FC Osaka

FC Osaka was founded in 1996. 11 years after its foundation, in 2007, the team won the Osaka Prefectural Football League Division 1 for the first time. In 2010, they participated in the Shakaijin Cup for the first time, losing to Norbritz Hokkaido in the first round). In 2011, they won the 1st Division of the Osaka Prefectural League for the 3rd time in three consecutive years. The club won the Kansai Prefectural Soccer League Final Tournament, and was then promoted to the Kansai Soccer League Division 2. From this year onwards, the club's operating corporation was changed from "Nippon Entertainment Group Co., Ltd." to "R Dash Co., Ltd.".

In 2012, they won the Kansai Soccer League 2nd Division with 13 wins and 1 loss, including an uncommon run of 10 consecutive wins that started on their debut match at the tournament, and this contributed to their promotion to the Kansai Soccer League 1st Division. In 2013, the club won the Division 1 with 12 wins and 2 draws, remaining unbeaten at the competition. However, on the Regional Champions League, they weren't able to finish in a position that would enable them to get a promotion, exiting the competition at the group stage. On the same year, it was established the women's teamm, "FC Osaka CRAVO".

In 2014, they won The KSL Island Shield of Awaji, they won the Shakaijin Cup, and the Osaka Prefectural Soccer Championship for the first time. That win enabled them to qualify, and make their debut at the Emperor's Cup. FC Osaka lost to Zweigen Kanazawa in the first round. But, this Emperor's Cup loss in the middle of the year didn't reflected how the rest of the season would go, as it resulted favorably for the Osaka-based team. After winning the Shakaijin Cup, the club was runners-up at the Regional Champions League, granting them the possibility of promotion for the Japan Football League (Japan's 4th tier league), only pending the JFL Board of Directors approval, which was given on 10 December.

In 2015, they defeated Cerezo Osaka in the first round of the 2015 Emperor's Cup. In 2018, the management corporation "General Incorporated Association FC Osaka Sports Club" was established as a prerequisite for joining the J League. In their 4th year participating in JFL, FC Osaka ended up in their highest ever position, finishing the tournament as runners-up. On 27 November of the same year, the club received an approval to make Higashiosaka City their hometown. The city is home to the Higashiosaka City Hanazono Rugby Stadium, which has undergone major renovations, ahead of the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

After that, on 26 November 2019, an agreement was signed between FC Osaka and Higashiosaka City regarding the renovation of the second ground of Higashiosaka Hanazono Rugby Stadium. Specifically, the second ground, which was deteriorating due to its age, was equipped with spectator seats for more than 5,000 spectators, preparing themselves to a possible promotion for the J3 League. A roof was installed on one of the stands, and the stand behind the goal was sloped. All construction costs was funded by FC Osaka and donated to the Higashiosaka City after completion. This renovation work was realized successfully, with the refurbishment work being completed after December 2021. In addition, on 26 November 2019, the club submitted documents for the J.League, applicating for the "J.League 100 Year Plan club status", as one of the prerequisites to join the J.League.

On 25 February 2020, the submitted documents received J.League approval, making FC Osaka one of the 100-year plan club status holders. After that, on 30 June, the club applied for a J3 league license, aiming to be promoted for the J3 league by 2021. The J3 League license was issued by the J.League on 15 September. FC Osaka couldn't be promoted to the J3 League on 2020, as at the time of league's abandonment, they were placed at 9th. On 2021, it worked out nearly the same way for the club, finishing just two points behind the Top 4, and at the 7th place.

In 2021, the top team's name FC Osaka was changed to F.C. Osaka (F.C.大阪, Efu. Sī. Osaka) as of 1 January that year.^[1] "FC" not only means "football club", but also various fields (Field), foundation / substrate (Foundation), for people (For people) "F" ” and the “C” which stands for Community contribution, Cooperation, Confidence and Creation. Osaka” was changed to “F.C.Osaka” (English notation: F.C.✩OSAKA).

