Júbilo Iwata

The team started out as the company team for Yamaha Motor Corporation in 1970. After making its way through the Shizuoka and Tōkai football leagues, it played in the Japan Soccer League until it reorganized as the J.League at the end of 1992.

Their first glory happened when they won both the Emperor's Cup and promotion as champions of the JSL Division 2 in 1982. They won their first Japanese league title in the 1987/88 season. Due to problems in the upcoming professionalization, Yamaha decided to relegate themselves and not be one of the J.League founder members.

They finished in 2nd place of the JFL 1st division, a division below the top flight, in 1993 and were promoted to the J1 league for 1994. The team welcomed Marius Johan Ooft as its manager, as well as the Brazilian national team captain Dunga and a number of foreign players to build a winning team.[3] Dunga's football philosophy deeply influenced the club, initially as a player and currently as an advisor.

In a seven-year period between 1997 and 2003, the club won a number of titles relying on Japanese players instead of foreigners who may leave on a transfer during the middle of the season. Within this period Júbilo won the J.League title three times, finished second three more and won each of the domestic cup competitions once. In 1999 they were also crowned Champions of Asia after winning the final match against Esteghlal F.C. and 121.000 spectators in Azadi Stadium.

In one of the most fruitful periods in J.League history, Júbilo broke several records and created some new ones. Amongst these are the most goals scored in a season (107 in 1998); the fewest goals conceded in a season (26 in 2001); the biggest goal difference (plus 68 goals in 1998); and the largest win (9–1 against Cerezo Osaka in 1998).[4] In 2002, the team won both stages of the championship, a first in J.League history, and the same year the team had a record seven players selected for the J.League Team of the Year. All of these records still stand today.

Yamaha Stadium Júbilo Iwata

Since their last cup triumph in the 2003 Emperor's Cup, the squad which took them to such heights began to age. Without similarly skilled replacements coming through the youth team or from outside, Júbilo's power started to fade, and in 2007 the club ended the season in a record worst position of 9th. Perhaps more concerning to Júbilo supporters is their eclipse in recent seasons by bitter local rivals Shimizu S-Pulse who, in ending the season above Júbilo every year since 2006, have become Shizuoka prefecture's premier performing team. In 2008 they finished 16th out of 18 – their lowest position in the 18-club table – but kept their J1 position by defeating Vegalta Sendai in the promotion/relegation playoff.

In 2013 season, it took them until 8th week to make their first win in the league matches, and never move up higher than 16th since they were ranked down to 17th as of the end of 5th week. Then eventually suffered their first relegation to 2014 J.League Division 2 after they were defeated by Sagan Tosu at their 31st week match. Júbilo were promoted back to J1 in 2015 after finishing runners-up. After a 18th place finish in 2019, Iwata would be relegated to J2 for 2020. The following year, Júbilo finished as J2 champions in 2021 to get promoted for the 2022 J1 League season.

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  JPN Hiroki Ito (On loan at VfB Stuttgart) — DF  JPN Kaito Suzuki (On loan at Tochigi S.C.) — DF  JPN So Nakagawa (On loan at Ryukyu) — MF  JPN Takeaki Harigaya (On loan at Giravanz Kitakyushu) — MF  JPN Kotaro Fujikawa (On loan at Giravanz Kitakyushu) — FW  JPN Naoto Miki (On loan at Fujieda MYFC)

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

• Dunga (1998)
• Hiroshi Nanami (1998)
• Masashi Nakayama (1998, 2002)
• Toshihiro Hattori (1998, 2002)
• Takashi Fukunishi (2002, 2006)
• Kim Jin-Kyu (2006)
• Yūichi Komano (2010)
• Masahiko Inoha (2014)

The following players have won the awards while at Júbilo Iwata:

• J.League Player of the Year
  • Dunga (1997)
  • Masashi Nakayama (1998)
  • Toshiya Fujita (2001)
  • Naohiro Takahara (2002)
• J.League Top Scorer
  • Masashi Nakayama (1998, 2000)
  • Naohiro Takahara (2002)
  • Ryoichi Maeda (2009, 2010)
• J.League Best XI
  • Hiroshi Nanami (1996, 1997, 1998, 2002)
  • Dunga (1997, 1998)
  • Tomoaki Ōgami (1997)
  • Masashi Nakayama (1997, 1998, 2000, 2002)
  • Daisuke Oku (1998)
  • Toshiya Fujita (1998, 2001, 2002)
  • Makoto Tanaka (1998)
  • Takashi Fukunishi (1999, 2001, 2002, 2003)
  • Arno van Zwam (2001)
  • Toshihiro Hattori (2001)
  • Go Oiwa (2001)
  • Hideto Suzuki (2002)
  • Makoto Tanaka (2002)
  • Naohiro Takahara (2002)
  • Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi (2006)
  • Ryoichi Maeda (2009, 2010)
  • Yūichi Komano (2012)
• J.League Rookie of the Year
  • Robert Cullen (2005)
• J.League Cup MVP
  • Nobuo Kawaguchi (1998)
  • Ryoichi Maeda (2010)
• J.League Cup New Hero Award
  • Hiroshi Nanami (1996)
  • Naohiro Takahara (1998)
• J2 League Top Scorer
  • Jay Bothroyd (2015)

• Morishita Shinichi 1994
• Mitsunori Yoshida 1995
• Masashi Nakayama 1996-1998
• Toshihiro Hattori 1999-2005
• Takashi Fukunishi 2006
• Hideto Suzuki 2007
• Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi 2008
• Takano Takano 2009
• Nasu Daisuke 2010-2011
• Yamada Daiki 2012-2013
• Daisuke Matsui 2014
• Ryoichi Maeda 2014
• Kota Ueda 2015-2016
• Kentaro Oi 2017
• Sakurauchi Nagisa 2018-

Players with senior international caps: