mitochan
Founded	1990 (1990) as Prima Aseno 1994 (1994) as Mito Hollyhock
Stadium	K's denki Stadium Mito Mito, Ibaraki
Capacity	12,000
Chairman	Kunio Numata
Manager	Daisuke Kimori
League	J1 League
2025	J2 League, 1st of 20 (champions, promoted)
Website	www.mito-hollyhock.net
Home colours Away colours

Mito HollyHock (水戸ホーリーホック, Mito Hōrīhokku) is a Japanese professional association football club located in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture. The club currently competes in the J1 League after clinching the 2025 J2 League title.

History

The club was founded in 1990 as Prima Aseno Football Club by the factory workers of Prima Ham (a food company) in Tsuchiura. It changed its name to Prima Ham 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 instability, 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. During their time in the J2 League, the club finished through the mid-table, with their highest placement being 7th in 2003 and 2019.

First ever piece of silverware and promotion to the top flight

Mito ended the 2025 J2 League season with high determination and flying colours after managing to win the league which is also the club first major honours in their history. Despite tying with league runners-up V-Varen Nagasaki with 70 points total, Mito won the league winning one game more then V-Varen Nagasaki. Mito were then promoted to the J1 League for the first time, after securing a 2−0 victory against Oita Trinita on the final gameweek of the season and also ending a 25-year season spell in the second division.

Team image

Name origin

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

Others

Mito HollyHock also fields teams in e-sports and in Ice Hockey (Ibaraki Prefectural League).

Stadium

K's denki Stadium Mito

Mito currently resides at the K's denki Stadium Mito where it has been the club home ground since 2009. The stadium can hold up to 12,000 capacity.

Kit suppliers and shirt sponsors

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	2026 -

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 -
2026 -

Players

Current squad

As of 30 April 2026.

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	BRA	Danilo
3	MF	JPN	Koshi Osaki (vice-captain)
4	DF	JPN	Takeshi Ushizawa
5	DF	JPN	Seiya Inoue (on loan from Avispa Fukuoka)
6	DF	JPN	Takahiro Iida (captain)
7	DF	JPN	Sho Omori
8	MF	JPN	Chihiro Kato
9	FW	JPN	Ryō Nemoto
10	FW	JPN	Arata Watanabe (captain)
11	MF	JPN	Yoshiki Torikai
13	FW	JPN	Shohei Aihara
14	MF	JPN	Mizuki Arai
15	MF	JPN	Yuto Nagao (vice-captain)
17	DF	JPN	Kenta Itakura
19	MF	JPN	Taishi Semba (on loan from Sanfrecce Hiroshima)
20	FW	BRA	Patryck (on loan from Madureira)
21	GK	JPN	Shuhei Matsubara (vice-captain)
24	MF	JPN	Kiichi Yamazaki

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
25	DF	JPN	Takumi Mase
29	FW	JPN	Keisuke Tada
33	MF	JPN	Koki Ando
34	GK	JPN	Konosuke Nishikawa
37	GK	JPN	Minato Kamiyama
39	MF	JPN	Hayata Yamamoto
41	MF	JPN	Kishin Shimatani
44	FW	JPN	Koya Okuda
48	MF	JPN	Yuto Yamashita
51	GK	JPN	Ryusei Haruna
53	MF	JPN	Shota Yamashita
70	MF	BRA	Matheus Leiria
71	DF	JPN	Malick Fofana
77	GK	JPN	Uwabright Hayakawa
82	MF	JPN	Kotatsu Kawakami
87	FW	JPN	Kishin Gokita
89	DF	JPN	Kirato Sasaki

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
—	MF	JPN	Asuma Ikari (at Hannover 96 II)
—	FW	JPN	Seiichiro Kubo (at Fujieda MYFC)
—	FW	JPN	Yusei Uchida (at Azul Claro Numazu)

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	MF	JPN	Kota Saga (at YSCC Yokohama)
—	DF	JPN	Yuhi Ono (at YSCC Yokohama)

Management and staff

Position	Name
Football director	Naoki Mori
Manager	Daisuke Kimori
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

Honours

Mito HollyHock honours

Honour	No.	Years	Notes
Ibaraki Prefecture Division 1	2	1992, 1993	as Prima Ham Football Club
Ibaraki Prefecture Division 4 H Block	1	1994	as FC Mito
Ibaraki Prefecture Division 3 H Block	1	1995	as FC Mito
Kantō Soccer League	1	1995	as Prima Ham Football Club
Shakaijin Cup	1	1995	as Prima Ham Football Club
J2 League	1	2025

Managerial history

As FC Mito, Prima Ham (amateur era)

Manager	Period		Honours
Gert Engels	1 July 1990	30 January 1993
Yuji Nakano	1 January 1992	31 December 1997	− 1995 Kantō Soccer League − 1995 Shakaijin Cup
Toshiya Miura	1 February 1998	31 January 1999
Branko Babić	1 January 2000	31 December 2000
Hiroshi Kobayashi	1 February 2001	16. July 2001
Masaaki Kanno	17 July 2001	31 January 2003
Hideki Maeda	1 January 2003	31 December 2007
Takashi Kiyama	1 February 2008	31 January 2011
Tetsuji Hashiratani	1 February 2011	7 June 2015
Takayuki Nishigaya	27 June 2015	31 January 2018
Shigetoshi Hasebe	1 February 2018	31 January 2020
Tadahiro Akiba	1 February 2020	31 January 2023
Yoshimi Hamasaki	1 February 2023	4 May 2024
Naoki Mori	9 May 2024	current	− 2025 J2 League

Season by season record

Champions

Runners-up

Third place

Promoted

Relegated

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
1997	Old JFL	16	16th	30	3 (1)	-	26	24	69	−45	10		Not eligible	2nd round
1998		16	14th	30	7 (1)	-	22	37	69	−32	23			3rd round
1999	New JFL	9	3rd	24	13 (3)	0	8 (0)	48	32	16	45	891		3rd round
2000	J2	10	9th	40	9 (6)	4	19 (2)	37	61	−24	43	2,021	1st round	3rd round
2001		12	11th	44	5 (3)	4	26 (6)	41	93	−52	25	1,559	1st round	3rd round
2002		12	10th	44	11	7	26	45	73	−28	40	2,739	Not eligible	3rd round
2003		12	7th	44	15	11	18	37	41	−4	56	3,085		3rd round
2004		12	9th	44	6	19	19	33	60	−27	37	3,773		4th round
2005		12	10th	44	13	13	18	41	57	−16	52	3,334		4th round
2006		13	10th	48	14	9	25	48	69	−21	51	3,017		3rd round
2007		13	12th	48	8	10	30	32	70	−38	34	2,415		4th round
2008		15	11th	42	13	8	21	52	70	−18	47	3,044		4th round
2009		18	8th	51	21	10	20	70	79	−9	73	2,673		2nd round
2010		19	16th	36	8	14	14	29	45	−16	38	3,608		3rd round
2011		20	17th	38	11	9	18	40	49	−9	42	3,349		4th round
2012		22	13th	42	15	11	16	47	49	−2	56	3,973		3rd round
2013		22	15th	42	14	13	15	50	58	−8	55	4,630		3rd round
2014		22	15th	42	12	14	16	46	46	0	50	4,734		3rd round
2015		22	19th	42	10	16	16	40	47	−7	46	4,816		4th round
2016		22	13th	42	10	18	14	45	49	−4	48	5,365		2nd round
2017		22	14th	42	14	12	16	45	48	−3	54	4,931		2nd round
2018		22	10th	42	16	9	17	48	46	2	57	4,938		3rd round
2019		22	7th	42	19	13	10	56	37	19	70	6,087		3rd round
2020†		22	9th	42	16	10	16	68	62	6	58	2,018		Did not qualify
2021†		22	10th	42	16	11	15	59	50	9	59	2,696		2nd round
2022		22	13th	42	14	12	16	47	46	−1	54	3,140		2nd round
2023		22	17th	42	11	14	17	49	66	−17	47	3,726		3rd round
2024		20	15th	38	11	11	16	39	51	−12	44	4,406	1st round	3rd round
2025		20	1st	38	20	10	8	55	34	21	70	6,005	2nd round	1st round
2026	J1	10	TBD	18									N/A	N/A
2026-27		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 = 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

External links

• Official website (in Japanese)
• English news site (archived)
• Mito HollyHock 2014 Squad