F.C. Gifu
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| Full name | Gifu Football Club Co., Ltd. |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2001 |
| Ground |
Gifu Nagaragawa Stadium Gifu, Gifu Prefecture |
| Capacity | 26,109 |
| Chairman | Hiroyuki Miyata |
| Manager | Takeshi Oki |
| League | J2 League |
| 2016 | 20th |
| Website | Club home page |
Football Club Gifu, abbreviated as F.C. Gifu (FC岐阜? Efu Shī Gifu) is a Japanese football club based in Gifu, Japan. They play in the J2 League, the second tier of Japanese professional football.
During the Japan Soccer League and former Japan Football League years, the city and prefecture of Gifu were represented by the Seino Transportation Co. (西濃運輸 Seinō Un'yu) works team, which was relegated from the old JFL for the last time in 1997 and folded shortly thereafter.
The modern-day Gifu club was founded in 2001 (Seino's last manager Masayuki Katsuno was among the founders, and a former Seino player, Takashi Umeda, recently returned to town and joined the club following a decade-long stint with Oita Trinita). The club was promoted to the new Japan Football League in 2007 after beating Honda Lock S.C. in the promotion/relegation play-offs.
The team earned third place at the end of the 2007 season, meaning it qualified for promotion to J. League Division 2. On December 3, 2007, J. League approved a promotion for the team for the 2008 season.
The club finished the 2012 season in 21st place, narrowly missing out on relegation to the Japan Football League.
The team's crest was designed to represent Gifu Prefecture. The top of the crest represents the mountain ranges of the northern part of the prefecture. The flowers are Chinese milk vetch, which are the prefectural flower. Each of the three lines represents one of the Kiso Three Rivers flowing through the prefecture. The banner at the base of the crest is the same as the symbol on the helmet of the victorious Tokugawa clan at the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600.
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