Japan national football team facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Japan

Nickname(s)	サムライ・ブルー (Samurai Blue) Since 19 October 2009
Association	Japan Football Association (JFA)
Confederation	AFC (Asia)
Sub-confederation	EAFF (East Asia)
Head coach	Hajime Moriyasu
Captain	Maya Yoshida
Most caps	Yasuhito Endō (152)
Top scorer	Kunishige Kamamoto (75)
Home stadium	Saitama Stadium 2002 (mostly)
FIFA code	JPN
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	27 23 (7 February 2019)
Highest	9 (March 1998)
Lowest	66 (December 1992)
Elo ranking
Current	23 19 (3 March 2019)
Highest	8 (August 2001, March 2002)
Lowest	123 (September 1962)
First international
Japan 0–5 China  (Tokyo, Japan; 9 May 1917)
Biggest win
Japan 15–0 Philippines  (Tokyo, Japan; 27 September 1967)
Biggest defeat
Japan 2–15 Philippines  (Tokyo, Japan; 10 May 1917)
World Cup
Appearances	7 (first in 1998)
Best result	Round of 16 (2002, 2010, 2018, 2022)
Asian Cup
Appearances	10 (first in 1988)
Best result	Champions (1992, 2000, 2004, 2011)
Copa América (as guest)
Appearances	2 (first in 1999)
Best result	Group stage (1999, 2019)
EAFF Championship
Appearances	9 (first in 2003)
Best result	Champions (2013, 2022)
Confederations Cup
Appearances	5 (first in 1995)
Best result	Runners-up (2001)
Medal record Men's football Olympic Games Bronze 1968 Mexico Team FIFA Confederations Cup Silver 2001 Korea/Japan Team Asian Cup Gold 1992 Japan Team Gold 2000 Lebanon Team Gold 2004 China Team Gold 2011 Qatar Team Silver 2019 UAE Team Asian Games Bronze 1951 New Delhi Team Bronze 1966 Bangkok Team EAFF Championship Gold 2013 South Korea Team Gold 2022 Japan Team Silver 2003 Japan Team Silver 2005 South Korea Team Silver 2008 China Team Silver 2017 Japan Team Silver 2019 South Korea Team Bronze 2010 Japan Team
Website	Japanese English

The Japan national football team (サッカー日本代表, Sakkā Nihon Daihyō or Sakkā Nippon Daihyō), nicknamed the Samurai Blue (サムライ・ブルー, Samurai Burū), represents Japan in men's international football. It is controlled by the Japan Football Association (JFA), the governing body for football in Japan.

Japan was not a major football force until the end of the 1980s, with a small and amateur team. For a long time in Japan, football was a less popular sport than baseball and sumo. Since the 1990s, when Japanese football became fully professionalized, Japan has emerged as one of the most successful teams in Asia; they have qualified for the last seven FIFA World Cups with knockout stage appearances in 2002, 2010, 2018 and 2022, and won the AFC Asian Cup a record four times, in 1992, 2000, 2004 and 2011. The team also finished second in the 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup and the 2019 AFC Asian Cup. Japan remains the only team from the AFC other than Australia and Saudi Arabia to have reached the final of a senior FIFA men's competition.

Japan's progression in a short period has served as an inspiration and example of how to develop football. Their principal continental rivals are South Korea and, most recently, Australia; they also developed rivalries against Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Japan was the first team from outside the Americas to participate in the Copa América, having been invited in 1999, 2011, 2015, and 2019 editions of the tournament, though they only played in the 1999 and 2019 events.

History

Pre-war era (1910s–1930s)

Japan's earliest international matches were at the 1917 Far Eastern Championship Games in Tokyo, where it was represented by a team from the Tokyo Higher Normal School. Although Japan made strong showings in swimming, baseball, and track and field, its football team suffered resounding defeats to the Republic of China and the Philippines. Nevertheless, the game was promoted in Japanese schools in the 1920s. The Japan Football Association was formed in 1921, and Japan joined FIFA in May 1929.

Japan's first "true" national team (as opposed to a university team chosen to represent the country) was fielded at the 1930 Far Eastern Championship Games, and drew with China for the championship title. Shigeyoshi Suzuki coached the national team to its first Olympic appearance at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. Japan was an entrant for the 1938 FIFA World Cup qualification, but withdrew before its scheduled qualifying match against the Dutch East Indies.

