Team Data: FC Gifu
Team Name:
Team Logo:
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Home Uniform Away Uniform
 
Home StadiumNagaragawa Stadium 
Seats 16,000
Team Data:
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Management Corporation: | Gifu Football Club Co., Ltd. | |
Established: | April 2001
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President: | --
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Investors: | Various companies and individuals | |
Address: | Mirai Kaikan 6F, 3-42 Gakuenmachi
Gifu City, Gifu 502-0841 | |
Hometown Area: | Gifu City and surrounding areas | |
Home Stadium: | Nagaragawa Stadium (capacity : 16,000) | |
Joined J. League: | 2008 |
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Team History, 2001-07
| Year | Rank | W | D | L | G.Dif |
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| 2001 (Gifu League) | 2 | 8 | 1 | 1 | -- |
| 2002 (Gifu League) | 1 | 10 | 0 | 0 | +36 |
| 2003 (Gifu League) | 1 | 10 | 0 | 0 | +30 |
| 2004 (Tokai Lg. Div II) | 3 | 8 | 0 | 6 | +1 |
| 2005 (Tokai Lg. Div II) | 2 | 8 | 5 | 1 | +19 |
| 2006 (Tokai Lg. Div I) | 1 | 12 | 2 | 0 | +43 |
| 2007 (JFL) | 3 | 17 | 9 | 8 | +14 |
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FC Gifu offers an interesting and unique example of how to create and develop a team. The southern half of Gifu prefecture is a jumble of rather heavily settled "bedroom towns" (suburbs) created in recent years to house the largely blue-collar work force of greater Nagoyua, dotted with a few small centralised urban points with histories going back over a thousand years, as well as the occasional sweeping expanse of rice and vegetable cultivation. in other words, Gifu has much the same relationship to Nagoya that Chiba has to Tokyo, except that the sense of rivalry (or even antipathy) between the two is even stronger, based on hundreds of years of bloody history.
Given this background, it has always been rather surprising that Gifu took as long as it did to spawn a J.League team of its own. The fact that Nagoya Grampus plays home games at Mizuho Stadium, which is quite close to Gifu, seems an inadequate explanation. After all, Japan's other major cities -- Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, and even Saitama -- all have two local teams as well as additional teams representing major adjoining cities or suburbs (such as Kawasaki, Kashiwa, Shonan, Kobe and Kyoto). It always seemed odd that the large semi-urban sprawl to the north, west and south of Nagoya never gave birth to any teams with J.League ambitions. Until 2001, the most significant club team in the area was Gifu Stickleback, and even they were just a tiny, weakly supported group taking part in the prefectural league.
But in 2001, Gifu native and veteran J.Leaguer Yasuyuki Moriyama and several childhood friends (one of whom played for Stickleback) were out drinking, and Moriyama's companions began grousing about the fact that Gifu fans had to support Nagoya Grampus, because they didnt have a team of their own. Moriyama sensed that he was being teased, and protested that he would love to play for a Gifu team, rather than Grampus, but there wasnt any such club to employ him. "What about Stickleback?" he was asked, largely in jest. There was a long silence as the veteran striker's eyes slowly began to grow wider and more animated. The seed of FC Gifu had been planted,
Unlike most other "grassroots" teams, which generally are created by devoted fans and amateur players, and steadily attract better and better players, FC Gifu is largely a case of a group of players walking in and telling a local community: "we want to be your local team". Though he probably could have played in the J.League for several more years, Moriyama left Grampus in late 2002, and convinced several other former teammates to join him at Gifu Stickleback (soon to be renamed FC Gifu). For the next two years, the team won every match they played, by an AVERAGE of slightly over 3 goals per game. In 2004 the team advanced to the Tokai Regional League Division 2, and though the results were not QUITE as impressive, the team continued to make steady progress, advancing to the Tokai Regional League Division 1 with a dramatic performance on the last day of the season. They entered the contest level on points but a four-goal difference behind their closest rival, Fuyo. Since Fuyo won their final match 2-1, Gifu needed a six-goal victory to earn promotion. In a nail-biting display, Gifu fought to a 6-0 advantage, but with time running down, conceded a last-minute penalty kick to the opponents. As Gifu fans covered their eyes in agonized suspense, the kicker sent his shot off the right post, to give Gifu a 6-0 win and promotion to the Tokai Regional League Division 1.
In 2006, Moriyama used his connections to lure other aging former J.Leaguers, including keeper Suguru Hino (Gamba), defenders Naoki Hiraoka (Grampus), Tetsuya Ito and Takayuki Komine (FC Tokyo), and even the still-youthful former U-20 striker Atsushi Katagiri, to help make a bid for JFL promotion. Again, Gifu struggled through the season and seemed to be on the brink of falling short of promotion, after losing the final round of the Nationwide Regional League Championships. But again fate intervened and Gifu advanced to the JFL when the two Sagawa Kyubin clubs merged, opening up a second promotion spot.
FC Gifu's seemingly charmed existence continued as they entered the JFL for the first time, in 2007. The financial backing of companies in the Gifu area, together with Moriyama's wide-ranging contacts, allowed them to bring in the additional players needed to make them a promotion candidate, including former Grampus and Sanfrecce striker Jorginho (the younger brother of Ueslei) and former Gamba striker Hiromi Kojima. Though many of the team's core players are aging veterans, their experience coupled with a rapidly growing fan base and an impressive list of financial and organizational backers carried the team to third place in the JFL, on their first attempt. In addition, a bit of mild pressure from local business leaders helped the club win J.League approval as an associate member, and as a result, in December 2007 the team made the final leap into the tanks of professional football.
At last, Gifu has its very own J.League team, and though it will probably be a lot harder for the club to sustain their past pace of advancement, now that they are finally in the professional ranks, it is hard not to admire the tremendous effort and impetus which carried the team from virtually nowhere to the J2 in a mere five seasons. Furthermore, the club has a sufficiently well developed "network" of J.League insiders to locate and attract talented players much more readily than other clubs at the same level of development. The benefits of experience were apparent in 2008, as Gifu managed to finish in 13th place, three spots out of the cellar -- not exactly a triumphant start to its J.League existence, but better than most teams in their first J2 campaign
The next step is going to be a bit more difficult to take, since Gifu will have to let its veterans retire over the next year or two, and find new personnel to take their places. But considering the impressive accomplishment of building a team from scratch and taking it to professional status in five seasons, this certainly should not be too great a challenge. 2009 will probably be a time of consolidation and foundation-building for the Tokai newcomers. However, we will be keepig a close eye on the team to see how soon they can make the transition, and begin the next phase of their impressive climb through the football ranks.
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National Team
Overseas Players
