is a football (soccer) club based in Hachimantai, a city of

Iwate Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It is the second-largest Japanese prefecture (behind Hokkaido) at , with a population of 1,165,886 (as of July 1, 2023). Iwate Prefecture borders Aomori Pre ...

in Japan. They play in the Tohoku Soccer League, which is part of

Japanese Regional Leagues are a group of parallel association football leagues in Japan that are organized on the regional basis. They form the fifth and sixth tier of the Japanese association football league system below the nationwide Japan Football League. Overview ...

. The name of the club refers to

Mount Iwate is a stratovolcano complex in the Ōu Mountains of western Iwate Prefecture, in the Tōhoku region of northern Honshū, Japan. With an elevation of , it is the highest in Iwate Prefecture. It is included as one of the List of the 100 famous m ...

, symbol of their prefecture due to this volcano and also present on the club's logo.

History

Founded in 2006, the club was a separated entity from

Grulla Morioka 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 ...

(still in the

, but in

Morioka is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Iwate Prefecture located in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan. On 1 August 2023, the city had an estimated population of 283,981 in 132,719 households, and a population density of . The total area of t ...

). Shinichi Muto was fundamental to start club's history with the proper amount of experience and he was hired as player-manager for 2006 and 2007. The creation of another club in the Prefecture - Unsommet Iwate Hachimantai - didn't stop FC Ganju Iwate from climbing Japanese football's pyramid: they won several promotion in Iwate Prefectural Football, even going unbeaten for whole four seasons. Unfortunately, then bigger clubs - like Grulla, ReinMeer Aomori FC and Vanraure Hachinohe - risked to block their growth. After these clubs went up to

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 100 Year Plan club sta ...

, FC Ganju Iwate won the Tohoku Soccer League in 2014 and 2015. Still, the club wasn't able to reach JFL because they didn't perform in 2014 and 2015 Japanese Regional Football League Competition, being eliminated in the group stage. They featured just once in

Emperor's Cup , commonly known as or Japan FA Cup, and rebranded as The JFA Emperor's Cup from 2024 onwards, is a Japanese annual football competition. It has the longest tradition of any football tournament in Japan, dating back to 1921, before the formatio ...

, losing against

Saitama SC is a Japanese football club playing in the Kanto Soccer League, one of the Japanese Regional Leagues. The club aims for promotion to the Japan Football League. The club was founded in 1953 as ''Saitama Teachers S.C.'' and competed in the old Ja ...

in the first round of 2007 edition. As for 2017 season, their aim remains to reach

League record

;Key *Pos. = Position in league; P = Games played; W = Games won; D = Games drawn; L = Games lost; Pts = Points gained

Honours

Current squad

References

External links

* (archived) {{Japanese Club Football, group=clubs Football clubs in Japan Sports clubs and teams in Iwate Prefecture Hachimantai, Iwate Association football clubs established in 2006 2006 establishments in Japan