is a Japanese professional football club based in

Suita is a city located in northern Osaka Prefecture, Japan. As of October 1, 2016, the city has an estimated population of 378,322 and a population density of 9,880 persons per km². The total area is 36.11 km². The city was founded on April 1, ...

, Osaka Prefecture. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. The club's name ''Gamba'' comes from the Japanese , meaning "to do your best" or "to stand firm". The club's home stadium is

Panasonic Stadium Suita is a stadium located in the city of Suita, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It has a capacity of 39,694. The official name is Suita City Football Stadium and is used for international matches such as the World Cup qualifiers. The stadium is home of t ...

. They form a local

rivalry A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant ...

with

Osaka city is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2.7 ...

-based Cerezo Osaka. Gamba Osaka is among the most accomplished Japanese clubs, having won several top-tier domestic titles, as well as the 2008 AFC Champions League.

History

It was founded in 1980 as Matsushita Electric SC by the company, now known as

Panasonic formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka. It was founded by Kōnosuke Matsushita in 1918 as a lightbulb ...

, in

Nara Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Nara Prefecture has a population of 1,321,805 and has a geographic area of . Nara Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Osaka Prefecture to the northwest, Wakayam ...

and became a member of the

Japan Soccer League , or JSL, was the top flight association football league in Japan between 1965 and 1992, and was the precursor to the current professional league, the J.League. JSL was the second national league of a team sport in Japan after the professional ...

. It was mostly made of remaining players and staff of the defunct Yanmar Club, the former B-team of Yanmar Diesel SC, later to be known as Cerezo Osaka. Gamba Osaka was an original member ("Original Ten") of the first J.League season. In 2005, the club claimed its first J.League championship on a dramatic final day during which any of five clubs could have claimed the championship. Gamba needed to win, and have cross town rivals Cerezo Osaka draw or lose. Gamba defeated a valiant

Kawasaki Frontale is a Japanese professional football club based in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Their home stadium is Kawasaki Todoroki Stadium, in Nakahara ...

4–2, while victory was snatched from Cerezo by a last-minute FC Tokyo equalizer. In an AFC Champions League match in 2006, Gamba Osaka defeated Vietnamese side Da Nang FC in a record-equaling victory of 15–0. In the 2008 Pan-Pacific Championship final, Gamba Osaka beat

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

club Houston Dynamo 6–1 to win the tournament, in large part because of Bare who scored 4 goals in the final (5 in all at the tournament). After his brilliant display and having just scored 10 goals in 18 games for Gamba in the domestic league, he was sold to UAE club Al-Ahli for 1 billion yen. Melbourne Victory v Gamba Osaka mar08

In October 2008, Gamba for the first time in their history, reached the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

of the AFC Champions League after defeating fellow Japanese league rivals

Urawa Red Diamonds , colloquially Urawa Reds (浦和レッズ), also known as Mitsubishi Urawa Football Club from April 1992 to January 1996, is a professional football club in the city of Saitama, part of the Greater Tokyo Area in Japan. The club plays in the J ...

4–2 on aggregate after a 1–1 draw at home in the first leg, Gamba registered one of the most historic comebacks in Champions League history when they came back from being behind 1–0 before half time to win 1–3 with all goals scored in the second half at Saitama. Gamba Osaka went on to win the 2008 AFC Champions League title after winning 5–0 on aggregate against the giant-killing Australian club

Adelaide United Adelaide United Football Club is a professional soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club participates in the A-League Men under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was founded in 2003 to fil ...

in the Final. They became the fifth Japanese club to win the maximum Asian title, after Urawa, Júbilo Iwata, then-company-affiliated Yomiuri (now

Tokyo Verdy is a Japanese professional football club based in Inagi, Tokyo. The club plays in the J2 League, the second tier of football in the country. Founded as Yomiuri F.C. in 1969, Tokyo Verdy is one of the most decorated clubs in the J.League, with ...

), and Furukawa Electric (now

JEF United Ichihara Chiba , full name and also known as , is a Japanese professional football club that plays in the J2 League. On 1 February 2005, the club changed its name from ''JEF United Ichihara'' to the current name after Chiba city had joined Ichihara, Chiba a ...

