is a Japanese

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club based in

Kitakyushu is a Cities of Japan, city located in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. As of June 1, 2019, Kitakyushu has an estimated population of 940,978, making it the second-largest city in both Fukuoka Prefecture and the island of Kyushu after the city of Fuk ...

Fukuoka Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 Square kilometre, km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders ...

. They currently play in

J3 League or simply J3 is the third division of . It was established in 2013 as the third-tier professional association football league in Japan under the organization of J.League. The league is known as the for sponsorship reasons. The third-tier nation ...

, Japanese third tier of professional league football.

History

Mitsubishi Chemical SC (1947 –2000)

The club was formed in 1947 as part of Mitsubishi Chemical's Kurosaki factory. The club was a founding member of Kyushu regional league since 1973. Most of its career was spent in the regional and prefectural leagues, as Kitakyushu was represented in the

Japan Soccer League ; JSL) was the top flight association football league in Japan between 1965 and 1992, and was the precursor to the current professional league, the J.League. JSL Cup, JSL was the second national league of a team sport in Japan after the professi ...

by Yahata Steel F.C. Yahata was a founding member of the JSL in

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

, and finished as runner-up in its first two seasons in that league. Yahata was renamed New Nippon Steel F.C. in 1970, when Yahata Steel merged with Fuji Steel to form (New)

Nippon Steel (previously known as Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal until 2019) is Japan's largest steelmaker, headquartered in Marunouchi, Chiyoda, Tokyo. The company has four business segments, which are steelmaking, engineering, chemicals, and systems solu ...

. It ultimately was relegated to the Second Division in

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

, then relegated from the Second Division to Kyushu regional league after 1990–91 season, and closed in 1999.

New Wave Kitakyushu (2001 –2009)

In 2001, the club became a community-oriented club (New Wave) Kitakyushu F.C. In 2007 New Wave took second place in the Regional League promotion series, and was promoted to the JFL for the 2008 season. The club applied for J. League Associate Membership in January 2008, and the application was accepted at the J. League board meeting on February 19, 2008. On 1 April 2009, the club made an announcement that they would be accepting suggestions for a new name. This was because the name "New Wave" may cause trademark or tradename disputes. Therefore, the new name had to be something not yet registered as a

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a form of intellectual property that consists of a word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination that identifies a Good (economics and accounting), product or Service (economics), service f ...

Giravanz Kitakyushu (2010 –)

On 2 October 2009, they announced that the new club name for the 2010 season would be . According to the official news release, the name "Giravanz" is coined from two

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

words: "Girasole", which means "sunflower", and "Avanzare", which means "moving forward". (The sunflower is one of Kitakyushu's symbol flowers.) On 23 November 2009, after a 2–1 win away against

Arte Takasaki was a Japanese defunct football club based in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture, formerly of the Japan Football League from 2007 until 2011 season. Their team colours were black and red. ''Arte'' means art in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. History T ...

, Kitakyushu secured a top four position in the JFL for the 2009 season, regardless of the result at the final week of 2009 JFL. This means they will play in J. League Division 2 for the 2010 season, something which was confirmed by the J.League board meeting on 30 November 2009. In its inaugural year in the pro ranks, despite attaining a large number of draw matches, Kitakyushu set new records for fewest wins and points in the season standings. After several seasons in

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 Yasud ...

, on 20 November 2016 they suffered their first relegation to

. After the 2018 J3 League season when they eventually ranked bottom, they named Shinji Kobayashi as the new manager, who also took a role as the newly established Sports Director position concurrently. In

2019 J3 League The 2019 J3 League, referred to as the for sponsorship reasons, was the 6th season of J3 League under its current name. Clubs 2018 season saw two teams promoted to J2 League: FC Ryukyu won the championship by nine points over second-place ...

, Kobayashi led the club to become the champions & promoted to the 2020 J2 League. Although they are successful enough as far as ranked top at the end of the first half, and eventually ranked 5th at the end of the 2020 season, they had a dozen of key players, including Akira Silvano Disaro who scored 18 goals in 2020 season, transferred to other clubs after the season. In 2021, they have ranked at or near the bottom for the entire season, which resulted in suffering relegation to the

2022 J3 League The 2022 J3 League, referred to as the for sponsorship reasons, was the 9th season of J3 League under its current name. Iwaki FC won the J3 title for the first time in their history, in their debut campaign at the J3 League, just a year after ...

, becoming the first J.League club relegated to the J3 League a second time. The club played its 4th consecutive season in the J3 on 2025, in which they ranked the bottom second time after 2018, although they were not relegated to the Japan Football League (JFL) as both Honda FC and Briobecca Urayasu, champions and runners-up of 2023 JFL, have not applied for J3 license, thus were not eligible to promote to the J3 League.

Stadium

Giravanz played in the Honjo Athletic Stadium from 2010 until 2016. Giravanz moved to the Mikuni World Stadium Kitakyushu, for the 2017 season.

League and cup record

;Key

Honours

Players

Current squad

''As of 3 March 2025''.

Out on loan

Coaching staff

Managerial history

Colour, sponsors and manufacturers

Kit evolution

References

External links

*
Club organization and subsidiary teams
{{Authority control Football clubs in Japan J.League clubs Sport in Kitakyushu Sports clubs and teams in Fukuoka Prefecture Association football clubs established in 2001 2001 establishments in Japan Japan Football League clubs