Gamba Osaka facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Gamba Osaka
ガンバ大阪

Full name	Gamba Osaka
Nickname(s)	Nerazzurri (Black-and-Blues)
Founded	1980; 44 years ago (1980) as Matsushita Electric SC 1992; 32 years ago (1992) as Panasonic Gamba Osaka 1996; 28 years ago (1996) as Gamba Osaka
Ground	Panasonic Stadium Suita
Ground Capacity	39,694
Owner	Panasonic (70%), The Kansai Electric Power Company (10%), Osaka Gas (10%), JR West (10%)
Chairman	Takashi Yamauchi
Manager	Dani Poyatos
League	J1 League
2022	J1 League, 15th of 18
Home colours Away colours

Gamba Osaka (ガンバ大阪, Ganba Ōsaka) is a Japanese professional football club based in Suita, Osaka Prefecture. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. The club's home stadium is Panasonic Stadium Suita. They form a local rivalry with Osaka city-based Cerezo Osaka.

Gamba Osaka is among the most accomplished Japanese clubs, having won 2 J1 League title, 5 Emperor's Cup, 2 J.League Cup and 2 Japanese Super Cup. Continentally in 2008, the club became the first Japanese club to win the AFC Champions League thus qualifying Gamba internationally to their only FIFA Club World Cup appearances in the 2008 edition.

The club's name Gamba comes from two words: the Japanese ganbaru (頑張る), meaning "to do your best" or "to stand firm" and the Italian word "gamba" which means "leg". Also the name in another Italian expression, "essere in gamba", means "be smart, intelligent''.

History

It was founded in 1980 as Matsushita Electric SC by the mononymous company, which is now known as Panasonic, in Nara Prefecture and became a member of the Japan Soccer League. 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. Due to participation in the J League, the club name was changed to Panasonic Gamba Osaka in 1992.

In 1996, the club dropped the name Panasonic from its front while its corporate name was changed from "Matsushita Soccer Club Co., Ltd." to "Gamba Osaka Co., Ltd."

Record breaking

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 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 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.

Gamba Osaka playing against the Melbourne Victory in the 2008 AFC Champions League

Asian Champions

In October 2008, Gamba for the first time in their history, reached the final of the AFC Champions League after defeating fellow Japanese league rivals Urawa Red Diamonds 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 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), and Furukawa Electric (now JEF United Ichihara Chiba).

In December 2008, Gamba made it to the semi-finals of the 2008 FIFA Club World Cup after beating Australian club Adelaide United 1–0. They were beaten in the semi-finals by 2007–08 Premier League and 2007–08 UEFA Champions League winners Manchester United. On 21 December 2008, they played for third place against Mexican side Pachuca with Gamba winning the match 1–0.

Yasuhito Endō is the club most successful player and J1 League highest number of appearances at 672.

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. 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. 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 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 and the Emperor's Cup as well.

In 2015 saw Gamba Osaka return to the AFC Champions League for the first time since 2012, 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.

Affiliated clubs

• Chonburi (2023−present)

On 6 February 2023, Gamba Osaka sign partnership with Thai League 1 club, Chonburi. The alliance intends to strengthen the top team through player transfers, training-type loans and other mutual exchange of coaching staff and players. In conjunction with this new agreement, JFA-certified S-class coaches are currently undergoing overseas training at Chonburi (from 30 January 2023 to 12 February 2023) under the tutelage of Daisuke Machinaka. Under this agreement the teams will share and cooperate with player scouting information to mutually improve both teams.

• AFC Ajax (2024−present)

On 4 March 2024, Gamba Osaka and 36-time Eredivisie champions announce a strategic partnership to advance talent identification and development initiatives in Japan. This exclusive collaboration is scheduled to extend over an initial three-year period. For Ajax, this partnership represents a significant opportunity to strengthen its global football network and identify and nurture young talents in the Japanese football landscape. Gamba Osaka, in turn, gains access to Ajax's renowned training methodologies for its youth development program while establishing connections within the global football community.