After World War II began in earnest, Japan did not play in international competition, except for a handful of matches against Manchuria and other colonies. Its last prewar match for purposes of Elo ratings was a friendly against the Philippines in June 1940.

While Korea was under Japanese rule, multiple Koreans played in international competition for Japan, including Kim Yong-sik (1936–40), Kim Sung-gan (1940) and Lee Yoo-hyung (1940).

Post-war Era (1950s–1980s)

Japan's postwar debut was in the 1951 Asian Games in India. Japan re-joined FIFA in 1950 and played in qualifiers for the 1954 FIFA World Cup, but lost the AFC qualifying berth to South Korea after two matches, beginning an intense rivalry. Japan also joined the Asian Football Confederation in 1954.

Dettmar Cramer joined the Japan national team as coach in 1960, and helped lead the team to the round of eight at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Japan's first major achievement in international football came in the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, where the team won the bronze medal. Although this result earned the sport increased recognition in Japan, the absence of a professional domestic league hindered its growth and Japan would not qualify for the FIFA World Cup until 30 years later. Nonetheless, Japan had come close to qualify for the 1986 FIFA World Cup, but lost to South Korea in the deciding matches.

Japan made its first appearance in the Asian Cup in 1988, where they were eliminated in the group stage following a draw with Iran and losses to South Korea, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

The late 1980s saw concrete moves to professionalize the sport in Japan. JFA introduced a Special Licensed Player system in 1986, allowing a limited number of professional players to compete in the domestic semi-professional league. Action committees were held in 1988 and 1989 to discuss the introduction of a full professional league in Japan.

1990s: Rise

In 1991, the owners of the semi-professional Japan Soccer League agreed to disband the league and re-form as the professional J.League, partly to raise the sport's profile and to strengthen the national team program. The following year, Japan hosted the 1992 Asian Cup and won their first title by defeating Saudi Arabia 1–0 in the final. The J.League was officially launched in 1993.

However, in its first attempt to qualify with professional players, Japan narrowly missed a ticket to the 1994 World Cup after drawing with Iraq in the final match of the qualification round, remembered by fans as the "Agony of Doha". Japan's next tournament was a defence of their continental title at the 1996 Asian Cup. The team won all their games in the group stage but were eliminated in the quarter-finals after a 2–0 loss to Kuwait.

The nation's first ever World Cup appearance was in 1998, where Japan lost all their games. The first two fixtures went 1–0 in favour of Argentina and Croatia, and the campaign ended with a 2–1 defeat to Jamaica. Japan impressed in all three games, however, with all three defeats were just one goal margin.

2000s

In the 2000 AFC Asian Cup, Japan managed to reclaim their title after defeating Saudi Arabia in the final, becoming Asian champions for the second time.

Two years later, Japan co-hosted the 2002 World Cup with South Korea. After a 2–2 draw with Belgium in their opening match, the Japanese team advanced to the second round with a 1–0 win over Russia and a 2–0 victory against Tunisia. However, they subsequently exited the tournament during the round of 16, after losing 1–0 to eventual third-place finishers Turkey.

With the 2004 AFC Asian Cup hosted by China, the Japanese managed to retain the title by winning their group after two victories over Thailand and Oman, before surpassing Jordan and Bahrain. They won against China in the final 3–1.

On 8 June 2005, Japan qualified for the 2006 World Cup in Germany, its third consecutive World Cup, by beating North Korea 2–0 on neutral ground. However, Japan failed to advance to the round of 16, losing to Australia 1–3, drawing Croatia 0–0 and losing to Brazil 1–4.

The 2007 AFC Asian Cup saw Japan failed to defend the title. Although easily winning the group Vietnam and two Arab rivals, Qatar and the UAE, the Japanese were totally exhausted in their game against Australia, where Japan won only by a penalty shootout. Japan lost to Saudi Arabia in the semi-finals before failing in the third-place match against South Korea.

2010s

During the 2010 World Cup qualification, in the fourth round of the Asian Qualifiers, Japan became the first team other than the host South Africa to qualify after defeating Uzbekistan 1–0 away. Japan was drawn in Group E along with the Netherlands, Denmark and Cameroon. Japan started with a 1–0 win against Cameroon, before subsequently losing to the Netherlands 0–1. Then, Japan resoundingly beat Denmark 3–1 to advance to the next round against Paraguay. In the round of 16, Japan were eliminated from the competition following penalties after a 0–0 draw against Paraguay.

