NAGOYA: Best known as the home of one of the world’s biggest automobile manufacturers, Nagoya is a blend of industrial might, history and culture.
What has largely flown under the radar, however, is the city’s rich sporting tradition, which goes beyond sumo wrestling, kendo or judo.As the Asian Games officially get under way here on Saturday, the Chunichi Dragons, formerly the Nagoya Baseball Club, are celebrating 90 years.
Three years after the Dragons were formed, the Nagoya Grampus Eight football club was born.Now known as Nagoya Grampus, the club attracted international attention in the 1990s when it signed England great Gary Lineker and, later, Serbian star Dragan Stojkovic.
Lineker spent two seasons in Nagoya before ending his playing career, while Stojkovic enjoyed seven stellar seasons at the club and remains an icon in the city.But the club’s football legacy was shaped just as significantly by a then little-known manager, Arsene Wenger.Wenger spent 18 months at Grampus before heading to Arsenal, where he would go on to become one of the most influential managers of his generation.
At a testing stage of his managerial career, the Frenchman embraced the Japanese challenge and transformed Grampus from also-rans into Emperor’s Cup champions in 1995.
Under Wenger, the club also won the Japanese Super Cup.For 65-year-old Toshio Kawakita, a lifelong Grampus supporter and now a volunteer at the....
