Gamba Osaka

Founded in 1980 as Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (which was renamed "Panasonic Corporation" on 1 October 2008) soccer club in Nara Prefecture and a member of the Japan Soccer League.[2] It was mostly made of remaining players and staff of the defunct Yanmar Club, the former B-team of Yanmar Diesel F.C., later to be known as Cerezo Osaka. Gamba Osaka was an original member ("Original Ten"[lower-alpha 1]) of the J.League in 1993.[2]

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.[3] In an AFC Champions League match in 2006, Gamba Osaka defeated Vietnamese side Da Nang FC in a record-equaling victory of 15–0.[4] 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).[5] 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.[6]

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

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).[7]

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 semifinals by 2007–08 Premier League and UEFA Champions League winners Manchester United. On 21 December 2008 they played for third place against Mexican side C.F. Pachuca with Gamba winning the match 1–0.[8]

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.[9] However, the club bounced back in the 2013 season, becoming the J2 Champion and directly promoting to Division 1 again after only one season.[10]

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.[11]

Year 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.[12] Gamba Osaka successfully defended their status as Emperor's Cup winners, defeating Urawa Red Diamonds 2–1.[13]

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.[14] 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.[15]

Gamba's fiercest rival are fellow locals Cerezo Osaka with whom they contest the Osaka derby.[16] Also have a heavy rivalry with Saitama's Urawa Red Diamonds, which they make the "National Derby" of Japan.

Season	Div.	Tms.	Pos.	Attendance	J.League Cup	Emperor's Cup	AFC CL	FIFA CWC
1993	J1	10	7th	21,571	Semi-final	2nd round	–	–
1994		12	10th	22,367	Semi-final	Semi-final	–	–
1995		14	14th	13,310	–	Semi-final	–	–
1996		16	12th	8,004	Group Stage	Semi-final	–	–
1997		17	4th	8,443	Group Stage	Semi-final	–	–
1998		18	15th	8,723	Group Stage	3rd round	–	–
1999		16	11th	7,996	2nd round	4th round	–	–
2000		16	6th	9,794	2nd round	Semi-final	–	–
2001		16	7th	11,723	2nd round	Quarter-final	–	–
2002		16	3rd	12,762	Semi-final	4th round	–	–
2003		16	10th	10,222	Quarter-final	4th round	–	–
2004		16	3rd	12,517	Quarter-final	Semi-final	–	–
2005		18	1st	15,966	Runners-up	Semi-final	–	–
2006		18	3rd	16,259	Quarter-final	Runners-up	Group Stage	–
2007		18	3rd	17,439	Winners	Semi-final	–	–
2008		18	8th	16,128	Semi-final	Winners	Winners	3rd Place
2009		18	3rd	17,712	Quarter-final	Winners	Round of 16	–
2010		18	2nd	16,654	Quarter-final	Semi-final	Round of 16	–
2011		18	3rd	16,411	Semi-final	3rd round	Round of 16	–
2012		18	17th	14,778	Quarter-Final	Runners-up	Group Stage	–
2013	J2	22	1st	12,286	–	3rd round	–	–
2014	J1	18	1st	14,749	Winners	Winners	–	–
2015		18	2nd	15,999	Runners-up	Winners	Semi-final	–
2016		18	4th	25,342	Runners-up	Quarter-final	Group Stage	–
2017		18	10th	24,277	Semi-final	Quarter-final	Group Stage	–
2018		18	9th	23,485	Quarter-final	2nd round	–	–
2019		18	7th	27,708	Semi-final	3rd round	–	–
2020		18	2nd	7,597	Group Stage	Runners-up	–	–
2021		20					TBD	–

Key

• Tms. = Number of clubs
• Pos. = Position in league
• Attendance = Average league attendance per game
• Source: J. League Data Site

The Coaching Staff for the 2019 J1 League season;[17]

Position	Staff
First-team Manager	Tsuneyasu Miyamoto
Head Coach	Satoshi Yamaguchi
Goalkeeper Coach	Naoki Matsuyo
Coach	Arata Kodama
Physical Coach	Toni Gil Puerto

[19]

[20][21]

Managers

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–	Tsuneyasu Miyamoto

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

• Official website (in Japanese and English)
• Schedule on ESPN

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gamba Osaka.

Achievements
Preceded by Urawa Red Diamonds	Champions of Asia 2008	Succeeded by Pohang Steelers