After the World Cup, head coach Takeshi Okada resigned. He was replaced by former Juventus and Milan coach Alberto Zaccheroni. In his first few matches, Japan recorded victories over Guatemala (2–1) and Paraguay (1–0), as well as a 1–0 victory over Argentina.

In 2011, Japan participated in the 2011 AFC Asian Cup in Qatar. On 29 January, they beat Australia 1–0 in the final after extra time, their fourth Asian Cup triumph and allowing them to qualify for the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup.

Japan then started their road to 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Throughout, they suffered only two losses to Uzbekistan and Jordan, and drawing against Australia. Afterwards, on 12 October, Japan earned a historic 1–0 victory over France. After a 1–1 draw with Australia they qualified for the 2014 World Cup, becoming the first nation aside from Brazil to qualify.

Japan started their 2013 Confederations Cup campaign with a 3–0 loss to Brazil. They were then eliminated from the competition after losing to Italy 3–4. They lost their final match 1–2 against Mexico and finished in fourth place in Group A. One month later, in the EAFF East Asian Cup, they started out with a 3–3 draw to China. They then beat Australia 3–2 and beat South Korea 2–1 in the third and final match in the 2013 EAFF East Asian Cup to claim the title.

Japan was placed into Group C at the 2014 World Cup alongside the Ivory Coast, Greece and Colombia. They fell in their first match to Ivory Coast 2–1 after initially taking the lead, allowing two goals in a two-minute span. They drew their second game to Greece 0–0. To qualify for the second round, they needed a victory against Colombia and Greece to win against Ivory Coast. Greece beat Ivory Coast 2–1, but Colombia won 4–1, eliminating Japan from the World Cup. Alberto Zaccheroni resigned as head coach. In July 2014, former Mexico and Espanyol manager Javier Aguirre took over and Japan lost 0–2 to Uruguay in the first game he managed.

Japan won its opening match at the 2015 AFC Asian Cup in Group D against Asian Cup debutantes Palestine 4–0, with goals from Yasuhito Endō, Shinji Okazaki, Keisuke Honda via a penalty and Maya Yoshida. Okazaki was named man of the match. They then faced Iraq and Jordan in their next group matches, which they won 1–0 and 2–0 respectively. They qualified to knockout stage as Group D winner with nine points, seven goals scored and no goals conceded. In the quarter-finals, Japan lost to the United Arab Emirates in a penalty shootout after a 1–1 draw, as Honda and Shinji Kagawa missed their penalty kicks. Japan's elimination marked their worst performance in the tournament in 19 years.

After the Asian Cup, Aguirre was sacked following allegations of corruption during a prior tenure. He was replaced by Vahid Halilhodžić in March 2015. Japan started on a rough note during qualification, losing to the UAE 1–2 at home. They then picked up the pace in their other qualifier games against Iraq, Australia, and Thailand, picking up 5 wins and 2 draws. Then, on 31 August 2017, Japan defeated Australia 2–0 at home thus qualifying them for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, making it their sixth successive World Cup. However, the Japan Football Association decided to sack Halilhodžić on 9 April 2018, only ten weeks before the World Cup finals, citing reasons of a breakdown in relationship between coach and player, and poor recent friendly results, and appoint the Technical Director, Japanese coach Akira Nishino, who had managed the Japanese Under-23 team at the 1996 Olympics, as the new manager.