On 12 January 2022, the name was changed back to FC Osaka.^[2]

On 5 November, FC Osaka were promoted to J3 League for the first time in their history, after spending eight seasons in Japan Football League. 15 days later at the same month, The club was promoted after finishing as runners-up and going over the 2,000 minimum average home attendance, with a 10-goal difference between the club and Nara Club, who were awarded as champions. Despite FC Osaka having one more match won than Nara, the club also had two more matches lost than Nara. This tight gap between them and the champions, Nara Club, however, contributed positively for the hardly-fought promotion for the J3 League, where they will be playing from the 2023 season.

FC Osaka will use the Hanazono Rugby Stadium in all matches of the 2023 J3 season, confirmed after the full league calendar was released on 20 January 2023.

Key

As of 31 July 2024.^[3][4] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK   JPN Tatsunari Nagai 2 DF   JPN Kazuya Mima 3 DF   JPN Ryusei Saito 5 DF   JPN Shusuke Sakamoto (captain) 6 DF   JPN Shunsuke Tachino 7 MF   JPN Takahiro Kitsui 8 MF   JPN Keita Hidaka 9 FW   JPN Takumi Shimada 10 FW   JPN Rikuto Kubo 11 MF   JPN Rui Tone 14 FW   JPN Naoki Tanaka 15 MF   JPN Kazuya Miyagi 16 MF   JPN Yuta Shimozawa (on loan from Tegevajaro Miyazaki) 17 DF   JPN Yuto Kide 18 FW   JPN Kaito Utaka 19 MF   JPN Shunji Masuda 20 MF   JPN Asahi Haga (on loan from Iwaki FC) 21 FW   JPN Sora Mochizuki 22 DF   JPN Kaito Hayashida 23 DF   JPN Takuya Akiyama 25 MF   JPN Seigo Takei

No. Pos. Nation Player 26 MF   JPN Soichiro Tsutsumi 27 FW   JPN Ryota Sawazaki 29 GK   KOR Kang Sung-guk 30 DF   JPN Rinshiro Kojima (on loan from Kagoshima United) 31 GK   JPN Koji Yamada 33 MF   KOR Woo Sang-ho 34 FW   JPN Daigo Furukawa 35 DF   KOR Choi Young-hoon 36 FW   KOR Ji Seong-min 38 MF   JPN Yamato Natsukawa 39 DF   JPN Ryosei Ito 40 GK   JPN Toi Yamamoto 41 MF   JPN Yuto Kokuryo 42 FW   BRA Everton Kanela 43 FW   JPN Masaki Nishimura 44 DF   JPN Malick Fofana (on loan from Tiamo Hirakata) 47 DF   JPN Yuto Minakuchi (on loan from SC Sagamihara) 81 FW   AUS Jonas Markovski 98 DF   BRA João Moura 99 MF   MAS Muhammad Khalil (on loan from Selangor) — DF   KOR Cho Young-kwang (on loan from FC Seoul)

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 4 DF   JPN Genki Egawa (at Tegevajaro Miyazaki) 13 FW   JPN Hayate Take (at Tegevajaro Miyazaki) 24 FW   JPN Kentaro Shigematsu (at FC Ryukyu) 28 FW   JPN Katsuyuki Ishibashi (at   Pocheon Citizen)

No. Pos. Nation Player 30 FW   BRA Efrain Rintaro (at   Shan United) 32 DF   JPN Yuto Fujita (at   Pocheon Citizen) — FW   JPN Talla Ndao (at Maruyasu Okazaki)

As of 15 December 2022

Manager	Nationality	Tenure
		Start	Finish
Masami Ogawa	Japan	1 February 2007	31 July 2008
Shigeru Morioka	Japan	1 August 2008	31 December 2015
Haruo Wada	Japan	1 February 2016	31 January 2020
Shinya Tsukahara	Japan	1 February 2020	31 January 2023
Ryo Shigaki	Japan	1 February 2023	31 January 2024
Naoto Otake	Japan	1 February 2024	present

On September 2, 2014, FC Osaka announced a partnership with Sporting Clube de Macau, which makes the transfer of players between Macau and Japan possible.^[5]

• Official website
• FC Osaka on Facebook