Kit and colours

Kit evolution

FP 1st
1993 - 1994	1995 - 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

FP 2nd
1993 - 1994	1995 - 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	2023

FP Other
2003 - 2004 3rd	2005 - 2006 3rd	2008 - 2009 ACL	2010 ACL	2011 3rd
2011 ACL	2011 20周年記念	2012 万博蹴結記念	2015 ACL	2016 ACL
2017 ACL	2017 GAMBA EXPO	2018 GAMBA EXPO	2019 GAMBA EXPO	2020 #ホームで勝とう
2021 ACL 1st	2021 ACL 2nd

Home stadium

A panoramic view of Suita City Football Stadium

Gamba Osaka used the Osaka Expo '70 Stadium in the Expo Commemoration Park 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 called Suita City Football Stadium 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.

Rivalries

Osaka derby

Gamba's fiercest rival are fellow locals Cerezo Osaka with whom they contest the Osaka derby. Also have a heavy rivalry with Saitama's Urawa Red Diamonds, which they make the "National Derby" of Japan.

Players

Current squad

No. Position Player 1 GK Masaaki Higashiguchi 2 DF Shota Fukuoka 3 DF Riku Handa 4 DF Keisuke Kurokawa 5 DF Genta Miura 6 MF Neta Lavi 7 FW Takashi Usami (captain) 8 FW Ryotaro Meshino 9 MF Kota Yamada 10 MF Shu Kurata 11 FW Issam Jebali 13 FW Isa Sakamoto 14 MF Yuya Fukuda 15 MF Takeru Kishimoto 16 MF Tokuma Suzuki 17 FW Ryoya Yamashita 19 DF Ibuki Konno

No. Position Player 20 DF Shinnosuke Nakatani (vice-captain) 22 GK Jun Ichimori 23 MF Dawhan 24 DF Yusei Egawa 25 GK Kei Ishikawa 27 MF Rin Mito 28 DF Keisuke Saka 31 GK Zhang Aolin 33 DF Shinya Nakano 40 FW Shoji Toyama 41 MF Jiro Nakamura 46 DF Riku Matsuda 47 MF Juan Alano (vice-captain) 48 MF Hideki Ishige 97 FW Welton Felipe GK Rui Araki Type 2 GK Joshua Sotaro Stayman Type 2

Out on loan

No. Position Player GK Kosei Tani (on loan at FC Machida Zelvia) MF Naohiro Sugiyama (on loan at Montedio Yamagata) MF Rihito Yamamoto (on loan at Sint-Truiden) FW Harumi Minamino (on loan at Tochigi SC)

No. Position Player FW Musashi Suzuki (on loan at Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo) FW Ryuta Takahashi (on loan at Giravanz Kitakyushu) FW Hiroto Yamami (on loan at Tokyo Verdy)

Club official

For the 2023 season.

Position	Staff
Manager	Dani Poyatos
Assistant managers	Marcel Sans Arata Kodama
First-team coach	Yoshitaka Yasuda Shota Uemura
Goalkeeper coach	Motohiro Yoshida
Fitness coach	Ryo Yano
Doctor	Yusuke Enomoto
Physiotherapist	Yuta Tanaka
Trainer	Chikashi Masui Kento Fujita Shotaro Shinba
Interpreter	Masaki Kimura
Kit man	Atsushi Hashimoto Jyunji Yamashita Lee Song-in
Technical staff	Kento Nashimoto
Member of administrative board	Masahiro Wada
Academy Manager	Masanobu Matsunami

Honours

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

National

League

• J.League Division 1 (first tier)
  • Champions (2): 2005, 2014
• JSL Division 2/J.League Division 2 (second tier)
  • Champions (2): 1985–86, 2013

Cups

• Emperor's Cup
  • Winners (5): 1990, 2008, 2009, 2014, 2015
• J.League Cup
  • Winners (2): 2007, 2014
• Japanese Super Cup
  • Winners (2): 2007, 2015
• All Japan Senior Football Championship
  • Winners (1): 1983

International

• AFC Champions League
  • Winners: 2008
• Pan-Pacific Championship
  • Winners: 2008

Notable players

Yasuhito Endō, most capped player and tYasuhito Endōop goalscorer in Gamba's history.