). In December 2008, Gamba made it to the semi finals of the

2008 FIFA Club World Cup The 2008 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2008 presented by Toyota for sponsorship reasons) was the fifth FIFA Club World Cup, a football tournament for the champion clubs from each of FIFA's six continental c ...

after beating Australian club Adelaide United 1–0. They were beaten in the semifinals by

2007–08 Premier League The 2007–08 Premier League (known as the Barclays Premier League for sponsorship reasons) season was the 16th since its establishment. The first matches of the season were played on 11 August 2007, and the season ended on 11 May 2008. Manche ...

and

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

winners Manchester United. On 21 December 2008 they played for

third place In sociology, the third place refers to the social surroundings that are separate from the two usual social environments of home ("first place") and the workplace ("second place"). Examples of third places include churches, cafes, clubs, public ...

against Mexican side

C.F. Pachuca Club de Fútbol Pachuca is a Mexican professional football team based in Pachuca, Hidalgo, that competes in Liga MX. Founded by Cornish miners from Camborne and Redruth in 1901, it is one of the oldest football clubs in the Americas, and was ...

with Gamba winning the match 1–0. In December 2012, Gamba were relegated from Division 1 after losing 2–1 to Júbilo Iwata. Gamba finished 17th in the league despite scoring more goals than any other club, including Champion

Sanfrecce Hiroshima Sanfrecce Hiroshima ( ja, サンフレッチェ広島, translit=''Sanfuretche Hiroshima'') is a Japanese professional football club based in Asaminami-ku, Hiroshima. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the co ...

. Ultimately, although Gamba had a positive goal difference at the end of the season, Gamba could not overcome their poor defense, which allowed the second most goals in Division 1 after

Consadole Sapporo is a Japanese professional football club, which plays in the J1 League. The team is based in Sapporo, on the island of Hokkaido. The club name of "Consadole" is made from ''consado'', a reverse of the Japanese word and the Spanish express ...

. This also made Gamba Osaka the fastest club to suffer relegation from the top division after winning the AFC Champion's League and playing in the FIFA Club World Cup, the relegation being only four years later. However, the club bounced back in the 2013 season, becoming the J2 Champion and directly promoting to Division 1 again after only one season. In 2014, Gamba won the Division 1 title, a year after winning the second division, becoming the second club in the professional era to achieve this feat (after

Kashiwa Reysol is a Japanese professional football club based in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Their home stadium is Sankyo Frontier Kashiwa Stadium ...

in 2011). That same year, Gamba also became the second club to win the domestic treble (after Kashima Antlers in 2000), by winning the

J.League Cup The is a Japanese football (soccer) competition organized by J.League. It has been sponsored by Yamazaki Biscuits (YBC) of Yamazaki Baking (formerly Yamazaki Nabisco) since its inception in 1992. It is also known as the or (Levain is one of Y ...

and the Emperor's Cup as well. Year 2015 saw Gamba Osaka return to the AFC Champions League for the first time since

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

, where they advanced to the semi-finals before being eliminated by The Tournament Winner and 2015 FIFA Club World Cup Fourth Place Guangzhou Evergrande 1–2 on aggregate. Domestically, Gamba Osaka advanced to the final of both the J.League Cup and the J1 League Championship, losing to Kashima Antlers 0–3 and Club World Cup Third Place Sanfrecce Hiroshima 3–4 respectively. Gamba Osaka successfully defended their status as Emperor's Cup winners, defeating Urawa Red Diamonds 2–1.

