Nagoya Grampus

Nagoya Grampus^{[Jp. 1]}, formerly known as Nagoya Grampus Eight^{[Jp. 2]}, is a Japanese association football club that plays in the J1 League, and have for all but one season since the inauguration of the league, following promotion from the J2 League in 2017.

Nagoya Grampus

Full name	Nagoya Grampus
Nickname	Grampus
Founded	1946; 79 years ago (1946) as Toyota Motor SC
Stadium	Toyota Stadium
Capacity	44,692[1]
Owner	Toyota
Chairman	Toyo Kato
Manager	Mihailo Petrović
League	J1 League
2025	J1 League, 16th of 20
Website	nagoya-grampus.jp
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Based in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture and founded as the company team of the Toyota Motor Corp. in 1939, the club shares its home games between Mizuho Athletic Stadium (capacity 27,000 and the J.League's oldest serving stadium) and the much larger Toyota Stadium in the city of Toyota (capacity 45,000).

Grampus had its most successful season up to 1996 when it was managed by Arsène Wenger, well known for his subsequent exploits at Arsenal. They won the Emperor's Cup and finished second in the J.League, with their FR Yugoslavia captain Dragan Stojković being named J.League MVP. The 1995 success was eclipsed on November 20, 2010, when the club won its first J.League trophy, under the management of Stojković.^[2]

The team's name was derived from two prominent symbols of Nagoya. The first is the shachihoko (tiger-headed carp) statues atop Nagoya Castle, also called shachi; this word is a homophone with the Japanese word for orca, a species formerly referred to as "grampus". The second is the maru-hachi (circle-eight), Nagoya's official emblem. The team's mascot is Grampus-kun, an orca.^[3]

History

Japan Soccer League era

Toyota Motor SC was overshadowed by its colleague Toyota Automated Loom Works SC (founded in 1946 and which was one of the founding members of the Japan Soccer League). When Toyota ALW were relegated to regional leagues in 1968, Toyota Motor saw an opportunity to rise at their expense.^[4]

In 1972, the club was founding members of the JSL's Second Division and its inaugural champions. They remained in the JSL until the J.League's founding in 1993. They were relegated to the JSL Division 2 in 1977. In 1990, the club name was changed to "Nagoya Grampus Eight".

After a brief return in 1987–88, they were promoted for good in 1989–90 and remained in the top flight for 26 years, until 2016.

J.League era

Grampus Eight was an original member ("Original Ten"^[a]) of the J.League in 1993. In 1996, future Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger led Grampus to the 1996 Emperor's Cup and a runners-up finish in the J.League, the club's best finish.

The team's name "Nagoya Grampus Eight" was changed to just "Nagoya Grampus" at the start of the 2008 season.^[4] In 2008, Nagoya appointed former player Dragan Stojković as manager. They finished in third place and qualified for the AFC Champions League for the first time.^[5] Stojković has since led the club to winning the J.League in the 2010 season, featuring a squad consisting of Marcus Tulio Tanaka, Mu Kanazaki, Seigo Narazaki, Yoshizumi Ogawa, Keiji Tamada and Joshua Kennedy.^[2] After a poor 2016 season, Grampus were relegated to J2 League for the first time in their history.^[6] Boško Gjurovski left his post as manager.^[7] On 4 January 2017, Yahiro Kazama was appointed as the club's new manager.^[8] On 3 December 2017, Grampus drew 0–0 against Avispa Fukuoka in the promotion playoff final, securing promotion back to J1 League at the first time of asking due to their higher regular season position than Avispa Fukuoka.^[9] On 23 September 2019, Massimo Ficcadenti was appointed as the club's new manager. The Italian manager led the club the winner of the J.League Cup in 2021. However, Grampus didn't renew a contract with Ficcadenti, and appointed Kenta Hasegawa as their new manager.

Kashima Soccer Stadium curse

Since Grampus were dealt a 5–0 defeat by the Kashima Antlers at the Kashima Soccer Stadium on 16 May in the 1993 J.League season opener, Grampus suffered a losing streak of 22 consecutive games to the Kashima Antlers at the Kashima Soccer Stadium which included Emperor's Cup and J.League Cup games. Grampus finally got their first victory over the Kashima Antlers at the Kashima Soccer Stadium on 23 August of the 2008 J.League season, some 15 years later.

Affiliated clubs

• AS Roma (2022−present)
• Everton F.C. (2025−present)

On 25 November 2022, Nagoya Grampus sign partnership with Serie A club, AS Roma.^[10]

On 21 August 2025, Nagoya Grampus signed a similar partnership with Premier League club, Everton F.C.^[11]

In popular culture

In the Captain Tsubasa manga series, one character was player of Nagoya Grampus and is the goalkeeper Ken Wakashimazu which was player of Yokohama Flügels before the closing of the Yokohama team. In 2013, the midfielder Shingo Aoi wear the Nagoya Grampus jersey in a Yoichi Takahashi tribute to the 20 years of J.League.

