is a professional

football (soccer) Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club based in

Maebashi is the capital city of Gunma Prefecture, in the northern Kantō region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 335,352 in 151,171 households, and a population density of 1100 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . It wa ...

Gunma Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Gunma Prefecture has a population of 1,937,626 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of 6,362 km2 (2,456 sq mi). Gunma Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture and Fukushima ...

in Japan. The club plays in the

J2 League The or simply J2 is the second division of the and the second level of the Japanese association football league system. The top tier is represented by the J1 League. It (along with the rest of the J.League) is currently sponsored by Meiji Yas ...

, the second division of professional football in Japan.

History

The club was founded in 1995 in Kusatsu, one of the most well-known spa resorts in Japan, in 1995 as Liaison Kusatsu Football Club. The players were the students of specialized training college Higashi Nihon Soccer Academy. When the school was closed in 1999 due to financial difficulties, the players decided to stay in Kusatsu and keep the club alive. In 2002, the club was incorporated as K.K. Kusatsu Onsen Football Club with a future promotion to J. League in mind and adopted new team name , meaning "The Spa, Kusatsu". Because of J. League restrictions on stadiums, they play at

Shoda Shoyu Stadium Gunma (formerly Gunma Shikishima Athletic Stadium, renamed on June 1, 2008 for naming rights) is a multi-purpose stadium in Maebashi, Japan. It is currently used mostly for football matches. Sponsored by soy sauce maker Shoda Shoyu, which has its head ...

(Shikishima Athletics Stadium) in nearby

, the prefectural capital since the club was promoted to

J. League Division 2 The or simply J2 is the second division of the and the second level of the Japanese association football league system. The top tier is represented by the J1 League. It (along with the rest of the J.League) is currently sponsored by Meiji Ya ...

from 2005 season. From 1 February 2013, the club has adopted the new name as "Thespakusatsu Gunma", to give out the impression of the club as representative of entire

, while still leaving the name of "Kusatsu" in it, as well as the logo of the club as is.

Record as J. League member

;Key

Current squad

''As of 10 August 2022''. .

Out on loan

Coaching staff

Managerial history

Kit evolution

References

External links

Official Site
{{Japanese Club Football, group=clubs J.League clubs Football clubs in Japan Association football clubs established in 1995 Sports teams in Gunma Prefecture 1995 establishments in Japan Japan Football League clubs