Reilac Shiga FC

Japanese football club
Football club
Reilac Shiga FC
レイラック滋賀FC
Full nameReilac Shiga Football Club
Founded2005; 21 years ago (2005) as Sagawa Express Kyoto Soccer Club
StadiumHeiwado HATO Stadium
Hikone, Shiga
Capacity9,000
ChairmanYoshitaka Kawahara
ManagerMakoto Kakuda
LeagueJ3 League
2025Japan Football League, 2nd of 16 (promoted via play-offs)
Websitereilac-shiga.co.jp

Reilac Shiga FC (レイラック滋賀FC, Reirakku Shiga Efu Shī), formerly MIO Biwako Shiga (MIOびわこ滋賀, Mīo Biwako Shiga), with "Biwako" being a reference to Lake Biwa, is a Japanese football club based in Hikone, Shiga Prefecture. They set to play in J3 League from 2026–27, Japanese third tier of football league after promotion from Japan Football League in 2025.

History

The club was formed in 2005 from the former Sagawa Express SC Kyoto. They were first called FC Mi-O Biwako Kusatsu. In 2007, upon promotion to the JFL, they renamed themselves simply MIO Biwako Kusatsu until 2011.

Regional League and Promotion to JFL (–2007)

In 2007, they secured third place in the regional playoffs of the regional playoffs, earning promotion to the JFL for the 2008 season. This marked their first promotion to the Japan Football League at the end of 2007.

JFL (2008–2025)

The club played their first season in 2008 where they finished 14th.

In 2012, they renamed themselves MIO Biwako Shiga, in order to extend their fanbase to the entire extent of Shiga Prefecture, particularly the area around southern Lake Biwa, in where they mostly have played matches.

In 2022, MIO Biwako Shiga finished in the last place out of the 16 participating teams in the season. The club, however, was not relegated back to the Kansai League, as JFL's top 2 teams were promoted to the J3. Under the league system, MIO Biwako would only be relegated as the last-placed team if no team or only one team had earned promotion to the J3 during the season, which was not the case.

On 27 January 2023, MIO Biwako Shiga announced a name change, becoming Reilac Shiga FC from 2023. On 1 February 2023, the new identity was fully introduced with the new crest release.

On 28 November 2023, At the J League Board of Directors meeting held on this day, Reilac Shiga was decided to issue J3 club licenses for the 2024 season.[1][2]

They will play their 18th consecutive season of JFL football in 2025 in its new home stadium of Heiwado HATO Stadium in Hikone. In that season, the team ends in 2nd places, four points behind the champions Honda FC and qualified for the Promotion-Relegation play-offs against the bottomplace of the 2025 J3 League, Azul Claro Numazu.

On 14 December 2025, Reilac Shiga secure promotion to J3 League for the first time in their history from next season after draw against Azul Claro Numazu 1–1 in away game, won aggregate 4–3 and ended 12 years in fourth tier.[3]

J. League (2026–)

Changes in club name

  • Sagawa Express Kyoto Soccer Club : 2005
  • FC Mi-O Biwako Kusatsu : 2006–2007
  • MIO Biwako Kusatsu : 2008–2011
  • MIO Biwako Shiga : 2012–2022
  • Reilac Shiga FC : 2023–present

League and cup record

Champions Runners-up Third place Promoted Relegated
League Emperor's
Cup
J.League Cup
Season Division Tier Teams Pos. P W D L F A GD Pts Attendance/G
FC Mi-O Biwako Kusatsu
2006 Kansai Soccer League
(Div. 1)
4 8 2nd 14 8 2 4 28 17 11 26 Did not qualify Ineligible
2007 2nd 14 10 2 2 48 11 37 34 2nd round
MIO Biwako Kusatsu
2008 Japan Football League 3 18 14th 34 10 8 16 40 62 -22 38 854 Did not qualify Ineligible
2009 8th 34 13 9 12 51 43 8 48 996
2010 11th 34 13 7 14 51 56 -5 46 793 2nd round
2011 13th 33 11 5 17 43 65 -22 38 671 Did not qualify
MIO Biwako Shiga
2012 Japan Football League 3 17 8th 32 11 10 11 53 52 1 43 637 Did not qualify Ineligible
2013 18 16th 34 8 6 20 40 56 -16 30 543 1st round
2014 4 14 12th 26 6 4 16 24 50 -26 22 644 Did not qualify
2015 16 11th 30 9 7 14 36 41 -5 34 894 2nd round
2016 9th 30 11 7 12 38 45 -7 40 680 1st round
2017 13th 30 6 9 15 33 51 -18 27 651 Did not qualify
2018 7th 30 13 7 10 38 35 3 46 512 2nd round
2019 9th 30 11 7 12 27 40 -13 40 553 1st round
2020 9th 15 6 2 7 23 27 -4 20 309 2nd round
2021 17 12th 32 10 7 15 35 48 -13 37 483 Did not qualify
2022 16 16th 30 5 6 19 21 57 -36 21 517 1st round
Reilac Shiga FC
2023 Japan Football League 4 15 3rd 28 11 11 6 47 37 10 44 955 2nd round Ineligible
2024 16 4th 30 14 6 10 49 45 4 50 2,072 Did not qualify
2025 2nd 30 16 8 6 47 35 12 56 2,356 Did not qualify
2026 J3 League 3 10 TBD 18 N/A N/A
2026–27 20 TBD 38 TBD TBD
Key
  • Pos. = Position in league; P = Games played; W = Games won; D = Games drawn; L = Games lost; F = Goals scored; A = Goals conceded; GD = Goals difference; Pts = Points gained
  • Attendance/G = Average home league attendance
  • 2020 & 2021 seasons attendances reduced by COVID-19 worldwide pandemic

Honours

Reilac Shiga FC Honours
Honour No. Years
Shiga Prefectural Football Championship,

Shiga FA Cup and Emperor's Cup Shiga Prefectural Qualifiers

10 2007, 2010, 2013, 2015, 2016,
2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023
All Japan Adult Football Championship - Shakaijin Cup 1 2007
J3/JFL Play-off winner 1 2025

Current squad

As of 1 July 2024.[4]

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 Koki Ito
2 DF  JPN Shunsuke Hirai (on loan from Yokohama F. Marinos)
3 DF  JPN Masafumi Miyagi
4 DF  JPN Keita Ide
6 DF  JPN Aiki Matano
7 FW  JPN Koki Ogaki
8 FW  JPN Masato Igarashi
9 FW  JPN Hiryu Okuda
10 FW  JPN Daiki Enomoto
13 MF  JPN Shota Saito
14 MF  JPN Tomoyuki Shiraishi
15 MF  JPN Kazune Kubota
16 DF  JPN Yukuto Omoya
17 DF  JPN Shinji Yamaguchi
18 FW  JPN Shun Akiyama
19 GK  JPN Yuta Terasawa
20 DF  JPN Shunsaku Kishimoto
21 GK  JPN Tomofumi Ikematsu
22 MF  JPN Kazuki Shoji
No. Pos. Nation Player
23 MF  JPN Shuto Tatsuta
24 FW  JPN Taiga Matsubara
25 MF  JPN Yudai Yamashita (on loan from Tokushima Vortis)
26 DF  JPN Shun Tsunoda
28 MF  JPN Yu Tabei
31 GK  JPN Sunao Kasahara
32 MF  JPN Genta Umiguchi
33 MF  JPN Kodai Sakamoto
35 FW  JPN Taku Kikushima
37 MF  JPN Frank Romero
38 DF  JPN Tomoyuki Maekawa
41 MF  JPN Takuto Minami
44 MF  JPN Hayata Komatsu
48 MF  JPN Takaya Yakushinji
50 DF  JPN So Hirao
55 DF  JPN Kenya Onodera
62 DF  JPN Koma Osato (on loan from Sagan Tosu)
77 FW  JPN Shinta Hojo
FW  JPN Himan Morimoto (on loan from Tiamo Hirakata)

Coaching staff

Club coaching staff [5]

Role Name
General Director Japan Koji Kurusu
Manager Japan Makoto Kakuda[6]
Head coach Japan Hiroki Higashi
Assistant coach Japan Daichi Okamoto
Goalkeeper coach Japan Teru Teramine
Assistance Goalkeeper coach Japan Naoto Hirai
Competent Japan Yuto Teramoto
Deputy Officer Japan Shiorihiro Inoda

Managerial history

Manager Nationality Tenure
Start Finish
Tetsuya Totsuka  Japan 13 September 2007 31 January 2008
Naoki Hiraoka  Japan 1 February 2008 23 July 2008
Hiroki Azuma  Japan 1 October 2008 31 January 2009
Haruo Wada  Japan 1 February 2009 1 October 2011
Hiroki Azuma  Japan 1 October 2011 1 July 2014
Koji Kawashima  Japan 1 July 2014 31 January 2015
Kōtarō Nakao  Japan 1 January 2015 31 December 2015
Masafumi Nakaguchi  Japan 1 February 2016 31 January 2020
Hiroshi Ōtsuki  Japan 1 February 2020 27 September 2022
Hiroki Azuma  Japan 5 October 2022 31 January 2023
Akira Teramine  Japan 1 February 2023 3 September 2023
Toshimi Kikuchi  Japan 4 September 2023 15 July 2024
Hiroki Higashi  Japan 21 July 2024 31 July 2024
Makoto Kakuda  Japan 31 July 2024 Current

References

  1. ^ "2024シーズンJ3クラブライセンス判定結果について(J3入会を希望するクラブ)" (Press release). 日本プロサッカーリーグ(Jリーグ). 2023-11-28. Retrieved 2023-11-28.
  2. ^ "Jリーグ 2024シーズン J3クラブライセンス交付 に関するお知らせ" (Press release). レイラック滋賀FC. 2023-11-28. Retrieved 2023-11-30.
  3. ^ "J3 League confirmation". reilac-shiga.co.jp. Retrieved 29 December 2025.
  4. ^ "トップチーム". reilac-shiga.co.jp/. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
  5. ^ "Staff". reilac-shiga.co.jp. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
  6. ^ "New manager appointed". reilac-shiga.co.jp. reilac-shiga.co.jp. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
  • Official website (in Japanese)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Reilac_Shiga_FC&oldid=1331889718"