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

Yōsuke Fujigaya (2005–2013, 2015–2017)

• Defenders

Akira Kaji (2006–2014)

Sidiclei (2004–2007)

Tsuneyasu Miyamoto (1995–2006)

Satoshi Yamaguchi (2001–2011)

• Midfielders

Yasuhito Endō (2001–2021)

Tomokazu Myojin (2006–2015)

Hideo Hashimoto (1998–2011)

Takahiro Futagawa (1999–2016)

• Forwards

Patrick M'Boma (1997–1998)

Araújo (2005)

Manager history

Dates	Name	Honours	Notes
1980–1991	Yoji Mizuguchi	Emperor's Cup: 1990
1991–1994	Kunishige Kamamoto		The competition formed as the J.League in 1993.
1995	Sigfried Held
1995–1997	Josip Kuže
1997–1998	Friedrich Koncilia
1998–1999	Frédéric Antonetti		J.League Division 2 was launched in 1999.
1999–2001	Hiroshi Hayano
2001	Kazuhiko Takemoto
2002–2012	Akira Nishino	J.League Division 1: 2005 J.League Cup: 2007 Emperor's Cup: 2008, 2009 AFC Champions League: 2008 J.League Manager of the Year: 2005 AFC Coach of the Year: 2008
2012	José Carlos Serrão
2012	Masanobu Matsunami		Gamba was relegated to the J.League Division 2 2013.
2013–2017	Kenta Hasegawa	J.League Division 2: 2013 J.League Division 1: 2014 J.League Cup: 2014 Emperor's Cup: 2014, 2015 J.League Manager of the Year: 2014	Gamba was promoted to the J.League Division 1 2014. J3 League was launched in 2014.
2018	Levir Culpi
2018–2021	Tsuneyasu Miyamoto
2022	Tomohiro Katanosaka
2022	Hiroshi Matsuda
2023–	Dani Poyatos

Player statistics

Top scorers by season

Season Name Goals 1993 Akihiro Nagashima 12 1994 Toshihiro Yamaguchi 16 1995 Hans Gillhaus 20 1996 Mladen Mladenović 11 1997 Patrick M'Boma 25 1998 Hiromi Kojima 17 1999 Hiromi Kojima Luizinho Vieira 6 2000 Hiromi Kojima 9 2001 Nino Bule 17 2002 Magrão 22 2003 Magrão 15 2004 Masashi Oguro 20 2005 Araújo 33 2006 Magno Alves 26 2007 Baré 20

Season Name Goals 2008 Baré 10 2009 Leandro 11 2010 Shoki Hirai 14 2011 Lee Keun-ho 15 2012 Leandro 14 2013 Takashi Usami 19 2014 Takashi Usami 10 2015 Takashi Usami 19 2016 Shun Nagasawa Ademilson 9 2017 Shun Nagasawa 10 2018 Hwang Ui-Jo 16 2019 Ademilson 10 2020 Patric 11 2021 Patric 23 2022 Patric 10

Award winners

The following players have won the awards while at Gamba Osaka:

Domestic

• J.League Player of the Year
  • Araújo (2005)
  • Yasuhito Endō (2014)
• J.League Top Scorer
  • Patrick M'Boma (1997)
  • Araújo (2005)
  • Magno Alves (2006)
• J.League Best Eleven
  • Patrick M'Boma (1997)
  • Junichi Inamoto (2000)
  • Yasuhito Endō (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015)
  • Masashi Oguro (2004)
  • Araújo (2005)
  • Fernandinho (2005)
  • Satoshi Yamaguchi (2006, 2007, 2008)
  • Ryōta Tsuzuki (2006)
  • Magno Alves (2006)
  • Baré (2007)
  • Patric (2014)
  • Takashi Usami (2014, 2015)
  • Yosuke Ideguchi (2017)
• J.League Rookie of the Year
  • Takashi Usami (2010)
• J.League Cup MVP
  • Michihiro Yasuda (2007)
  • Patric (2014)
• J.League Cup New Hero Award
  • Michihiro Yasuda (2007)
  • Takashi Usami (2014)

International

• Asian Footballer of the Year
  • Yasuhito Endō (2009)
• AFC Champions League Most Valuable Player
  • Yasuhito Endō (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, while playing for Gamba Osaka:

• Patrick M'Boma (1998)
• Tsuneyasu Miyamoto (2002, 2006)
• Akira Kaji (2006)
• Yasuhito Endō (2006, 2010, 2014)
• Yasuyuki Konno (2010, 2014)
• Masaaki Higashiguchi (2018)

Olympic players

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

• Shigeru Morioka (1996)
• Tsuneyasu Miyamoto (2000)
• Junichi Inamoto (2000)
• Ryōta Tsuzuki (2000)
• Michihiro Yasuda (2008)
• Yosuke Ideguchi (2016)
• Hiroki Fujiharu (2016)

Former players

International results

Opponent	Season	Home	Away
Adelaide United	2008 AFC Champions League Final	3–0	2–0
	2008 FIFA Club World Cup Quarter-finals	1–0
	2012 AFC Champions League Group Stage	0–2	0–2
	2017 AFC Champions League Group Stage	3–3	3–0
Melbourne Victory	2008 AFC Champions League Group Stage	2–0	4–3
	2011 AFC Champions League Group Stage	5–1	1–1
	2016 AFC Champions League Group Stage	1–1	1–2
Dalian Shide	2006 AFC Champions League Group Stage	3–0	0–2
Shandong Luneng Taishan	2009 AFC Champions League Group Stage	3–0	1–0
Henan Jianye	2010 AFC Champions League Group Stage	1–1	1–1
Tianjin Teda	2011 AFC Champions League Group Stage	2–0	1–2
Guangzhou R&F	2015 AFC Champions League Group Stage	0–2	5–0
Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao	2015 AFC Champions League Semi-finals	0–0	1–2
Shanghai SIPG	2016 AFC Champions League Group Stage	0–2	1–2
Jiangsu Suning	2017 AFC Champions League Group Stage	0–1	0–3
	2008 FIFA Club World Cup Semi-finals	3–5
Paris Saint-Germain	2022 PSG Japan Tour	6–2
Sriwijaya	2009 AFC Champions League Group Stage	5–0	3–0
Urawa Red Diamonds	2008 AFC Champions League Semi-finals	1–1	3–1
Kawasaki Frontale	2009 AFC Champions League Round of 16	2–3	N.A.
Cerezo Osaka	2011 AFC Champions League Round of 16	0–1	N.A.
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	2006 AFC Champions League Group Stage	1–1	2–3
	2015 AFC Champions League Quarter-finals	3–2	0–0
	2021 AFC Champions League Group Stage	2–2	1–2
Jeonnam Dragons	2008 AFC Champions League Group Stage	1–1	4–3
FC Seoul	2009 AFC Champions League Group Stage	1–2	4–2
	2015 AFC Champions League Round of 16	3–2	3–1
Suwon Samsung Bluewings	2010 AFC Champions League Group Stage	2–1	0–0
	2016 AFC Champions League Group Stage	1–2	0–0
Seongnam	2010 AFC Champions League Round of 16	N.A.	0–3
	2015 AFC Champions League Group Stage	2–1	0–2
Jeju United	2011 AFC Champions League Group Stage	3–1	1–2
	2017 AFC Champions League Group Stage	1–4	0–2
Pohang Steelers	2012 AFC Champions League Group Stage	0–3	0–2
Johor Darul Ta'zim	2017 AFC Champions League Play-off	3–0	N.A.
Pachuca	2008 FIFA Club World Cup Third place	1–0
Warriors FC	2010 AFC Champions League Group Stage	3–0	4–2
Tampines Rovers	2021 AFC Champions League Group Stage	8–1	2–0
Al-Karamah SC	2008 AFC Champions League Quarter-finals	2–0	2–1
Chonburi	2008 AFC Champions League Group Stage	1–1	2–0
Buriram United	2015 AFC Champions League Group Stage	1–1	2–1
Chiangrai United	2021 AFC Champions League Group Stage	1–1	1–1
Bunyodkor	2012 AFC Champions League Group Stage	3–1	2–3
SHB Đà Nẵng	2006 AFC Champions League Group Stage	15–0	5–1

Record as J.League member

See also

In Spanish: Gamba Osaka para niños