Nara Club

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Nara Club
奈良クラブ
NicknameNara
Founded1991 (1991)
StadiumRohto Field Nara, Nara[1]
Capacity30,600
Coordinates34°41′54″N 135°49′45″E / 34.69833°N 135.82917°E / 34.69833; 135.82917
OwnerBG Sports (14.98%)
ChairmanMitsuru Hamada[2]
ManagerMasashi Oguro
LeagueJ3 League
2025J3 League, 9th of 20
Websitenaraclub.jp

Nara Club (奈良クラブ, Nara Kurabu) is a Japanese football (soccer) club based in the Nara city, capital of Nara Prefecture. They currently play in J3 League, the third tier professional in the Japanese football.

History

The club was originally established in Nara in 1991 under the name Tonan Club (都南クラブ, Tonan Kurabu) and it became a member of the Football Association of Nara. The club went up to the top division in 1997.

It was renamed to its current name in 2008, and was promoted to the regional league in 2009. In 2014, they won the Regional League promotion series, earning promotion to the Japan Football League, where they played from 2015 to 2022.

On 5 November 2022, Nara was promoted to the J3 League for the first time in their history, after beating Veertien Mie in a narrow 1–0 win, with Sotaro Yamamoto scoring the winning goal in the 86th minute, to confirm their early access to the J3, a few rounds before the end of the season. The Nara-based club was promoted after eight consecutive seasons in the JFL. 15 days later at the same month, Nara secured their first JFL title, after drawing 1–1 with Sony Sendai at the last round of the competition. A ten-goal difference in Nara's favor them and FC Osaka was the determining factor that gave Nara the league title.

On 24 October 2023, Nara Club announcement officially granted J2 License after approval of Club Licensing Board.[3]

Starting in 2024, the club partnered with BG Group from the Kingdom of Thailand as one of their shirt sponsors and Thai players Patrick Gustavssonn and Kiadtiphon Udom joined from BG Pathum United FC, which is owned by BG.[4] On January 24, 2025, it was announced that a capital alliance would be formed with BG Group, which will acquire and hold 14.98% of the shares for approximately 92 million yen.[5][6]

Stadium

Nara Club currently plays its home matches at the Rohto Field Nara. The capacity is 30,600.

League and cup record

Champions Runners-up Third place Promoted Relegated
League J.League Cup Emperor's Cup Shakaijin Cup
SeasonDivisionTierTeamsPos.PWDLFAGDPts
Tonan Club
1992 Nara Pref. League Edu.11*3rd******** Not eligible**
1993 Nara Pref. League Div. 5101st********
1994 Nara Pref. League Div. 481st********
1995 Nara Pref. League Div. 371st********
1996 Nara Pref. League Div. 261st********
1997 Nara Pref. League
(Div. 1)		56th********
1998 4th********
1999 63rd********
2000 2nd********
2001 1st********
2002 117th103341414012Did not qualifyDid not qualify
2003 5th106041714318
2004 1st108112581725
2005 [* 1] 3rd1061325111419
2006 [* 2] 1st1081131112025
2007 123rd1161422101222
Nara Club
2008 Nara Pref. League
(Div. 1)		 6 12 2nd118303993027 Not eligibleDid not qualify1st round
2009 Kansai Soccer League (Div. 2) 5 81st14932471829302nd roundDid not qualify
2010 Kansai Soccer League
(Div. 1)		 44th14662362412241st round
2011 1st141121421329351st round
2012 2nd14851281117292nd round
2013 5th143471122−11142nd round
2014 51st141031301119333rd roundQuarter-finals
2015 JFL4167th301371033285461st roundNot eligible
2016 10th30117124148-7371st round
2017 7th301010104151-10401st round
2018 8th301261233321422nd round
2019 14th30810122732-5341st round
2020 13th1553721210182nd round
2021 1710th32101393936343Did not qualify
2022 161st3016113482523591st round
2023 J33205th38151211453213571st round
2024 17th38718134356-13392nd round2nd round
2025 9th3815111250464561st round2nd round
2026 10TBD18N/AN/A
2026-27 20TBD38TBDTBD
Key
  • Pos. = Position in league; P = Games played; W = Games won; D = Games drawn; L = Games lost; F = Goals scored; A = Goals conceded; GD = Goals difference; Pts = Points gained
  • Source: http://naraclub.jp/club
  1. It was originally 12 teams participating. Tenri Univ. FC was disqualified, and the rest of 11 teams had to compete.[7]
  2. It was originally 12 teams participating. Ikoma SC was disqualified, and the rest of 11 teams had to compete.[8]

Honours

Nara Club Honours
Honour No. Years
Nara Prefecture League Division 5 1 1993
Nara Prefecture League Division 4 1 1994
Nara Prefecture League Division 3 1 1995
Nara Prefecture League Division 2 1 1996
Nara Prefecture League Division 1 3 2001, 2004, 2006
Kansai League Division 2 1 2009
Nara Prefectural Football Championship
(Emperor's Cup Prefectural Qualifiers)		 16 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016,
2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
Kansai League Division 1 2 2011, 2014
KSL Cup 2 2012, 2014
Japan Football League 1 2022