Kit and colours

Nagoya Grampus former crest from 1990 to 2023

Sponsors

Season(s)	Kit Manufacturer	Main Shirt Sponsor	Collarbone Sponsor		Additional Sponsor(s)
2019	Mizuno	Toyota	Senon (Left)	Tokai Tokyo Securities (Right)	Denso	Toyota Tsusho	TS3	Toyota Gazoo Racing	Before the ban is lifted
2020		Toyota / GR Yaris	Goo Net (Left)	au 5G (Right・1st) au (Right・2nd)					-
2021		GR Yaris			Toyota Industries
2022		GR 86		au 5G (Right)					V Vantelin
2023				Waku Sutaffu (Right)	AISIN			V Vantelin	-
2024

Kit evolution

Home kit - 1st
1992	1993	1994 - 1996	1997	1998
1999 - 2000	2001 - 2002	2003 - 2004	2005 - 2006	2007 - 2008
2009 - 2010	2011 - 2012	2013 - 2014	2015	2016
2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
2022	2023	2024	2025 -

Away kit - 2nd
1992	1993	1994 - 1996	1997	1998
1999 - 2000	2001 - 2002	2003 - 2004	2005 - 2006	2007 - 2008
2009 - 2010	2011 - 2012	2013 - 2014	2015	2016
2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
2022	2023	2024	2025 -

Alternative Kits
2001 - 2002 3rd	2011 1st ACL	2012 1st ACL	2012 20th Anniversary	2013 20th Anniversary
2014 Nagoya TV Tower 60th Anniversary	2017 25th Anniversary	2018 J.League 25th Anniversary	2019 Shachi Festival	2021 Shachi Festival
2022 Great Celebration of Tai	2023 Great Celebration of Tuna	2024 Great Celebration of Tuna	2025 Shachi Festival

Current squad

As of 15 August 2025.^[12]

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 Daniel Schmidt 2 DF  JPN Yuki Nogami 3 DF  JPN Yota Sato 6 DF  JPN Akinari Kawazura 7 MF  JPN Ryuji Izumi (captain) 8 MF  JPN Keiya Shiihashi 9 MF  JPN Yuya Asano 10 FW  BRA Mateus 11 FW  JPN Yuya Yamagishi 13 DF  JPN Haruya Fujii 14 MF  JPN Tsukasa Morishima 15 MF  JPN Sho Inagaki 16 GK  JPN Yohei Takeda 17 MF  JPN Takuya Uchida 18 FW  JPN Kensuke Nagai 20 DF  JPN Kennedy Egbus Mikuni 21 GK  JPN Daichi Sugimoto

No. Pos. Nation Player 22 FW  JPN Yudai Kimura 26 MF  JPN Gen Kato (vice-captain) 27 MF  JPN Katsuhiro Nakayama 30 FW  JPN Shungo Sugiura 31 GK  JPN Tsuyoshi Kodama 32 MF  JPN Haruto Suzuki 33 MF  JPN Taichi Kikuchi 35 GK  JPN Alex Pisano 41 MF  JPN Masahito Ono 42 FW  JPN Ritsu Onishi Type 2 43 GK  JPN Hiroaki Hagi Type 2 44 DF  JPN Soichiro Mori Type 2 46 DF  JPN Ryuki Oiso DSP 55 DF  JPN Shuhei Tokumoto (vice-captain) 66 MF  JPN Ryosuke Yamanaka 70 DF  JPN Teruki Hara 77 FW  DEN Kasper Junker

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 4 DF  JPN Daiki Miya (at Consadole Sapporo) 28 FW  JPN Kyota Sakakibara (at Fujieda MYFC) 99 FW  TOG Yves Avelete (at FC Osaka) — DF  JPN Ei Gyotoku (at Nagano Parceiro) — DF  KOR Ha Chang-rae (at Daejeon Hana Citizen)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  JPN Hidemasa Koda (at Ehime FC) — MF  JPN Ken Masui (at Júbilo Iwata) — MF  JPN Haruki Yoshida (at Ehime FC) — FW  JPN Ryōga Kida (at Argentinos Juniors)

Club officials

Club Staff for 2026 ^[13]

Position	Name
Manager	Michael Petrovic
Head coach	Kosuke Takeya
Coaches	Tsuyoshi Yoshitake Keiji Yoshimura
Analytical coach	Ryosuke Sato Shuta Tsukamoto
Goalkeeper coach	Kazumasa Kawano
Assistant goalkeeper coach	Seigo Narazaki
Performance coach	Daisuke Uematsu
Physical coach	Kaito Yamada
Chief doctor	Shinya Ishizuka
Physiotherapist	Masakazu Mizutani Toru Fujii
Chief trainer	Kento Fujita
Trainer	Hiroki Kondo Kohei Baba
Team side manager	Minoru Mita
Side affairs	Shinichi Kitano Shinnosuke Ishizaka Yasuhiro Tanigawa
Interpreter	Kota Kurosu Takashi Kurokawa Moon Keon-ho

Manager history

Information correct as of match played 6 January 2025. Only competitive matches are counted.

Name	Nat.	From	To	P	W	D	L	F	A	%W
Marcos Falopa	Brazil	1991	1992	11	6	0	5	0	0	054.55
Ryuzo Hiraki	Japan	1992	1993	36	12	0	24	0	0	033.33
Gordon Milne	England	1 January 1994	31 December 1994	42	14	0	28	0	0	033.33
Tetsuro Miura (caretaker)	Japan	1 January 1995	30 June 1995	2	1	0	1	0	0	050.00
Arsène Wenger	France	1 July 1995	30 September 1996	87	49	4	34	0	0	056.32
José Costa (caretaker)	Portugal	30 September 1996	21 November 1996	3	3	0	0	0	0	100.00
Carlos Queiroz	Portugal	21 November 1996	November 1997	38	19	0	19	72	69	050.00
Koji Tanaka	Japan	1997	1999	40	25	1	14	0	0	062.50
Daniel Sanchez	France	1 January 1998	31 January 1998	13	6	1	6	0	0	046.15
Mazarópi (caretaker)	Brazil	1999	1999	3	2	0	1	0	0	066.67
João Carlos	Brazil	1999	2001	55	34	4	17	0	0	061.82
Tetsuro Miura	Japan	2001	2001	15	7	1	7	0	0	046.67
Zdenko Verdenik	Slovenia	1 January 2002	4 August 2003	45	20	9	16	0	0	044.44
Nelsinho Baptista	Brazil	29 July 2003	20 September 2005	84	32	23	29	0	0	038.10
Hitoshi Nakata (caretaker)	Japan	21 September 2005	31 December 2005	10	2	1	7	0	0	020.00
Sef Vergoossen	Netherlands	1 January 2006	31 December 2007	68	26	15	27	0	0	038.24
Dragan Stojković Piksi	Serbia	22 January 2008	7 December 2013	278	141	56	81	0	0	050.72
Akira Nishino	Japan	25 December 2013	22 November 2015	68	26	16	26	135	123	038.24
Takafumi Ogura	Japan	24 November 2015	23 August 2016	26	4	7	15	30	56	015.38
Boško Gjurovski (caretaker)	North Macedonia	23 August 2016	6 November 2016[7]	9	3	2	4	12	13	033.33
Yahiro Kazama	Japan	4 January 2017[8]	23 September 2019 [14]	102	43	18	41	157	147	042.16
Massimo Ficcadenti	Italy	23 September 2019[15]	9 December 2021[16]	97	53	20	24	136	86	054.64
Kenta Hasegawa	Japan	9 December 2021[17]	31 December 2025	143	60	34	49	0	0	041.96
Mihailo Petrović	Serbia	1 January 2026[18]		0	0	0	0	0	0	!—

• Notes:

P – Total of played matches W – Won matches D – Drawn matches L – Lost matches F – Goal scored A – Goals against
%W – Percentage of matches won Nationality is indicated by the corresponding FIFA country code(s).

Personnel awards

• J.League Player of the Year

• Dragan Stojković (1995)
• Seigo Narazaki (2010)

• J.League Top Scorer

• Ueslei (2003)
• Joshua Kennedy (2010, 2011)
• Jô (2018)

• J.League Best Eleven

• Dragan Stojković (1995, 1996, 1999)
• Ueslei (2003)
• Seigo Narazaki (2003, 2008, 2010, 2011)
• Marques (2004)
• Yoshizumi Ogawa (2008)
• Joshua Kennedy (2010, 2011)
• Danilson Córdoba (2010)
• Marcus Tulio Tanaka (2010, 2011, 2012)
• Takahiro Masukawa (2010)
• Jungo Fujimoto (2011)
• Jô (2018)
• Mitchell Langerak (2021)

• J.League Rookie of the Year

• Yoshizumi Ogawa (2008)

• J.League Manager of the Year

• Arsène Wenger (1995)
• Dragan Stojković (2010)

World Cup players

The following players have been selected by their country in the World Cup, while playing for Nagoya Grampus:

• Takashi Hirano (1998)
• Dragan Stojković (1998)
• Seigo Narazaki (2002, 2006, 2010)
• Keiji Tamada (2006, 2010)
• Joshua Kennedy (2010)
• Marcus Tulio Tanaka (2010)

Record as J.League member

See also: List of Nagoya Grampus records and statistics

Champions

Runners-up

Third place

Promoted

Relegated

Season	Div.	Teams	Pos.	Attendance/G	J.League Cup	Emperor's Cup	Asia
1992	–	–	–	–	Semi-final	1st round	Did not qualify	Did not qualify
1993	J1	10	9th	19,858	Group stage	Quarter-final
1994		12	11th	21,842	First round	2nd round
1995		14	3rd	21,463	–	Winners
1996		16	2nd	21,699	Group stage	3rd round
1997		17	9th	14,750	Semi-final	3rd round	CWC	Runners-up
1998		18	5th	13,993	Group stage	Semi-final	Did not qualify	Did not qualify
1999		16	4th	14,688	Semi-final	Winners
2000		16	9th	14,114	Semi-final	Round of 16
2001		16	5th	16,974	Semi-final	3rd round	CWC	Quarter-finals
2002		16	6th	16,323	Group stage	Round of 16	Did not qualify	Did not qualify
2003		16	7th	16,768	Semi-final	Round of 16
2004		16	7th	15,712	Semi-final	Round of 16
2005		18	14th	13,288	Group stage	Round of 16
2006		18	7th	14,924	Group stage	Round of 16
2007		18	11th	15,585	Group stage	Round of 16
2008		18	3rd	16,555	Semi-final	Quarter-final
2009		18	9th	15,928	Quarter-final	Runners-up	CL	Semi-final
2010		18	1st	19,979	Group stage	Quarter-final	Did not qualify	Did not qualify
2011		18	2nd	16,741	Semi-final	Quarter-final	CL	Round of 16
2012		18	7th	17,155	Quarter-final	Quarter-final	CL	Round of 16
2013		18	11th	16,135	Group stage	Second round	Did not qualify	Did not qualify
2014		18	10th	16,734	Group stage	Quarter-final
2015		18	9th	16,240	Quarter-final	Second round
2016		18	16th	17,729	Group stage	Second round
2017	J2	22	3rd	15,365	Not eligible	Round of 16
2018	J1	18	15th	24,961	Group stage	3rd round
2019		18	13th	27,612	Quarter-final	Second round
2020 †		18	3rd	8,537	Quarter-final	Not eligible
2021 †		20	5th	11,080	Winners	Quarter-final	CL	Quarter-final
2022		18	8th	18,813	Quarter-final	Round of 16	Did not qualify	Did not qualify
2023		18	6th	27,504	Semi-final	Quarter-final
2024		20	11th	27,650	Winners	2nd round
2025		20	16th	32,263	2nd round	Quarter-final
2026-27		20	TBD		TBD	TBD

Key

• Pos. = Position in league
• Attendance/G = Average league attendance
• † 2020 & 2021 seasons attendances reduced by COVID-19 worldwide pandemic.
• Source: J. League Data Site

Honours

As Toyota Motor SC (1939–1991) and as Nagoya Grampus (1991–present)

Nagoya Grampus honours

Honour	No.	Years
J1 League	1	2010
Japan Soccer League Division 2	1	1972
Emperor's Cup	2	1995, 1999
J.League Cup	2	2021, 2024
Japanese Super Cup	2	1996, 2011
All Japan Senior Football Championship	2	1968, 1970
Konica Cup	1	1991

League history

• Regional League (Tokai Adult Soccer League): 1966–71
• Division 2 (JSL Div. 2): 1972
• Division 1 (JSL Div. 1): 1973–77
• Division 2 (JSL Div. 2): 1978–86
• Division 1 (JSL Div. 1): 1987
• Division 2 (JSL Div. 2): 1988–89
• Division 1 (JSL Div. 1): 1990–91
• Division 1 (J.League Div. 1): 1992–2016
• Division 2 (J2 League): 2017
• Division 1 (J.League Div. 1): 2018

As of 2025: 41 seasons in the top tier, 13 seasons in the second tier and 6 seasons in the Regional Leagues.

See also

• Grampus-kun (The team mascot)

Notes

1. Japanese: 名古屋グランパス, Hepburn: Nagoya Guranpasu
2. Japanese: 名古屋グランパスエイト, Hepburn: Nagoya Guranpasu Eito

1. The Original Ten of the J.League in 1992 were Kashima Antlers, Urawa Red Diamonds, JEF United Ichihara, Verdy Kawasaki, Yokohama Marinos, Yokohama Flügels, Shimizu S-Pulse, Nagoya Grampus Eight, Gamba Osaka and Sanfrecce Hiroshima.