What is special about hosting the Nagoya Asian Games? City of cars, football and sports heritage

Chunichi Dragons (Photo by TOI) NAGOYA: Best known as the home of one of the world’s largest car manufacturers, Nagoya is a blend of industrial power, history and culture. However, what has largely been missed is the city’s rich sporting tradition, which goes beyond sumo wrestling, kendo or judo.As the Asian Games officially begin here on Saturday, the Chunichi Dragons, formerly Nagoya Baseball Club, are celebrating 90 years. Three years after the formation of the Dragons, Nagoya Grampus Eight Football Club was born.Now known as Nagoya Grampus, the club attracted international attention in the 1990s when they 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.However, the club’s football legacy was shaped just as significantly by then little-known manager Arsene Wenger.Wenger spent 18 months at Grampus before heading to Arsenal, where he became one of the most influential managers of his generation. In the testing phase of his managerial career, the Frenchman rose to the challenge of Japan, turning Grampus from also into Emperor’s Cup champions in 1995. The club also won the Japanese Super Cup under Wenger.For 65-year-old Toshio Kawakita, a lifelong Grampus supporter and now an Asian Games volunteer, the combination of Wenger and Stojkovic was the spark that helped reshape football in the city.

Toshio Kawakita (Photo by TOI)

“Wenger changed the way football was played here. He channeled our players’ passion for the sport and not only taught them tactics but also brought a sense of purpose and direction. Stojkovic helped Wenger immensely in the process because he came here as the first player. Stojkovic came back to our club and under him we won the J League championship in 2010. We said we owe a lot to them for who we are as a Kawakita club.”Another Nagoya old-timer, Iori Tanaka, who runs a ramen shop near Paloma Mizuho Sports Park, has his own memories of watching Lineker and Stojkovic in action.“Who would have thought that Europeans would come to play football here? They were both at the end of their careers when they came here, but they ensured the start of something new and lasting,” Tanaka said.But Tanaka couldn’t resist a little cricket-related wish.“Who knows, if your cricketers (from India) play in the Japanese Premier League, cricket will get a huge boost here,” he said with a laugh.With the Asiad bringing a generation of international stars to Nagoya, from Olympic champions and world medalists to up-and-coming Asian sporting talent, the city is set to be the stage for some of the continent’s biggest names. For a city that has already hosted footballing greats like Lineker and Stojkovic and witnessed Wenger’s transformation of Japanese football, the Games offer a chance for its sporting legacy to become part of a bigger story.