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 than 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

Mito used K's denki Stadium Mito as its club home ground from 2009 until 2026. Since their promotion to the J1 League for the 2026–27 season, they have moved to Mito Shinkin Bank Stadium as their main home ground due to its larger capacity in order to comply with J1 League regulations.

Kit suppliers and shirt sponsors Kit evolution Home Jersey Away Jersey

Players

Current squad .

Out on loan

Management and staff Position NameFootball director Naoki MoriManager Daisuke KimoriAssistant manager Yoshitaka Yasuda Daisuke KimoriAnalyst & First-team coach Ryosuke SatoDevelopment coach Naoki MoriGoalkeeper coach Takahiro KonoAnalyst Tsukasa TakahashiPhysical coach Yuki NakamuraChief trainer Tatsuya DoiTrainer Takahiro YamadaPhysiotherapist Toru YaguchiEquipment manager Shunki Iwata Yoshifumi YoshidaCompetent Hiromitsu Nonaka

Honours +Mito HollyHock honoursHonour No. Years NotesIbaraki Prefecture Division 121992, 1993as Prima Ham Football Club Ibaraki Prefecture Division 4 H Block11994as FC Mito Ibaraki Prefecture Division 3 H Block11995as FC MitoKantō Soccer League11995as Prima Ham Football ClubShakaijin Cup11995as Prima Ham Football ClubJ2 League12025

Managerial history As FC Mito, Prima Ham (amateur era) ManagerPeriod Honours Gert Engels1 July 1990 30 January 1993 | Yuji Nakano1 January 1992 31 December 1997 |− 1995 Kantō Soccer League − 1995 Shakaijin Cup Toshiya Miura1 February 1998 31 January 1999 | Branko Babić1 January 2000 31 December 2000 | Hiroshi Kobayashi1 February 2001 16. July 2001 | Masaaki Kanno17 July 2001 31 January 2003 | Hideki Maeda1 January 2003 31 December 2007 | Takashi Kiyama1 February 2008 31 January 2011 | Tetsuji Hashiratani1 February 2011 7 June 2015 | Takayuki Nishigaya27 June 2015 31 January 2018 | Shigetoshi Hasebe1 February 2018 31 January 2020 | Tadahiro Akiba1 February 2020 31 January 2023 | Yoshimi Hamasaki1 February 2023 4 May 2024 | Naoki Mori 9 May 2024 current |− 2025 J2 League

Season by season record ChampionsRunners-upThird placePromotedRelegated League J. LeagueCup Emperor'sCupSeason Div. Teams Pos. P W (OTW / PKW) D L (OTL / PKL) F A GD Pts Attendance/G1997Old JFL 16 16th 30 3 (1) - 26 24 69 −45 10 Not eligible2nd round 199816 14th 30 7 (1) - 22 37 69 −32 23 3rd round1999New JFL 9 3rd 24 13 (3) 0 8 (0) 48 32 16 45 891 3rd round2000J2 10 9th 40 9 (6) 4 19 (2) 37 61 −24 43 2,021 1st round3rd round200112 11th 44 5 (3) 4 26 (6) 41 93 −52 25 1,559 1st round 3rd round200212 10th 44 11 7 26 45 73 −28 40 2,739 Not eligible 3rd round200312 7th 44 15 11 18 37 41 −4 56 3,085 3rd round200412 9th 44 6 19 19 33 60 −27 37 3,773 4th round200512 10th 44 13 13 18 41 57 −16 52 3,334 4th round200613 10th 48 14 9 25 48 69 −21 51 3,017 3rd round200713 12th 48 8 10 30 32 70 −38 34 2,415 4th round200815 11th 42 13 8 21 52 70 −18 47 3,044 4th round200918 8th 51 21 10 20 70 79 −9 73 2,673 2nd round201019 16th 36 8 14 14 29 45 −16 38 3,608 3rd round201120 17th 38 11 9 18 40 49 −9 42 3,349 4th round201222 13th 42 15 11 16 47 49 −2 56 3,973 3rd round201322 15th 42 14 13 15 50 58 −8 55 4,630 3rd round201422 15th 42 12 14 16 46 46 0 50 4,734 3rd round201522 19th 42 10 16 16 40 47 −7 46 4,816 4th round201622 13th 42 10 18 14 45 49 −4 48 5,365 2nd round201722 14th 42 14 12 16 45 48 −3 54 4,931 2nd round201822 10th 42 16 9 17 48 46 2 57 4,938 3rd round201922 7th 42 19 13 10 56 37 19 70 6,087 3rd round2020†22 9th 42 16 10 16 68 62 6 58 2,018 Did not qualify2021†22 10th 42 16 11 15 59 50 9 59 2,696 2nd round202222 13th 42 14 12 16 47 46 −1 54 3,140 2nd round20232217th 42 11 14 17 49 66 −17 47 3,726 3rd round20242015th 38 11 11 16 39 51 −12 44 4,406 1st round 3rd round2025201st38 20 10 8 55 34 21 70 6,005 2nd round 1st round2026J1 10 TBD18 N/A N/A2026-2720 TBD 38 TBD TBD Key

References

External links

English news site (archived) Mito HollyHock 2014 Squad