Players

Current squad

As of 23 April 2026.[9] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK  JPN Tatsuki Miyazawa
2 DF  JPN Kakeru Takahata
5 DF  JPN Daisei Suzuki
7 MF  JPN Ryosuke Tamura
8 DF  JPN Arata Yoshida
9 FW  JPN Yuta Togashi
10 MF  JPN Rin Morita
11 MF  JPN Ryo Sato
14 FW  JPN Sora Mochizuki
15 GK  JPN Shinji Okada
16 DF  JPN Yudai Okuda
17 FW  JPN Shota Tamura
18 MF  JPN Takuma Goto (on loan from FC Tiamo Hirakata)
19 FW  JPN Tomoya Sekiguchi
20 MF  JPN Yuto Kunitake
21 MF  JPN Riki Tomizu
No. Pos. Nation Player
22 DF  JPN Kei Ikoma
27 DF  JPN Masato Nakayama
28 MF  JPN Daichi Kawai
29 MF  JPN Seren Ichimura
33 DF  JPN Hiroto Sato
36 DF  JPN Taisei Ishii (on loan from FC Tiamo Hirakata)
37 MF  JPN Genki Hamana
38 MF  JPN Shogo Miyashita
40 DF  JPN Yuzuru Yoshimura
42 FW  JPN Taishiro Okazaki
47 MF  NGA Olasunkanmi Dayo
49 GK  JPN Raihei Kurokawa (on loan from Ehime FC)
50 MF  JPN Ren Shibamoto (on loan from FC Tiamo Hirakata)
54 FW  JPN Shuhei Kawasaki
96 GK  ESP Marc Vito

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
— GK  JPN Noa Sekinuma (at FC Osaka)
— MF  JPN Shogo Miyashita (at FC Ise-Shima)

Club staff

PositionStaff
ManagerJapan Masashi Oguro
Assistant managerJapan Kenta Betsuki
Goalkeeper coachJapan Masatoshi Hayashi
InterpreterJapan Yosuke Fukuda
Analyst and side affairsJapan Kazuki Fujiwara
Chief trainerJapan Hiroshi Fujimoto
Chief trainerJapan Kazushi Matsumura

Managerial history

As of April 2026
ManagerNationalityTenure
StartFinish
Koji Yamaguchi Japan19912009
Ken'ichiro Fujimoto Japan2010
Satoru Yoshida Japan1 January 201131 December 2011
Masashi Hachūda Japan1 February 20123 January 2013
Jiro Yabe Japan3 July 20127 October 2013
Jun Mizukoshi Japan8 October 201331 January 2014
Atsushi Nakamura Japan1 February 201431 January 2017
Norihiro Satsukawa Japan12 February 201731 January 2019
Koichi Sugiyama Japan12 February 201931 January 2020
Maiki Hayashi Japan1 February 202031 January 2021
Julián Marín Bazalo Spain1 February 20214 September 2024
Ichizo Nakata Japan4 September 202412 June 2025 [10]
Michiharu Otagiri Japan12 June 2025[11]8 December 2025[12]
Masashi Oguro Japan14 December 2025[13]present

Kit evolution

Home kit - 1st
2009 - 2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026 -
Away kit - 2nd
2009 - 2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026 -
Others - 3rd
2021 SP FP
2022 SP FP
2023 SP FP
2024 SP FP
2025 SP FP
2025
Daiwa House
Group Day

References

  1. "Jリーグ準加盟審査結果について" (Press release) (in Japanese). Japan Professional Football League. 17 September 2013. Archived from the original on 20 September 2013. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
  2. 今後のクラブ運営体制について. Nara Club (in Japanese). 26 December 2019. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
  3. "2024年シーズン「Ｊ2クラブライセンス」交付のお知らせ". naraclub.jp. 24 October 2023. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
  4. "Announcement of the addition of "BG Group" as a uniform partner". naraclub.jp. 24 August 2024. Retrieved 7 June 2025.
  5. "Press Conference on Capital Alliance with BG Group". naraclub.jp. 24 January 2025. Retrieved 7 June 2025.
  6. "Enhancement of club activities: Capital alliance between Nara Club and Thai companies". www.nara-np.co.jp. Retrieved 7 June 2025.
  7. "１部リーグ勝敗表" (PDF). Nara Football Federation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 March 2019. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
  8. "平成18年度 奈良県社会人サッカーリーグ１部星取表" (PDF). Nara Football Federation. 23 November 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 March 2019. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
  9. "2026トップチーム | 奈良クラブ | NARA CLUB Official Site". 奈良クラブ公式Webサイト (in Japanese). 26 January 2026. Retrieved 23 April 2026.
  10. "Notice of Termination of Coach Kazuzo Nakata's Contract". naraclub.jp. 11 June 2025. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
  11. "Announcement of the appointment of Michiharu Odagiri as Director". naraclub.jp. 11 June 2025. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
  12. "小田切道治監督 退任のお知らせ | 奈良クラブ | NARA CLUB Official Site". 奈良クラブ公式Webサイト (in Japanese). 8 December 2025. Retrieved 23 April 2026.
  13. "大黒 将志氏 監督就任のお知らせ | 奈良クラブ | NARA CLUB Official Site". 奈良クラブ公式Webサイト (in Japanese). 14 December 2025. Retrieved 23 April 2026.