Gamba Osaka 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 ganbaru, 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 five teams to have competed in Japan's top flight of football every year since its inception in 1993.
Founded in 1980 as Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (which is renamed to "Panasonic Corporation" on October 1st, 2008) 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.
In October 2008, Gamba for the first time in their history, reached the final of the AFC Champions League when they defeated fellow Japanese and league rivals Urawa Reds 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 team Adelaide United in the Final. They became the fifth Japanese club to win the maximum Asian title, after Urawa, Júbilo Iwata, and then-company-affiliated Yomiuri (Tokyo Verdy) and Furukawa Electric (JEF United Ichihara Chiba).
In December 2008, Gamba made it to the semi finals of the 2008 FIFA Club World Cup after beating Australian team Adelaide United 1-0. They were beaten in the semi finals by Premier League and UEFA Champions League winners Manchester United. On the 21st December 2008 they played for third place against Mexican side C.F. Pachuca winning the match 1-0.
On January 1, 2009, Ryuji Bando scored in extra time to lift Gamba Osaka to a 1-0 win over Kashiwa Reysol and take the 88th Emperor's Cup in Tokyo. The victory secured Gamba a place in the AFC Champions League, where it will defend the title it won last year. This is the team's second ever Cup win, with the last 18 years ago in its previous incarnation as Matsushita Electric Industrial Soccer Club.
Founded in 1980 as Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (which is renamed to "Panasonic Corporation" on October 1st, 2008) 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.
In October 2008, Gamba for the first time in their history, reached the final of the AFC Champions League when they defeated fellow Japanese and league rivals Urawa Reds 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 team Adelaide United in the Final. They became the fifth Japanese club to win the maximum Asian title, after Urawa, Júbilo Iwata, and then-company-affiliated Yomiuri (Tokyo Verdy) and Furukawa Electric (JEF United Ichihara Chiba).
In December 2008, Gamba made it to the semi finals of the 2008 FIFA Club World Cup after beating Australian team Adelaide United 1-0. They were beaten in the semi finals by Premier League and UEFA Champions League winners Manchester United. On the 21st December 2008 they played for third place against Mexican side C.F. Pachuca winning the match 1-0.
On January 1, 2009, Ryuji Bando scored in extra time to lift Gamba Osaka to a 1-0 win over Kashiwa Reysol and take the 88th Emperor's Cup in Tokyo. The victory secured Gamba a place in the AFC Champions League, where it will defend the title it won last year. This is the team's second ever Cup win, with the last 18 years ago in its previous incarnation as Matsushita Electric Industrial Soccer Club.
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