Gamba Osaka

Football club infobox
clubname = Gamba Osaka
ガンバ大阪


fullname = Gamba Osaka
nickname = Gamba
founded = 1991
ground = Osaka Expo '70 Stadium,
Suita, Osaka
capacity = 21,000
chairman = Kikuo Kanamori
manager = Akira Nishino (2002 - )
league = J. League Div.1
season = 2007
position = 3rd place
pattern_la1=_black_stripes|pattern_b1=_bluestripes|pattern_ra1=_black_stripes|pattern_sh1=_blue stripes|pattern_so1=_blackvertical
leftarm1=0000FF|body1=000000|rightarm1=0000FF|shorts1=000000|socks1=0000FF
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leftarm2=0000FF|body2=0000FF|rightarm2=0000FF|shorts2=FFFFFF|socks2=FFFFFFnihongo|Gamba Osaka|ガンバ大阪|Ganba Ōsaka is a Japanese professional football club, currently playing in the J. League Division 1. The team's name comes from the Italian word "Gamba" meaning "leg" and the Japanese Nihongo|"gambaru"|頑張る, meaning "to do your best" or "to stand firm". Located in Suita, Osaka, the team's home stadium is Osaka Expo '70 Stadium. Gamba are one of only six teams to have competed in Japan's top flight of football every year since its inception in 1993.

History

Founded in 1980 as "Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. soccer club" in Nara Prefecture and 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 F.C., later to be known as Cerezo Osaka. Gamba Osaka was an original member of the J. League in 1993.

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 destroyed the Houston Dynamo of Major League Soccer a stunning 6 goals to 1 to win the tournament, with Bare making 4 of the goals.

Team Record

J.League

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=Super Cup=

External links

* [http://www.gamba-osaka.net/en/index.html Official Web Site]
* [http://soccernet-akamai.espn.go.com/team?id=7102&cc=5901 Schedule on ESPN]

J. League
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Original J. League clubs
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AFC Champions League 2008