is a Japanese association football club based in Morioka, capital of Iwate Prefecture. They play in Japan Football League from 2025, the Japanese fourth tier of semi-professional football after relegation from J3 League in 2024.
Name origin "Grulla" is the Spanish word of "crane", which was used in the mon of Nanbu clan of former Morioka han and later became the local symbol of Morioka.
History Initially known as , the team was organised by alumni of Morioka Commercial High School and Morioka Chuo High School in 2000.
In 2003, a nonprofit organisation was founded, and the team was reorganised and changed their name to Grulla Morioka (グルージャ盛岡) in February 2004 with the intention of achieving promotion to the J. League by 2008.
Under the new organisation, former JEF United and Oita Trinita player Shinichi Muto was invited to coach and captain the team with the company of players from the defunct Villanova Morioka and from J2 league. They played their first match on May 9, 2004, and it could be seen as an introduction to the local press beforehand. They won the Tohoku Soccer League second division in 2004 and therefore promotion to the first division for the 2005 season. In 2005 season, they won their first of six league championships, which they shared with TDK S.C.
In 2013 they won the Regional Promotion Series and were promoted directly to the newly formed J3 League, skipping the Japan Football League which became the new fourth tier.
From the 2019 season, the club has adopted the new name as "Iwate Grulla Morioka".Iwate Grulla Morioka In 2021 they earned promotion to the J2 League as J3 runners-up and made their debut in the second tier in 2022.
On 28 October 2022, Iwate Grulla Morioka acquired the J1 License, meaning that from the 2022 season, they can now be promoted to the J1 League if the club finishes in J2's Top 2.
The team played in the inaugural season of J3 League in 2014 after winning the Tohoku Soccer League, one of the Japanese Regional Leagues, in 2013. Iwate played in the J3 until 2021, when was promoted to the J2 for the 2022 season.
Downfall to Third and Fourth tier in two years After just one season in the second division, the club were relegated back to the J3 after finishing in 22nd and last place in the league with a total of thirty-four points.
On 3 November 2024, Iwate finished in 20th and last place after drawing 1-1 against Zweigen Kanazawa playing away from home and possibility relegation to JFL for the first time in history from the 2025 season. On 17 November, relegation to JFL was confirmed for Iwate after Tochigi City FC secured promotion automatically to J3 League for the first time in their history.Jリーグが栃木シティの入会を承認！ JFL初優勝でJ3へ「入会審査項目をすべて充足いたしました」 - 超ワールドサッカー！ 2024年11月17日いわてグルージャ盛岡 JFL降格決定 - NHK NEWS WEB 2024年11月17日
Stadium Iwate plays at (or have played) at three stadiums. Their main stadium is Iwagin Stadium, which has a capacity of 4,938.
The second stadium is the Kitakami Stadium, located in the city of Kitakami, Iwate, which has a capacity of 6,376.
They have played before at the Iwate Morioka Stadium.
League & cup record ChampionsRunners-upThird placePromotedRelegated League J. League CupEmperor'sCup ShakaijinCupSeason Division Tier Teams Pos. P W D L F A GD Pts Attendance\GGrulla Morioka2003Tohoku League Div. 2 North5 64th 10 5 3 2 16 12 4 18 Not eligible 20046 1st 10 9 1 0 54 9 45 28 2005Tohoku League Div. 14 7 1st 12 9 2 1 36 10 26 29 1st round 20068 2nd 14 11 0 3 32 18 14 30 20078 1st 14 13 0 1 65 14 5139 20088 1st 14 12 2 0 63 8 5538 2nd round 20098 1st 14 11 3 0 59 15 4436 1st round 20108 1st 14 12 1 1 57 11 46 37 2nd round 20117 2nd 12 8 3 1 35 15 20 27 1st round 2nd round20127 2nd 12 10 0 2 48 5 43 30 1st round 201310 1st 18 16 1 1 95 10 85 49 1st round Runner's up2014J3 3 12 5th 33 12 9 12 34 25 9 45 1,522 1st round Not eligible 201513 11th 36 11 8 17 36 47 −11 35 1,239 1st round201616 13th 30 6 12 12 43 47 −4 30 1,182 3rd round201717 15th 32 7 8 17 32 49 −17 29 1,337 2nd round201817 13th 32 12 4 16 41 56 −15 40 1,216 1st roundIwate Grulla Morioka2019J3 3 18 18th 34 75223663−2726 1,368 Not eligible2nd round Not eligible2020 †18 11th 34 11 9 14 36 47 -11 42 481 Did not qualify202115 2nd 28 15 8 5 43 28 15 53 1,394 3rd round2022J2 2 22 22nd 42 9 7 26 35 80 -45 34 3,087 3rd round2023J3 3 20 10th 38 15 9 14 48 49 -1 54 1,254 2nd round202420 20th 38 5 7 26 27 80 -53 22 1,362 2nd round 2nd round2025JFL 4 16 9th 30 11 6 13 45 49 -4 39 1,524 Not eligible 2nd round2026-27TBD Key
Honours +Iwate Grulla Morioka HonoursHonourNo.YearsTohoku League Div. 2 North12004Iwate Prefectural Football Championship (Emperor's Cup Iwate Prefectural Qualifiers)172005, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2023, 2024, 2025Tohoku League Div. 162005 (Shared with TDK), 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013Regional Football Champions League12013
Current squad .
Club staff Position StaffChairman Yutaka AkitaManager Kei HoshikawaAssistant managers Tetsuji Nakamikawa Kim Song-yongFirst-team coach and Technical coach Kazuki FukayamaGoalkeeper coach Izumi NiinumaPhysical coach Yusuke HoshigamiTrainer Nobuyuki Sasaki Yuji Hanzawa Takuya MiyagawaPhysiotherapist Kotaro WatanabeCompetent Kazuki OshimaSide affairs Yuto SugawaraTeam doctor Moritaka Maruyama Goro Tajima Ryunosuke Oikawa Shinya Oikawa Yasutaka Oya Ko Tanifuji Hiroki Kaneko Shuntaro Wada Yusuke Chiba Masanori MatsuuraSports pharmacist Ikumi Sugiyama
Managerial history
Manager Nationality Tenure Start Finish Shinobu Yoshida 2003Shinichi Muto 2004 2005Toru Yoshida 2006 2010Naoki Naruo 1 February 2012 31 January 2016Akihiko Kamikawa 1 February 2016 31 December 2016Toshimi Kikuchi 1 February 2017 31 January 2020Yutaka Akita 1 February 2020 31 January 2023Yoshika Matsubara 1 February 2023 19 September 2023Tetsuji Nakamikawa 20 September 2023 7 May 2024Takuya Jinno 8 May 2024 17 August 2024Kei Hoshikawa 18 August 2024 Current
Kit evolution Home Kits - 1st
Away Kits - 2nd
Special Kits - 3rd
References
External links
GO！GO！GRULLA , a supporting TV program produced by Iwate Menkoi Television グルージャまったり日記 – fan site