Japan made history in the 2018 FIFA World Cup by defeating Colombia 2–1, their first ever victory by any AFC team against a CONMEBOL team in an official tournament, as well as Japan's first ever victory at the FIFA World Cup finals in UEFA nations. Their second match ended in a draw against Senegal, with one goal scored by Takashi Inui and the other by Keisuke Honda. Japan were defeated in their last group game in the Group H against Poland 0–1, leaving Japan and Senegal tied for second with an identical record, however, as Japan had received two fewer yellow cards, Japan advanced to the knockout stage on the Fair Play Points tiebreaker, the first team to do so. The match with Poland caused controversy; as Japan were made aware of their advantage over Senegal with ten minutes left and decided to play an extremely conservative game, passing the ball around to one another and keeping it in their own box, seeking to avoid any bookings and didn't attempt to take any serious shots on goal, despite losing 0–1, with some fans booing the players. The match received comparison to the 1982 World Cup Disgrace of Gijón, in which a similar game was played. Japan were the only AFC team to have qualified to the knockout stage. In the Round of 16 against Belgium, Japan took a surprising 2–0 lead with a goal in the 48th minute by Genki Haraguchi and another in the 52nd by Takashi Inui, but yielded 3 goals afterwards, including the winner by Nacer Chadli on the counterattack in the 94th minute. This was Japan's third time having reached the last 16, equaling their best result at a World Cup. Japan's defeat to eventual third-place finishers Belgium was the first time a nation had lost a knockout match at the World Cup after taking a two-goal advantage since England lost to West Germany 2–3 in extra-time in the quarter-final of the 1970 edition. This unfortunate scenario was due to the naivety of the Nipponese, who were very offensive and did not fall back enough in defense once the two-goal lead was acquired (unlike France, eventual champion, in the semifinals who played low block against these same Belgians with success), leaving a lot of space to the Belgians, who also took advantage of their physical and athletic superiority to turn the game around. However, Japan's impressive performance was praised by fans, pundits and medias for their fighting spirits, as demonstrated by Japan's win over Colombia, a draw to Senegal and a strong counter offensive against heavyweight Belgium.

Japan participated in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup and had an almost successful tournament. The team easily topped group F after defeating Turkmenistan 3–2, Oman 1–0 and Uzbekistan 2–1. The team, however, got criticized for its defensive approach (as the offensive approach lead to a regretful scenario against Belgium during the World Cup 2018), as Japan won the group with only one goal margin wins in all three matches and two later knockout stage's matches as Japan only beat fellow powerhouse Saudi Arabia in the round of sixteen and dark horse Vietnam in the quarter-finals both with 1–0 margin. After defeating Iran 3–0 to reach the final, Japan's hope to win their fifth Asian Cup in two decades shattered with the team suffering a 1–3 loss to Qatar, who won the Asian Cup for the first time.

Japan were invited to the 2019 Copa America, their second appearance at the tournament, and brought a young squad to the competition. They were in Group C with Uruguay, Chile and Ecuador. They lost their opening match, 0–4 to Chile. Japan, however, bounced back well and managed to unluckily draw against football giants Uruguay 2–2, who (Uruguay) were deemed to have been saved by VAR. Japan needed a win against Ecuador to qualify for the knockouts, however they drew 1–1 and missed out due to inferior goal differences to Paraguay. Aftermath saw Japan played a friendly game against the Paraguayans, and won 2–0 at home.

2020s

After China was removed as host of the 2022 EAFF E-1 Football Championship, it was announced that Japan was the new host. After topping the table with two wins and one draw, Japan won the competition for the second time in their history.

Japan qualified for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and were grouped with Germany, Costa Rica and Spain in Group E. On 23 November 2022, Japan produced an upset in which they beat Germany 2–1, with two goals in an eight-minute span during the second half. In the second match against a Costa Rica side that lost 7-0 to Spain, the Samurai Blue were expected to easily win but instead were heavily upset 0–1. Going into the matches on an the final matchday, every team in Japan's group could qualify or be eliminated, with no team assured of any placement. In the end, Japan managed to qualify for the knockout stages by defeating Spain 2–1 in their final group match, also contributing to Germany's elimination from the tournament. By topping their group, Japan went on to face Croatia in the round-of-16 where Japan would lose 1-3 on penalties after a 1–1 draw. It is the third team in 52 years to have come from behind twice in one tournament, following Brazil and (West)Germany. They beat Spain with the lowest possession of the ball ever for a team since the 1966 World Cup. It is the first time that an Asian team advances to the final tournament in first place at a World Cup held outside their home country.

They are also the first Asian team to reach the finals tournament twice in a row.

Team image

Nicknames

Japan's national football team is nicknamed the Samurai Blue (サムライ・ブルー, Samurai Burū) by the JFA. The team also is often known by the last name of the manager. For example, under Takeshi Okada, the team was known as Okada Japan (岡田ジャパン, Okada Japan), or during the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the team is referred by the current manager's (Hajime Moriyasu) name, as "Moriyasu Japan" (森保ジャパン, Moriyasu Japan).