Stadium

Gamba Osaka used the

Osaka Expo '70 Stadium , also called Osaka Expo '70 Stadium, is an athletics stadium located in the Expo Commemoration Park, the site of Expo '70, in the city of Suita, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It has a capacity of around about 21,000. The stadium was the home ground ...

in the

Expo Commemoration Park or Expo '70 Commemorative Park is a park in Suita, Japan. It is north of Osaka (about 15 km from Umeda). The park is the former site of Expo '70, a World's Fair held between March 15 and September 13, 1970. It is about 264 ha of lawn and ...

as its home stadium from 1980 through 2015, which seats around 21,000. The club began construction in December 2013 of a new

soccer-specific stadium Soccer-specific stadium is a term used mainly in the United States and Canada to refer to a sports stadium either purpose-built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multi- ...

called

Suita City Football Stadium is a stadium located in the city of Suita, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It has a capacity of 39,694. The official name is Suita City Football Stadium and is used for international matches such as the World Cup qualifiers. The stadium is home of the ...

in the same park, with a seating capacity of 39,694. The new stadium had its inaugural official match during the Panasonic Cup on February 14, 2016, an exhibition match during which Gamba Osaka hosted fellow J1 club

Nagoya Grampus (formerly known as ) is a Japanese association football club that plays in the J1 League, following promotion from the J2 League in 2017. Based in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture and founded as the company team of the Toyota, Toyota Motor Corp. in 1939 ...

Rivalries

Gamba's fiercest rival are fellow locals Cerezo Osaka with whom they contest the Osaka derby. Also have a heavy rivalry with Saitama's

, which they make the "National Derby" of Japan.

Record as J.League member

Coaching staff

Players

Current squad

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Computing
* Digital signal processing, the mathematical manipulation of an information signal
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* Yamaha DSP-1, a proprietary digital signal ...} ^{Type 2} ^{Type 2} ^{Type 2} ^{Type 2}

Out on loan

Notable players

; Greatest ever team In 2011, as part of the club's official celebration of their 20th anniversary, supporters cast votes to determine the greatest ever team. *

Goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

Yōsuke Fujigaya is a former Japanese football player. Club career Fujigaya was born in Hamamatsu on 13 February 1981. After graduating from high school, he joined Consadole Sapporo in 1999. He became a regular goalkeeper instead Yohei Sato from 2003. He mov ...

(2005–2013, 2015–2017) * Defender :

Akira Kaji is a Japanese former professional footballer who played as a defender. He last played for Japan national team until 2008. Club career After graduating from Takigawa Daini High School, Kaji joined Cerezo Osaka in 1998. He made his first league ...

(2006–2014) : Sidiclei (2004–2007) :

Tsuneyasu Miyamoto is a former Japanese football coach and former player who last coached Gamba Osaka. He played for Japan national team. A central defender, Miyamoto went on to make 71 international appearances and led the Japan national team in the 2002 and ...

(1995–2006) : Satoshi Yamaguchi (2001–2011) *

Midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Yasuhito Endō is a Japanese footballer who plays for J1 League club Júbilo Iwata. His brother Akihiro Endō is a former footballer. He made his senior international debut in 2002, representing Japan in three World Cups and three Confederations Cups. In ...

(1998– ) : Tomokazu Myojin (2006–2015 ) :

Hideo Hashimoto is a Japanese football player. He plays for FC Imabari. Club career Hashimoto was born in Osaka on 21 May 1979. He joined J1 League club Gamba Osaka from youth team in 1998. He played many matches as right-side midfielder and defensive midfiel ...

(1998–2011) :

Takahiro Futagawa is a Japanese former football player and currently manager of former team Tiamo Hirakata. Club career Futagawa was born in Kagoshima Prefecture on 27 June 1980. He joined J1 League club Gamba Osaka from youth team in 1999. He debuted in 199 ...

(1999–2018 ) * Forward : Patrick M'Boma (1997–1998) : Araújo (2005)

Honours

As both Matsushita (amateur era) and Gamba Osaka (professional era)

National

League

* J.League Division 1 **Champions (2): 2005,

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

* JSL Division 2/

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 Y ...

** Champions (2): 1985–86,

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

Cups

* Emperor's Cup **Winners (5):

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, 2009,

, 2015 *

**Winners (2): 2007,

Japanese Super Cup The , known as the for sponsorship reasons, is an annual one-match association football competition in Japan organised by J. League and the Japan Football Association (JFA). This competition serves as the season opener and is played between the r ...

**Winners (2): 2007, 2015 * All Japan Senior Football Championship **Winners (1): 1983

International

* AFC Champions League **Winners:

Pan-Pacific Championship The Pan-Pacific Football Championship was an inter-confederation football tournament between teams from A-League (Australia and New Zealand), Chinese Super League (China), J. League (Japan), K-League (Korea), and Major League Soccer (United State ...

