Mito HollyHock
Association football club based in Mito, Ibaraki prefecture in Japan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
1994 as Mito Hollyhock
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| Full name | Football Club Mito HollyHock Ibaraki | ||
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| Nicknames | Hollyhock, Tokugawa, Mitochan | ||
| Founded | 1990 as Prima Aseno 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 | ||
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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[1] (Ibaraki Prefectural League).
Stadium
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.[2]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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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.
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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
| 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[3] | 1 February 2023 | 4 May 2024[4] | |
| 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