Gamba Osaka Youth

Gamba Osaka Youth is the under-18 team of Gamba Osaka, and one of the most decorated academies in Japan: five Japan Club Youth Championships, the most recent two in 2023 and 2024, and four J Youth Cups. It is also the academy behind a particular kind of player — technically sharp, comfortable in tight spaces, always looking to turn and go forward. USAMI Takashi, IENAGA Akihiro, KURATA Shu and DOAN Ritsu all came through it. The team plays in the Premier League WEST and is based around the Expo '70 Commemorative Park area in Suita, north of Osaka, close to the first team.

Osaka · head coach YOKOTANI Shigeru

2026 season

Currently 9th in the Premier League WEST with 18 points from 13 matches (5W 3D 5L, 18-19). Updated daily.

Playing style

The Gamba tradition is attacking football built on the ball: a precise first touch that takes pressure away, dribbling that can break a line on its own, and a habit of always facing forward. The club presents these not as tricks but as practical tools for opening a defence. Kansai's street-football culture, which values individual imagination over strict discipline, is part of the identity, combined with modern tactical coaching. YOKOTANI Shigeru, who had been a youth coach since 2024, became head coach in July 2026.

Honours

Competition	Year	Notes
Japan Club Youth (U-18) Championship	5 titles	1998, 2006, 2007, 2023, 2024
J Youth Cup	4 titles	1994, 2000, 2002, 2008
Premier League WEST	2015	Lost the national final 0-1
All Japan Youth (U-18) Championship	runners-up 1998	Third in 2006

The team has also been runner-up in the J Youth Cup five times. The 2015 WEST title came from the generation that had won three national titles as under-15s in 2012; the national final that year was lost 1-0 to Kashima Antlers Youth.

History

Early 1990s — Gamba begins building a youth system around Osaka before the J.League starts, and wins the second J Youth Cup in 1994.
1998 — A first Club Youth Championship.
2000s — Two more J Youth Cups (2000, 2002) and back-to-back Club Youth titles in 2006 and 2007; a fourth J Youth Cup in 2008. USAMI Takashi comes through in these years.
2012 — The under-15s win three national titles in one season. DOAN Ritsu is part of that group.
2015 — Premier League WEST champions.
2023–2024 — Club Youth champions two years running, beating FC Tokyo U-18 and then Kawasaki Frontale U-18 in the final.
2025 — The team returns to the Premier League WEST.
2026 — YOKOTANI Shigeru becomes head coach in July. HOSHIHARA Takaaki is academy director.

Development pathway

Close to the first team. The youth team trains near the professional club's base, uses the same medical support, and players are registered with the first team early: in September 2026 more than twenty under-18s were on the first team's list on the J.League site. Defender YOKOI Yuya joined the first team for 2026 while still a third-year.
Technique drilled daily. The club's training method repeats the same technical basics — first touch, dribbling under pressure, receiving facing forward — from junior-youth level upward.
A dormitory built for recovery. Players from outside the area live in the club's dormitory, and the academy house has contrast baths for recovery; nutrition is planned with a local agricultural cooperative.
Two junior-youth teams. Most of the squad comes from Gamba's main junior-youth team or its second one in Kadoma.

Former players

DOAN Ritsu (midfielder, Eintracht Frankfurt) — through the junior-youth and youth teams to the first team, then Groningen, PSV and Freiburg in Europe. Japan's number 10 at the 2026 World Cup.
USAMI Takashi (forward, Gamba Osaka) — played for Bayern Munich and in the Bundesliga, and returned to wear Gamba's number 7.
KURATA Shu (midfielder, Gamba Osaka) — youth-team captain, promoted at 18, and the club's number 10.
IENAGA Akihiro (midfielder, Kawasaki Frontale) — through the youth team to the first team, and later a J1 champion with Kawasaki.
IDEGUCHI Yosuke (midfielder, Vissel Kobe) — a Japan international who played for Leeds and Celtic.
TANI Kosei (goalkeeper, FC Machida Zelvia) — through the youth team to the first team; now Machida's number 1.

Players to watch in 2026

Players worth knowing in the 2026 season:

FUJIMOTO Yoshiki (midfielder, second year, no. 17) — in Japan's under-17 squad for the Limoges International Tournament in September 2026, and registered with the first team (no. 48).
OKAMOTO Arata (forward, second year, no. 44) and FUKAE Ryumei (midfielder, second year, no. 40) — both in Japan's under-17 squad for the International Youth Soccer in Niigata in September 2026. OKAMOTO holds first-team no. 60.
NOBATA Yuma (goalkeeper, third year, no. 1), MARUOKA Kaita (defender, third year, no. 2) and MURATA Kosuke (midfielder, third year, no. 7) — third-years registered with the first team (nos. 43, 45 and 46).
YASUI Tsukasa (forward, third year, no. 10) — the number 10, three league goals.
SHIMAOKA Hinata (midfielder, third year, no. 5) and FUJISAKI Taiga (defender, third year, no. 6) — third-years in the squad.
HAYASAKI Masaya Alexander (midfielder, second year, no. 42) and SHIROSAKA Koki (forward, second year, no. 13) — second-years.
ESAKA Hayato (forward, no. 27), HIGUCHI Kenshi (no. 34), KASAI Naoki (no. 36) and TAKEHARA Reon (defender, no. 32) — first-years already playing in the Premier League.

Notes

Full profile in Japanese, with the current squad list and every result: ガンバ大阪ユース.

Where a player has no official English spelling published by the JFA or the J.League, the name is shown in Japanese.