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 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

club located in Mito,

Ibaraki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Ibaraki Prefecture has a population of 2,828,086 (1 July 2023) and has a geographic area of . Ibaraki Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the north, ...

. The team 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 Yasud ...

, Japanese second tier of professional football.

Name origin

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 Iliamna rivularis, streamban ...

" derives from the family crest of the

Tokugawa clan The is a Japanese dynasty which produced the Tokugawa shoguns who ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868 during the Edo period. It was formerly a powerful ''daimyō'' family. They nominally descended from Emperor Seiwa (850–880) and were a branch of ...

who governed from Mito in the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

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 in 2024 of 142,181 people in 66,629 households, and a population density of 1,157 persons per squate kilometre. The proportion of the population aged over 65 ...

. 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 100 Year Plan club sta ...

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, played individually or as teams. ...

and in

Ice Hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

(Ibaraki Prefectural League).

League and cup record

;Key

Honours

Current squad

''As of 11 June 2025.''

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 is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in Hokkaido, Japan. Located in the southwest of Hokkaido, it lies within the alluvial fan of the Toyohira River, a tributary of the Ishikari River. Sapporo is the capital ...

, 18 November 2006

References

External links

*
English news site
(archived)

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