Do you want to perform a fun exercise if you’re a J.League fan? Look at the longest-standing club per league. You can even look at the JFL. In the fourth tier of Japanese football, Sony Sendai used to be the benchmark, until they got disbanded last season. Now the longest-serving clubs are Honda FC and Yokogawa Musashino, with 26 seasons in that division (from 1999).
In J3 League, the game is easier – between promotions and relegations, only three clubs remained from the “Original Founders”. AC Nagano Parceiro are still trapped in the third league, while Gainare Tottori and Fukushima United FC are probably happier as long as they have a seat at the table (ask YSCC Yokohama how a JFL reality will affect their organisation).
In the top flight, situation is even more different. Born in 1993, only Kashima Antlers and Yokohama F. Marinos haven’t suffered a relegation in their history. In all fairness, the Marinos are in the main division from 1982, when they were called “Nissan Motors”. After them, Urawa Red Diamonds are the closest follower, having come back from J2 back in 2001.
And in J2? Funnily enough, there’s one team head and shoulders over others. They actually played Urawa Red Diamonds back in 2000, and they have an advantage of a decade over the closest follower (JEF United Chiba, who are unwillingly in the second division from 2010). Mito HollyHock have been the backbone of the J2 League, but what if 2025 could be the year of their relegation?
Been There, Always
Mito HollyHock started their run back in 1997, back when they played in the Japan Football League, the one who was the second division before the J2 League was born. They applied for a license towards the 1999 J. League Division 2 inaugural season, but got rejected because of financial instability and low attendance figures. After coming third in the new JFL in 1999 and with better attendance, they got accepted.
From 2000, Mito have always been there in the second division. They struggled for a decade, having their first breakthrough season back in 2009, when they got eighth in a 18 teams-league. The other highlights were definitely the seasons under Shigetoshi Hasebe – tenth in 2018 and seventh in 2019, when they narrowly missed the playoffs. They did very well with Tadahiro Akiba, who got them ninth in 2020, tenth in 2021, and 13th in 2022.
After that, reality struck in – because Ibaraki has already a big team and Mito’s budget is exactly big. In the last two seasons, Mito found a certain stability, but they did worse than what happened under Hasebe and Akiba. Mito hired Yoshiki Hamasaki for the succession, and got a 17th place in a 22 teams-championship. Which is okay, and they got to develop some players as well in the process.
2024 was similar, with Mito coming 15th out of the newly-renewed 20 teams-league. But they had also to change the head coach, dismissing Hamasaki and hiring Naoki Mori, who was also a former Mito player in the mid-2000s. Then he stayed, going from a spot as a youth coach in 2006 until being involved into the first team staff, and then taking over the main spot in May 2024.
Why Being Afraid?
Well, first of all – they lost their talisman. Koji Homma would never retire, and then he did it in the end in the last season. He was a historical figure for the club, despite not having played that much in the last 5-6 seasons. In 2025, Mito will have no more than three players will be in the roster with 3+ seasons under their belt for the club (Koichi Murata from 2019, Mizuki Ando and Koshi Osaki from 2021).
They relied on loans, since Mito under Hasebe and mostly Akiba were seeing a spot where several talents could develop and thrive (Ryotaro Ito will vouch for that). But the ones from the last two seasons didn’t work out as hoped. Kodai Dohi from Sanfrecce Hiroshima, Takatora Einaga from Kawasaki Frontale, Shumpei Naruse from Nagoya Grampus, Keita Buwanika from JEF United Chiba – all a bit disappointing.
What worked? Naoki Tsubaki relaunched his career in Mito. Motoki Ohara came back stronger to Hiroshima and confirmed his progress. Hidetoshi Takeda is a gem for these levels. Fumiya Inoki showed something interesting. But in general Mito also lacked goals in the last two seasons – in 2023, Mizuki Ando was the top-scorer with nine; in 2024, Riku Ochiai and Seiichiro Kubo with five.
And what about recent acquisitions? In 2025, Mito HollyHock will be the only roster with no foreigners and one of the youngest of the league (24,6 years of average – only Ehime FC and Iwaki FC have a younger one). Honestly, two signings from Oita Trinita, two from Tochigi SC, and a bunch of reserves from other teams don’t seem the best work doable (although Konosuke Nishikawa and Takumi Tsukui could become two bargains).
2000-2025
Last year, the relegation fight was never open. Thespa Gunma collapsed very early, and then neither Tochigi SC nor Kagoshima United FC had the pace to keep up with whom was in front. But that’s an outliar in the second division – where fights to avoid the drop have been pretty open even when we had 22 teams and just two relegations. And there’s also something else.
In the past, we’ve highlighted how much the geography of Japanese football is changing. The clubs who enjoyed an easy ride in J2 between the end of the 2000s and the beginning of 2010s are now struggling. That’s because there were no relegations, and even when they came into effect in 2010s, they struggled to happen. But now the situations has changed – J3 has play-offs!
Therefore, is it really that hard to imagine Mito HollyHock ending 18th? Looking at the roster, honestly, it wouldn’t be hard. Looking at the history of relegations from the second division, squads with way better rosters went down (e.g. Oita Trinita in 2015, FC Gifu in 2019, Matsumoto Yamaga in 2021, Omiya Ardija in 2023). And there’s also a lack of identity compared to similar realities.
They don’t have the strong defence of Blaublitz Akita. They don’t have offensive brand of football of Fujieda MYFC. They don’t have the vision of Iwaki FC. They don’t have a strong head coach like Renofa Yamaguchi or Roasso Kumamoto. They don’t even have the enthusiasm on which squads like Kataller Toyama could count on. Five squads in J3 had a better average attendance than Mito in 2024 (4,406).
And if all of this is missing, what’s exactly left to say they’re gonna avoid relegation?
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