The growth of Iwaki FC, a new club in the J League, is remarkable. A young writer, Yusei Kakizaki, tells us first-hand the hot current situation in which the prideful “football that breathes the soul” grows players and clubs, and passionately involves the local community.
In episode 15, we will take a look at the team’s growth in the 2025 season, which has made strides in the second half, and Iwaki’s chances of winning promotion to J1, led by coach Yuzo Tamura, who will continue to play next season.
The 2025 season marked the club’s 10th anniversary
Iwaki FC, which is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the club’s founding, finished the season in 9th place in J2 this season, scoring 15 wins, 11 draws, and 12 losses, scoring 55 goals and conceding 44 goals, with 56 points.
Although they finished in the same ranking as the 2024 season, the depth of the content was significantly different.
A difficult start with no wins in the first nine games, ace Ace Tanimura Umina’s transfer to J1 Yokohama F. Marinos midway through the season, and a major breakthrough in the second half. Furthermore, dramatic developments continued, such as the club producing its first Japanese national team player, and the game ended on a sad note, like a Sunday theater show.
At the press conference after the final match against Vegalta Sendai, coach Yuzo Tamura said with a sad tone:
“Honestly, I wanted to build a team that could continue. The reason we couldn’t achieve that goal was because we didn’t have the strength. I want to take advantage of this in the next season.”
Iwaki FC has had the rare “jinx” of never dropping below the previous year’s results.
With the loss in Round 36 against Blaublitz Akita, the possibility of making it to the J1 promotion playoffs has disappeared, and the goal for the remaining two games has been revised downward to “exceed last year”. To surpass last year’s 54 points, they needed at least one or two wins in their remaining games. It was a series of games against difficult opponents such as Renofa Yamaguchi FC, who are aiming for a come-from-behind survival, and Vegalta Sendai, who are fighting for a promotion playoff spot, but instead of relying on any special tricks, they accumulated four points by accumulating over the past year and playing flexibly according to the opponent, and narrowly managed to surpass last year’s level.
The comeback in the second half of the league was spectacular.
In the second half alone, they had 11 wins, 4 draws, and 4 losses, with 34 points scored and 15 conceded, and 37 points. Considering that they had 4 wins, 7 draws, and 8 losses in the first half, scoring 21 goals and conceding 29 points, with 19 points (equivalent to 15th place), their winning points have approximately doubled, their points have increased by more than 1.5 times, and their goals conceded have been halved. The team has gone from being in a fight to stay on to the top, to the point where they are fighting for the top spot. For that reason, the match against Montedio Yamagata in Round 28 (0-1 loss) and the match against Ventforet Kofu in Round 31 (2-3 loss), both of which were at the peak of their momentum in the second half, were disappointing losses.
The starting point of the season was, after all, a quagmire with no wins in the opening nine games.
The team’s rise from last place is the result of the unyielding efforts of the players, manager, and coaches, and the result of focusing on winning the one game in front of them.Part 7 of this series is “Behind the scenes of Iwaki’s first victory, which I can’t believe is the lowest ranked team.” Now, let’s counterattack.”We analyzed the cause of the poor performance in the first half, but here we will focus on the preparation period before the start of the season.
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Yusei Kakizaki
Born on November 29, 1996. My first encounter with soccer was in the 2005 Germany World Cup final qualifying match against North Korea at home. He became a supporter of Gamba Osaka because he was living in Osaka at the time and was captivated by Masashi Daikoku, who scored just before the end of the game. From 2022, he will become a reporter for the soccer newspaper El Golasso Iwaki FC, watching over the growth of future great players.
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