Kits

The national team kit design has gone through several alterations in the past. In the early 1980s, the kit was white with blue trim. The kits worn for the 1992 Asian Cup consisted of white stripes (stylized to form a wing) with red diamonds. During the 1996 Asian Cup and in the 1998 World Cup, the national team kits were blue jerseys with red and white flame designs on the sleeves, and were designed by JFA (with the sponsor alternating each year between Asics, Puma, and Adidas). The 1996 design was reproduced in a special kit used against Syria on 7 June 2017.

Japan uses blue and white rather than red and white due to a superstition. Japan first used blue shirts in the 1930 Far Eastern Championship Games, where a team of the Tokyo Imperial University (whose color is light blue) represented Japan wearing light blue shirts, and then in a 3–2 victory over Sweden in the first game of its maiden major international competition, the 1936 Summer Olympics. When Japan was coached by Kenzo Yokoyama (1988–1992) the kits were red and white, matching the colours of Japan's national flag. After failures at 1990 FIFA World Cup and 1992 Summer Olympics qualifications, the red shirt was scrapped.

In the 2013 Confederations Cup and the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, Japan temporarily switched the colour of the numbers from white to gold.

Japan's kit is provided by German company Adidas, the team's exclusive kit supplier since April 1999. Before that, Asics and Puma had been the team's official apparel sponsor alongside Adidas.

On 3 June 2021, Japan released the special 100th anniversary kit for a friendly match against Jamaica, but the match was cancelled and replaced with a match against the U-24 team. The kit was also used by the U-24 team against U-24 Ghana on 5 June 2021.

Kit suppliers

Kit provider	Period	Ref
None	1936–1978
Asics	1979
Puma	1980–1985
Adidas	1986
Asics	1987–1988
Adidas	1989–1992
Asics	1993–1998
Adidas	1999–present

Crest

The crest or emblem of the national team was adopted in late 2017 as part of a larger rebranding by the Japan Football Association. The crest features the Yatagarasu, a three-legged crow from Japanese mythology that is a symbol for the sun, holding a solid red ball that is like the sun from national flag. The text "JFA" (for the Japan Football Association) is inscribed at the bottom of the crow. A red stripe is also present at the center of the shield behind the crow. The shield has a metallic gold trim and has a thicker black outline. The name of the country represented by the national team "Japan" is also inscribed within the black border.

The previous crest used from 1996 had a shield with a more complex shape. The ball held by the Yatagarasu had white details. The text "Japan" is absent and "JFA" is written in a different typeface.

Before 1988, Japan used the national flag outlined in red (and with JFA written in black on the lower left corner of the flag) on the shirts.

The Yatagarasu was first seen on the Japan shirts in 1988, where it was on a yellow circle with a blue outline with "JAPAN FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION" written around it. In 1991, the emblem changed to a white shield with a red vertical stripe on the center with the crow on it and "JFA" written in a green Gothic typeface. This crest was used until 1996.

Home stadium

Japan plays its home matches among various stadiums, in rotation, around the country, especially the Saitama Stadium 2002.

Rivalries

South Korea

Japan maintains a strong football rivalry with South Korea. The football rivalry is long-seated and is often seen as an extension of an overall historic rivalry between the two nations. Japan have met South Korea 80 times, trailing the statistic at 15 wins, 23 draws, and 42 losses. Japan have scored 73 goals and conceded 153. Since November 1991, when the Japan Professional Football League was launched, the record is almost even with 9 wins, 12 draws and 10 losses. Both countries have made themselves unrivalled in both Asian Cup and World Cup records, being the two most successful Asian countries, and they hosted the 2002 FIFA World Cup in a joint bid.

China

Japan and China used to have a strong rivalry and the rivalry was taken to a new height when Japan beat China 3–1 in the 2004 AFC Asian Cup Final. Previously, when Japan had not established professional football, Japan had only 4 wins, 3 draws and 13 losses toward China. However, Japan's rapid rise since 1991 with the foundation of Japan Professional Football League helped turning the tide, and the Japanese have been able to exert domination with 13 wins, 6 draws and just 2 losses. Moreover, Japan have been able to use the new professional program into senior successes, qualifying to every FIFA World Cup since 1998 and winning four AFC Asian Cup; whereas China have finished runners-up in Asia twice, and qualified to just one FIFA World Cup in 2002.

