title: 1997 Gamba Osaka season
text: # 1997 Gamba Osaka season
  
  1997 Gamba Osaka season
  
  ## Competitions
  
  | Competitions | Position |
  | - | - |
  | J.League | 4th / 17 clubs |
  | Emperor's Cup | Quarterfinals |
  | J.League Cup | GL-B 3rd / 4 clubs |
  
  ## Player statistics
  
  | No. | Pos. | Nat. | Player | D.o.B. (Age) | Height / Weight | J.League | J.League | Emperor's Cup | Emperor's Cup | J.League Cup | J.League Cup | Total | Total |
  | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
  | No. | Pos. | Nat. | Player | D.o.B. (Age) | Height / Weight | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
  | 1 | GK | | Hayato Okanaka | (1968-09-26)September 26, 1968 (aged 28) | 185 cm / 83 kg | 32 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 39 | 0 |
  | 2 | MF | | Koji Yoshinari | (1974-05-19)May 19, 1974 (aged 22) | 174 cm / 70 kg | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
  | 3 | DF | | Daisuke Saito | (1974-11-19)November 19, 1974 (aged 22) | 181 cm / 73 kg | 31 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 37 | 0 |
  | 4 | DF | | Noritada Saneyoshi | (1972-10-19)October 19, 1972 (aged 24) | 178 cm / 70 kg | 30 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 38 | 0 |
  | 5 | DF | | Babunski | (1968-05-05)May 5, 1968 (aged 28) | 184 cm / 78 kg | 23 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 30 | 7 |
  | 6 | MF | | Hitoshi Morishita | (1972-09-21)September 21, 1972 (aged 24) | 174 cm / 70 kg | 29 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 35 | 2 |
  | 7 | MF | | Naoki Hiraoka | (1973-05-24)May 24, 1973 (aged 23) | 171 cm / 68 kg | 28 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 37 | 4 |
  | 8 | MF | | Koji Kondo | (1972-04-28)April 28, 1972 (aged 24) | 175 cm / 67 kg | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 |
  | 9 | FW | | Mboma | (1970-11-15)November 15, 1970 (aged 26) | 185 cm / 85 kg | 28 | 25 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 34 | 29 |
  | 10 | MF | | Krupni | (1973-08-15)August 15, 1973 (aged 23) | 184 cm / 79 kg | 27 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 36 | 12 |
  | 11 | FW | | Masanobu Matsunami | (1974-11-21)November 21, 1974 (aged 22) | 180 cm / 75 kg | 32 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 41 | 14 |
  | 12 | GK | | Kenji Honnami | (1964-06-23)June 23, 1964 (aged 32) | 186 cm / 80 kg | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
  | 13 | MF | | Hiromi Kojima | (1977-12-12)December 12, 1977 (aged 19) | 176 cm / 66 kg | 20 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 29 | 2 |
  | 14 | MF | | Shigeru Morioka | (1973-08-12)August 12, 1973 (aged 23) | 174 cm / 70 kg | 28 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 5 |
  | 15 | DF | | Masao Kiba | (1974-09-06)September 6, 1974 (aged 22) | 177 cm / 73 kg | 9 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 17 | 0 |
  | 16 | DF | | Daiju Matsumoto | (1977-12-09)December 9, 1977 (aged 19) | 178 cm / 70 kg | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
  | 17 | DF | | Takashi Kiyama | (1972-02-18)February 18, 1972 (aged 25) | 180 cm / 75 kg | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 15 | 0 |
  | 18 | MF | | Mladenović | (1964-09-13)September 13, 1964 (aged 32) | 178 cm / 73 kg | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
  | 19 | DF | | Kojiro Kaimoto | (1977-10-14)October 14, 1977 (aged 19) | 182 cm / 72 kg | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 1 |
  | 20 | DF | | Tsuneyasu Miyamoto | (1977-02-07)February 7, 1977 (aged 20) | 176 cm / 71 kg | 26 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 33 | 1 |
  | 21 | GK | | Naoki Matsuyo | (1974-04-09)April 9, 1974 (aged 22) | 180 cm / 72 kg | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 |
  | 22 | GK | | Hiroyuki Kishi | (1977-04-26)April 26, 1977 (aged 19) | 188 cm / 84 kg | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 |
  | 23 | GK | | Ryota Tsuzuki | (1978-04-18)April 18, 1978 (aged 18) | 185 cm / 78 kg | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
  | 24 | MF | | Tadayoshi Tamura | (1978-08-16)August 16, 1978 (aged 18) | 183 cm / 73 kg | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 |
  | 25 | FW | | Kohei Hayashi | (1978-06-27)June 27, 1978 (aged 18) | 175 cm / 70 kg | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
  | 26 | DF | | Yuji Furukawa | (1978-07-07)July 7, 1978 (aged 18) | 181 cm / 76 kg | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 |
  | 27 | DF | | Takahiro Shimada | (1965-02-09)February 9, 1965 (aged 32) | 182 cm / 78 kg | 15 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 22 | 0 |
  | 28 | MF | | Hideki Nomiyama | (1975-04-28)April 28, 1975 (aged 21) | 181 cm / 65 kg | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
  | 29 | MF | | Junichi Inamoto † | (1979-09-18)September 18, 1979 (aged 17) | -cm / -kg | 27 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 36 | 3 |
  | 30 | DF | | Toshimi Kikuchi † | (1973-06-17)June 17, 1973 (aged 23) | 177 cm / 70 kg | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 |
  | 18 | FW | | Yuzo Funakoshi † | (1977-06-12)June 12, 1977 (aged 19) | -cm / -kg | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 |
  | 31 | DF | | Toru Araiba † | (1979-07-12)July 12, 1979 (aged 17) | -cm / -kg | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
  | 31 | MF | | Karić † | (1973-12-31)December 31, 1973 (aged 23) | -cm / -kg | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
  
