, formerly is a 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 based in

Maebashi is the capital city of Gunma Prefecture, in the northern Kantō region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 335,352 in 151,171 households, and a population density of 1100 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . It was ...

Gunma Prefecture is a landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Gunma Prefecture has a population of 1,937,626 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of . Gunma Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture and Fuk ...

in Japan. The club currently play in the

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 ...

, the third tier of Japanese professional football.

History

The club was founded in 1995 in Kusatsu, one of the most well-known spa resorts in Japan, as Liaison Kusatsu Football Club. The players were students of the specialized training college Higashi Nihon Soccer Academy. When the school closed in 1999 due to financial difficulties, the players decided to stay in Kusatsu and keep the club alive. In 2002, the club was incorporated as K.K. Kusatsu Onsen Football Club with a future promotion to the J. League in mind and adopted the new team name , meaning "The Spa, Kusatsu". Because of J. League restrictions on stadiums, they play at

Shoda Shoyu Stadium Gunma (formerly Gunma Shikishima Athletic Stadium, renamed on June 1, 2008 for naming rights) is a multi-purpose stadium in Maebashi, Japan. It is currently used mostly for football (soccer), football matches. Sponsored by soy sauce maker , which has ...

(Shikishima Athletics Stadium) in nearby

, the prefectural capital since the club were promoted to J. League Division 2 in the 2005 season. From 1 February 2013, the club adopted the new name "Thespakusatsu Gunma", to give the impression of the club as a representative of the entire

, while still leaving the name "Kusatsu" in it, as well as the logo of the club as it is. After 12 years spent in the J2 League, Thespakusatsu Gunma were relegated to the J3 League for the first time in their history, having finished in last place in the

2017 J2 League The 2017 Meiji Yasuda J2 League (2017 明治安田生命J2リーグ) season was the 46th season of the second-tier club football in Japan and the 19th season since the establishment of J2 League. Clubs The participating clubs are listed in the ...

. Gunma returned to the J2 League ahead of the 2020 season after being promoted back to J2 after two years spent in J3. On 5 October 2023, Thespakusatsu Gunma announced officially, a change of name and logo to Thespa Gunma commencing from the 2024 season, dropping the "Kusatsu" which was included in the name since 2005. On 29 September 2024, Thespa Gunma were officially relegated to J3 for the second time in their history, for the 2025 season after a defeat by

Roasso Kumamoto is a Japanese football club based in Kumamoto, the capital city of Kumamoto Prefecture. The club currently plays in the J2 League, Japan's 2nd tier of professional league football. Name origin ''Roasso'' is a portmanteau of the Italian words ...

2-3 at home, which ended four years in second tier with five games remaining.

Stadium and training ground

The home stadium is

Gunma is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Gunma Prefecture has a population of 1,937,626 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of . Gunma Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture and Fukushima Prefecture to t ...

. The capacity of the stadium is 15,253. The training ground is GCC The Park in Maebashi.

Record as J. League member

;Key

Honours

Current squad

Coaching staff

Coaching staff for 2025.

Managerial history

Kit evolution

References

External links

* {{Japanese Club Football, group=clubs J.League clubs Football clubs in Japan Association football clubs established in 1995 Sports clubs and teams in Gunma Prefecture 1995 establishments in Japan Japan Football League clubs