Australia

Japan began to develop a fierce rivalry with fellow Asian powerhouse Australia, shortly after the latter joined the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The rivalry is regarded as one of Asia's biggest football rivalries. The rivalry is a relatively recent one, born from a number of highly competitive matches between the two teams since Australia joined the AFC in 2006. The rivalry began at the 2006 World Cup where the two countries were grouped together, and continued with the two countries meeting regularly in various AFC competitions, such as the 2007 AFC Asian Cup, the 2011 AFC Asian Cup Final and the 2013 EAFF East Asian Cup. Likewise, Australia and Japan also share World Cup and continental records that is nearly unrivaled in Asia, and also similar that football is not the main sport in both nations until recently; yet hold an indistinguishable record that being the only three members from the AFC to have reached the final of any senior FIFA competition, the other being Saudi Arabia, both in the defunct FIFA Confederations Cup, albeit Australia achieved it when the country still belonged to the OFC. Japan have met Australia 27 times, with a record of 11 wins, 9 draws and 7 losses. Since the launch of the Japan Professional Football League in November 1991, the record has been 10 wins, 7 draws and 4 losses.

Supporters

Japanese national team supporters are known for chanting "Nippon Ole" (Nippon is the Japanese word for Japan) at home matches.

Sponsorship

Japan has one of the highest sponsorship incomes for a national squad. In 2006 their sponsorship income amounted to over 16.5 million pounds.

Primary sponsors include Adidas, Kirin, Saison Card International, FamilyMart, JAL, MS&AD Insurance Group, Asahi Shinbun, Mizuho Financial, Daito Trust Construction and KDDI.

Mascot

The mascots are "Karappe" (カラッペ) and "Karara" (カララ), two Yatagarasu wearing the Japan national football team kit. The mascots were designed by Japanese manga artist Susumu Matsushita. Each year when a new kit is launched, the mascots' uniforms are updated in order to match the kit being used by the team.

For the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the Pokémon character Pikachu served as the mascot.

Results and fixtures

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

Legend

      Win       Draw       Loss       Postponed/Cancelled       Fixture

2022

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification 27 January	Japan	2–0	China	Saitama, Japan
19:00 UTC+9	Osako  13' (pen.) Ito  61'	Report (FIFA) Report (JFA) Report (Soccerway)		Stadium: Saitama Stadium 2002 Attendance: 11,753 Referee: Abdulrahman Al-Jassim (Qatar)

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification 1 February	Japan	2–0	Saudi Arabia	Saitama, Japan
19:10 UTC+9	Minamino  31' Ito  50'	Report (FIFA) Report (JFA) Report (Soccerway) Report (Foxsport)		Stadium: Saitama Stadium 2002 Attendance: 19,118 Referee: Ko Hyung-jin (South Korea)

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification 24 March	Australia	0–2	Japan	Sydney, Australia
20:10 UTC+11		Report (FIFA) Report (JFA) Report (Soccerway)	Mitoma  89', 90+3'	Stadium: Stadium Australia Attendance: 41,852 Referee: Nawaf Shukralla (Bahrain)

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification 29 March	Japan	1–1	Vietnam	Saitama, Japan
19:35 UTC+9	Yoshida  55'	Report (FIFA) Report (JFA) Report (Soccerway)	Nguyễn Thanh Bình  19'	Stadium: Saitama Stadium 2002 Attendance: 44,600 Referee: Ilgiz Tantashev (Uzbekistan)

2022 Kirin Challenge Cup 2 June	Japan	4–1	Paraguay	Sapporo, Japan
19:00 UTC+9	Asano  36' Kamada  42' Mitoma  60' Tanaka  85'	Report (JFA)	González  59'	Stadium: Sapporo Dome Attendance: 24,511 Referee: Chris Beath (Australia)

2022 Kirin Challenge Cup 6 June	Japan	0–1	Brazil	Tokyo, Japan
19:20 UTC+9		Report (JFA) Report (Soccerway)	Neymar  77' (pen.)	Stadium: Japan National Stadium Attendance: 63,638 Referee: Alireza Faghani (Iran)

