is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

professional

football (soccer) Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club, currently playing in the

J2 League The or simply J2 is the second division of the and the second level of the Japanese association football league system. The top tier is represented by the J1 League. It (along with the rest of the J.League) is currently sponsored by Meiji Y ...

. The team's hometown is located in

Mito Mito may refer to: Places *Mito, Ibaraki, capital city of Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan *Mito, Aichi, a Japanese town *Mito, Shimane, a Japanese town * Mitō, Yamaguchi, a Japanese town * Mito District, a district in the province of Concepción, Per ...

Ibaraki Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Ibaraki Prefecture has a population of 2,871,199 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Ibaraki Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the north, Tochigi Prefecture ...

. Its nickname "

HollyHock ''Alcea'' is a genus of over 80 species of flowering plants in the mallow family Malvaceae, commonly known as the hollyhocks. They are native to Asia and Europe. The single species of hollyhock from the Americas, the streambank wild hollyhock, ...

" derives from the family crest of the

Tokugawa clan The is a Japanese dynasty that was formerly a powerful '' daimyō'' family. They nominally descended from Emperor Seiwa (850–880) and were a branch of the Minamoto clan (Seiwa Genji) through the Matsudaira clan. The early history of this cl ...

who governed from Mito in the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was character ...

History

The club was founded in 1990 as Prima Aseno FC by the factory workers of Prima Ham (a food company) in

Tsuchiura is a city located in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 138,033 in 60,069 households and a population density of 1123 persons per km2. The percentage of the population aged over 65 was 29.7%. The total area of t ...

. It changed its name to Prima Ham FC Tsuchiura and gained promotion to the

Japan Football League The also known as simply the JFL is the 4th tier of the Japanese association football league system, positioned beneath the three divisions of the J.League. The league features fully professional teams that hold J.League associate membership a ...

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 unstability, and low home attendance at their stadium. However, after finishing 3rd in the

in 1999, and having an increasing stadium attendance, the club was invited into the J. League in 2000. Mito HollyHock also fields teams in

e-sports Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, individually or as teams. Although orga ...

and in

Ice Hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...

(Ibaraki Prefectural League).

League and cup record

;Key

Current squad

''As of 2 September 2022.'' ^DSP ^{Type 2} ^{Type 2} ^{Type 2} ^{Type 2} ^{Type 2} ^{Type 2}

Out on loan

Club officials

Managerial history

Kit evolution

Images from the former home stadium

Image:Hollygoal.JPG, Home side goal seat section Image:Hollyfans.JPG, Home side A seat section, with supporters File:Kasamatsu Stadium.JPG, Mito vs.

Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous city ...

, 18 November 2006

References

External links

Official Site

English News Site

{{Japanese Club Football, group=clubs J.League clubs Football clubs in Japan Association football clubs established in 1994 Mito, Ibaraki Sports teams in Ibaraki Prefecture 1994 establishments in Japan Japan Football League (1992–1998) clubs Japan Football League clubs