**Winners:

Manager history

Player statistics

Top scorers by season

Award winners

The following players have won the awards while at Gamba Osaka: Domestic * J.League Player of the Year ** Araújo (2005) **

(2014) * J.League Top Scorer ** Patrick M'Boma (1997) ** Araújo (2005) ** Magno Alves (2006) *

J.League Best Eleven The J.League Best XI is an acknowledgement of the best eleven players in J.League. J1 League (1993–present) Multiple appearances Appearances by club Appearances by country * Only in two occasions there was a full-Japanese Best XI (20 ...

** Patrick M'Boma (1997) ** Junichi Inamoto (2000) **

(2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015) **

Masashi Oguro is a Japanese former professional footballer who played as a forward. He made 22 appearances scoring 5 goals for Japan national team between 2005 and 2008. Club career Oguro joined the J1 League in 1999, with Gamba Osaka. He was loaned to C ...

(2004) ** Araújo (2005) ** Fernandinho (2005) ** Satoshi Yamaguchi (2006, 2007, 2008) ** Ryōta Tsuzuki (2006) ** Magno Alves (2006) ** Baré (2007) ** Patric (2014) **

Takashi Usami is a Japanese professional footballer who plays for Gamba Osaka in the J1 League. He plays as a forward or a winger. Club career Gamba Osaka Usami made club history by making his professional debut for Gamba Osaka at the age of 17 years and ...

(2014, 2015) **

Yosuke Ideguchi is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Celtic and for the Japan national team. He has previously represented Japan at Under-19 and Under-23 youth levels. Club career Gamba Osaka Ideguchi started his yout ...

(2017) * J.League Rookie of the Year **

(2010) * J.League Cup MVP ** Michihiro Yasuda (2007) ** Patric (2014) * J.League Cup New Hero Award ** Michihiro Yasuda (2007) **

(2014) International * Asian Footballer of the Year **

(2009) * AFC Champions League Most Valuable Player **

(2008) * AFC Champions League Top Scorer ** Magno Alves (2006) :* Leandro (2009)

World Cup players

The following players have been selected by their country in the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

, while playing for Gamba Osaka: * Patrick M'Boma (

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

) *

( 2002, 2006) *

( 2006) *

( 2006, 2010,

) *

Yasuyuki Konno is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a midfielder or defender for Nankatsu SC. He played for Japan national team. He regular plays as either a defensive midfielder or a centre back. He has previously played for Consadole Sappor ...

( 2010,

) *

Masaaki Higashiguchi is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Gamba Osaka and the Japan national football team. He previously played for Albirex Niigata. Club career A native of Osaka, Higashiguchi spent time in Gamba Osaka's youth sys ...

(

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

)

Olympic players

The following players have represented their country at the Summer Olympic Games whilst playing for Gamba Osaka: *

Shigeru Morioka is a former Japanese football player. Club career Morioka was born in Ozu on 12 August 1973. After graduating from high school, he joined Gamba Osaka in 1992. He debuted in 1993 and played many matches as offensive midfielder from 1994. His op ...

( 1996) *

(

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

) * Junichi Inamoto (

) * Ryōta Tsuzuki (

) * Michihiro Yasuda (

) *

(

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

) *

Hiroki Fujiharu is a Japanese football player. He plays as a left back for Gamba Osaka in J1 League. Club career Born and raised in Osaka, Fujiharu joined local club Gamba Osaka in 2011 after graduating from the Osaka University of Health and Sport Science ...

(

)

Former players

International results

Kit evolution

In popular culture

In the Captain Tsubasa manga series, two characters are from Gamba Osaka: the defender Makoto Soda and the forward Takashi Sugimoto.

Notes

References

External links

Official website

Schedule on ESPN
{{Authority control J.League clubs Japan Soccer League clubs Football clubs in Osaka Association football clubs established in 1991 Panasonic Emperor's Cup winners Japanese League Cup winners 1991 establishments in Japan AFC Champions League winning clubs