2022 Kirin Cup Soccer 10 June	Japan	4–1	Ghana	Kobe, Japan
18:55 UTC+9	Yamane  29' Mitoma  45+1' Kubo  73' Maeda  82'	Report (JFA) Report (Soccerway)	J. Ayew  44'	Stadium: Noevir Stadium Kobe Attendance: 25,100 Referee: Kurt Ams (Australia)

2022 Kirin Cup Soccer 14 June	Japan	0–3	Tunisia	Osaka, Japan
18:55 UTC+9		Report (JFA) Report (Soccerway)	Ben Romdhane  55' (pen.) Sassi  76' Jebali  90+3'	Stadium: Panasonic Stadium Suita Attendance: 31,292 Referee: Ahmed Eisa Darwish (United Arab Emirates)

2022 EAFF E-1 Football Championship 19 July	Japan	6–0	Hong Kong	Ibaraki, Japan
19:20 UTC+9	Soma  2', 55' Machino  20', 57' Nishimura  22', 40'	Report (EAFF) Report (EAFF)		Stadium: Kashima Soccer Stadium Attendance: 4,980 Referee: Hassan Akrami (Iran)

2022 EAFF E-1 Football Championship 24 July	Japan	0–0	China	Toyota, Japan
19:20 UTC+9		Report (EAFF) Report (EAFF)		Stadium: Toyota Stadium Attendance: 10,526 Referee: Nivon Robesh Gamini (Sri Lanka)

2022 EAFF E-1 Football Championship 27 July	Japan	3–0	South Korea	Toyota, Japan
19:20 UTC+9	Soma  49' Sasaki  63' Machino  72'	Report (EAFF) Report (EAFF)		Stadium: Toyota Stadium Attendance: 14,117 Referee: Akhrol Riskullaev (Uzbekistan)

2022 Kirin Challenge Cup 23 September	Japan	2–0	United States	Düsseldorf, Germany
14:25 UTC+2	Kamada  24' Mitoma  88'	Report (JFA) Report (Soccerway)		Stadium: Merkur Spiel-Arena Attendance: 5,149 Referee: Felix Zwayer (Germany)

2022 Kirin Challenge Cup 27 September	Japan	0–0	Ecuador	Düsseldorf, Germany
13:55 UTC+2		Report (JFA) Report (Soccerway)		Stadium: Merkur Spiel-Arena Attendance: 4.321 Referee: Sascha Stegemann (Germany)

International Friendly 17 November	Canada	2–1	Japan	Dubai, United Arab Emirates
17:40 UTC+4	Vitória  21' Cavallini  90+5' (pen.)	Report (JFA) Report (Soccerway)	Soma  9'	Stadium: Al-Maktoum Stadium Attendance: 2.971 Referee: Omar Mohamed Al Ali (United Arab Emirates)

2022 FIFA World Cup 23 November	Germany	1–2	Japan	Doha, Qatar
16:00 UTC+3	Gündoğan  33' (pen.)	Report (FIFA) Report (JFA) Report (Soccerway)	Dōan  75' Asano  83'	Stadium: Khalifa International Stadium Attendance: 42,608 Referee: Iván Barton (El Salvador)

2022 FIFA World Cup 27 November	Japan	0–1	Costa Rica	Al Rayyan, Qatar
13:00 UTC+3		Report (FIFA) Report (JFA) Report (Soccerway)	Fuller  81'	Stadium: Ahmad bin Ali Stadium Attendance: 41,479 Referee: Michael Oliver (England)

2022 FIFA World Cup 1 December	Japan	2–1	Spain	Doha, Qatar
22:00 UTC+3	Dōan  48' Tanaka  51'	Report (FIFA) Report (JFA) Report (Soccerway)	Morata  11'	Stadium: Khalifa International Stadium Attendance: 44,851 Referee: Victor Gomes (South Africa)

2022 FIFA World Cup R16 5 December	Japan	1–1 (1–3 pen)	Croatia	Al Wakrah, Qatar
18:00 UTC+3	Maeda  43'	https://www.fifa.com/fifaplus/en/match-centre/match/17/255711/285073/400128132	Perišić  55'	Stadium: Al Janoub Stadium Attendance: 42,523 Referee: Ismail Elfath (United States)
		Penalties
	*Minamino Mitoma Asano Yoshida		* Vlašić Brozović Livaja Pašalić

