From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match19 Aug 2026
A 2‑1 win over Jubilo Iwata, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.89, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market24 Aug 2026
Lommel come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Gamba Osaka did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
No deal for Kaito Yasui at that price
Gamba Osaka offered $3.2M; Urawa Reds said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
At 37 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.06, and nobody on the pitch better.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Shota Fukuoka goes up and wins it — 7.62
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.62 for the rest of it.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
Window shuts: 16 in, 2 out at Gamba Osaka
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 16 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $246.8K — a club that wants Shumpei Naruse enough to be asked twice.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
The chase for Taiki Watanabe ended with $1.4M changing hands and Yokohama F. Marinos out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer from Brisbane Roar for Eli Adams was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market17 Aug 2026
Avispa Fukuoka paid $1.9M and Gamba Osaka took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $246.8K — a club that wants Tsuyoshi Ogashiwa enough to be asked twice.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Jun Ichimori was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
$240.0K was the most the club would pay and FC Tokyo were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Market17 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Genta Miura again, and this time the name on the line is Lommel. Gamba Osaka are listening politely and promising nothing.
Match15 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Shu Kurata. 1‑0 against Shonan Bellmare, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Ryoya Yamashita falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market10 Aug 2026
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
$1.4M settles it between the clubs for Taiki Watanabe
Yokohama F. Marinos have accepted the money. What Gamba Osaka do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ritsu Doan commits to Gamba Osaka for another 5 years.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $41.1K — a club that wants Tomoya Inukai enough to be asked twice.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Ritsu Doan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
$180.0K on the table at FC Tokyo. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
$38.0K on the table at Kashiwa Reysol. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Market10 Aug 2026
Business is business: Ryo Hatsuse goes
Jubilo Iwata paid $520.0K and Gamba Osaka took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Aug 2026
Shu Kurata: 23 seasons and counting
490 appearances across 23 seasons in one shirt. Careers like that are not built on purpose any more, and Gamba Osaka know exactly what they have.
Market3 Aug 2026
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Shota Fukuoka and Gamba Osaka agree another 3 years.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Ritsu Doan beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Ritsu Doan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FC Tokyo have kept their man, and Gamba Osaka go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Jun Ichimori
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match1 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.