Pan-Pacific Championship

For other uses, see Pan Pacific.

Pan-Pacific Championship

Founded	2007
Region	Asia, North America, and Oceania
Number of teams	4
Current champions	Suwon Bluewings (2009)
Most successful club(s)	Gamba Osaka, Suwon Bluewings (1 time)
Website	Official website
Pan-Pacific Championship 2009

The Pan-Pacific Football Championship was an inter-confederation football tournament between teams from A-League (Australia and New Zealand), Chinese Super League (China), J. League (Japan), K-League (Korea), and Major League Soccer (United States and Canada). The event was underwritten by MLS and promoted through its Soccer United Marketing arm.^[1]

History

The inaugural edition of the competition took place from February 20 to February 23, 2008 in Honolulu, Hawaii.^[2] Four teams took part in the competition.

Houston Dynamo qualified as MLS Cup champions, and Gamba Osaka qualified as champions of the Japanese League Cup. Australia's A-League was represented by the loser of the minor semi final instead of the champion team. This was due to a scheduling conflict with the A-League Preliminary Final on February 17, followed by the Grand Final on February 24, which were moved back so as not to interfere with Australia's 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign.^[1] The fourth competitor was originally intended to be the SuperLiga champion, Pachuca, but the club reportedly declined to take part and their place in the competition was awarded to Los Angeles Galaxy.

Teams from China and Korea made their debut in the tournament in the 2009 edition, which was held at the Galaxy's Home Depot Center in Carson, California.

While no official statement has been issued, the tournament was not held in 2010 or 2011. In 2012, Aloha Stadium is scheduled to host the Hawaiian Islands Invitational, a preseason tournament that will also feature teams from Japan, Australia, the United States, and South Korea.^{[citation needed]} A similar tournament, the Pacific Rim Cup, will be held in Honolulu in February 2018, featuring MLS and J League teams.^[3]

Results

Year	Host		Final				Third-place match
			Winner	Score	Runner-up		3rd place	Score	4th place
2008	United States		Gamba Osaka	6–1	Houston Dynamo		Los Angeles Galaxy	2–1	Sydney FC
2009	United States		Suwon Bluewings	1–1 (4–2p)	Los Angeles Galaxy		Oita Trinita	2–1	Shandong Luneng

Statistics

By club

Team	Won	Runner-up	Years won	Years runner-up
Gamba Osaka	1	0	2008
Suwon Samsung Bluewings	1	0	2009
Los Angeles Galaxy	0	1		2009
Houston Dynamo	0	1		2008

By nation

Nation	Times won	Times runner-up	Winning clubs	Runners-up
Japan	1	0	Gamba Osaka (1)
South Korea	1	0	Suwon Samsung Bluewings (1)
United States	0	2		Houston Dynamo (1), Los Angeles Galaxy (1)

See also

• Hawaiian Islands Invitational

References

1. Cockerill, Michael (2007-11-06). "A-League joins the world game as pioneers of the Pan-Pacific championship". The Sydney Morning Herald. ISSN 0312-6315. Retrieved 2007-11-29.
2. International tourney to debut Feb. '08 in Hawaii Archived December 13, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
3. "Crew SC to participate in inaugural preseason Pacific Rim Cup". Columbus Crew SC. November 13, 2017. Retrieved November 13, 2017.