  * † player(s) joined the team after the opening of this season.
  
  ## Transfers
  
  | No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
  | - | - | - | - |
  | 21 | GK | JPN | Naoki Matsuyo (from Tenri University) |
  | 23 | GK | JPN | Ryota Tsuzuki (from Kunimi High School) |
  | 3 | DF | JPN | Daisuke Saito (from Chuo University) |
  | 26 | DF | JPN | Yuji Furukawa (from Ashiya High School) |
  | 2 | MF | JPN | Koji Yoshinari (from University of Tsukuba) |
  | 10 | MF | SCG | Nebojša Krupniković (from Standard Liège) |
  | 24 | MF | JPN | Tadayoshi Tamura (from Kusatsu Higashi High School) |
  | 9 | FW | CMR | Patrick Mboma (from Paris SG) |
  | 25 | FW | JPN | Kohei Hayashi (from Takigawa Daini Seinior High School) |
  | No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
  | — | GK | JPN | Atsushi Shirai (to JEF United Ichihara) |
  | — | DF | UKR | Tsveiba |
  | — | DF | JPN | Takeshi Yonezawa |
  | — | DF | JPN | Yuji Hashimoto (to Sagan Tosu) |
  | — | DF | JPN | Keiju Karashima (to Avispa Fukuoka) |
  | — | DF | JPN | Takehiro Kato |
  | — | MF | BLR | Aleinikov |
  | — | MF | JPN | Yoshiyuki Matsuyama (to Kyoto Purple Sanga) |
  | — | MF | JPN | Kunio Kitamura (to Nippon Denso) |
  | — | MF | JPN | Hiromitsu Isogai (to Urawa Red Diamonds) |
  | — | MF | CRO | Škrinjar |
  | — | MF | JPN | Sojiro Ishii (to Nippon Denso) |
  | — | MF | JPN | Masafumi Nakaguchi |
  | — | MF | JPN | Hideki Yoshioka |
  | — | MF | JPN | Kenji Takagi |
  | — | FW | NED | Gillhaus (to AZ) |
  | — | FW | JPN | Hiroto Yamamura |
  | — | FW | JPN | Kensuke Nishijima |
  
  ## Transfers during the season
  
  ### In
  
  * Junichi Inamoto (Gamba Osaka youth)
  * Toshimi Kikuchi (from Verdy Kawasaki)
  * Yuzo Funakoshi (loan return from Telstar on June)
  * Toru Araiba (Gamba Osaka youth)
  * Karić (from Maribor on August)
  
  ### Out
  
  * Kenji Honnami (to Verdy Kawasaki)
  * Mladen Mladenović (on June)
  
  ## Awards
  
  * J.League Top Scorer: Mboma
  * J.League Best XI: Mboma
  