It was founded in 1980 as Matsushita Electric SC by the mononymous company, which is now known as Panasonic, in Nara Prefecture and became a member of the Japan Soccer League.

[2] In an AFC Champions League match in 2006, Gamba Osaka defeated Vietnamese side Da Nang FC in a record-equaling victory of 15–0.

[4] After his brilliant display and having just scored 10 goals in 18 games for Gamba in the domestic league, he was sold to UAE club Al-Ahli for 1 billion yen.

They became the fifth Japanese club to win the maximum Asian title, after Urawa, Júbilo Iwata, then-company-affiliated Yomiuri (now Tokyo Verdy), and Furukawa Electric (now JEF United Ichihara Chiba).

[10] In 2015 saw Gamba return to the AFC Champions League for the first time since 2012, where they advanced all the way to the semi-finals before being eliminated by eventual winner and 2015 FIFA Club World Cup Fourth Place, Guangzhou Evergrande 1–2 on aggregate.

Gamba was than drawn in Group H alongside South Korean giants Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, Thailand club Chiangrai United and Singaporean side Tampines Rovers.

On 7 July 2021, Gamba managed to record their highest ever win in the AFC Champions League after thrashing Tampines Rovers 8–1 at the Bunyodkor Stadium where Shuhei Kawasaki scored a hat-trick in the match.

In conjunction with this new agreement, JFA-certified S-class coaches are currently undergoing overseas training at Chonburi (from 30 January 2023 to 12 February 2023) under the tutelage of Daisuke Machinaka.

On 4 March 2024, Gamba Osaka and 36-time Eredivisie champions announce a strategic partnership to advance talent identification and development initiatives in Japan.

Gamba Osaka, in turn, gains access to Ajax's renowned training methodologies for its youth development program while establishing connections within the global football community.

In the Captain Tsubasa manga series, two characters are from Gamba Osaka: the defender Makoto Soda and the forward Takashi Sugimoto.