2023

2023 Kirin Challenge Cup 23 March	Japan	v	TBD	Tokyo, Japan
				Stadium: Japan National Stadium

2023 Kirin Challenge Cup 28 March	Japan	v	TBD	Osaka, Japan
				Stadium: Yodoko Sakura Stadium

2023 Kirin Challenge Cup 15 June	Japan	v	TBD	Aichi, Japan
				Stadium: Toyota Stadium

2023 Kirin Challenge Cup 20 June	Japan	v	TBD	Suita, Japan
				Stadium: Panasonic Stadium Suita

International Friendly 4-12 September	Japan	v	TBD	TBD
				Stadium: TBD

International Friendly 4-12 September	Japan	v	TBD	TBD
				Stadium: TBD

International Friendly 12 October	Japan	v	TBD	Niigata, Japan
				Stadium: Denka Big Swan Stadium

International Friendly 17 October	Japan	v	TBD	Kobe, Japan
				Stadium: Noevir Stadium Kobe

2026 FIFA World Cup qualification - AFC Second Round 16 November	Japan	v	TBD	Suita, Japan
				Stadium: Panasonic Stadium Suita

2026 FIFA World Cup qualification - AFC Second Round 21 November	Japan	v	TBD	TBD
				Stadium: TBD

2023 AFC Asian Cup TBD	Japan	v	TBD	Qatar
				Stadium: TBD

2023 AFC Asian Cup TBD	Japan	v	TBD	Qatar
				Stadium: TBD

2023 AFC Asian Cup TBD	Japan	v	TBD	Qatar
				Stadium: TBD

2024

2026 FIFA World Cup qualification - AFC Second Round 21 March	Japan	v	TBD	TBD
				Stadium: TBD

2026 FIFA World Cup qualification - AFC Second Round 26 March	Japan	v	TBD	TBD
				Stadium: TBD

2026 FIFA World Cup qualification - AFC Second Round 6 June	Japan	v	TBD	TBD
				Stadium: TBD

2026 FIFA World Cup qualification - AFC Second Round 11 June	Japan	v	TBD	TBD
				Stadium: TBD

Coaching staff

Current coaching staff

Role	Name
Head coach	Hajime Moriyasu
Assistant coach	Toshihide Saito
Goalkeeping coach	Takashi Shimoda
Physical coach	Ryoichi Matsumoto

Manager history

after the match against  Croatia.

Manager	Period	Record
		Matches	Won	Draw	Lost	Win %
Masujiro Nishida	1923	2	0	0	2	0%
Goro Yamada	1925	2	0	0	2	0%
Vacant	1925	2	1	0	1	50%
Shigeyoshi Suzuki (1st)	1930	2	1	1	0	50%
Shigemaru Takenokoshi (1st)	1934	3	1	0	2	33.33%
Shigeyoshi Suzuki (2nd)	1936	2	1	1	0	50%
Shigemaru Takenokoshi (2nd)	1940	1	1	0	0	100%
Hirokazu Ninomiya	1951	3	1	1	1	33.33%
Shigemaru Takenokoshi (3rd)	1954–56	12	2	4	6	16.66%
Taizo Kawamoto	1958	2	0	0	2	0%
Shigemaru Takenokoshi (4th)	1958–59	12	4	2	6	33.33%
Vacant	1960	1	0	0	1	0%
Hidetoki Takahashi	1961–1962	14	3	2	9	21.43%
Ken Naganuma (1st)	1963–1969	31	18	7	6	58.06%
Shunichiro Okano	1970–1971	19	11	2	6	57.90%
Ken Naganuma (2nd)	1972–1976	42	16	6	20	38.09%
Hiroshi Ninomiya	1976–1978	27	6	6	15	22.22%
Yukio Shimomura	1979–1980	14	8	4	2	57.14%
Masashi Watanabe	1980	3	2	0	1	66.67%
Saburō Kawabuchi	1980–1981	10	3	2	5	30%
Takaji Mori	1981–1985	43	22	5	16	51.16%
Yoshinobu Ishii	1986–1987	17	11	2	4	64.70%
Kenzo Yokoyama	1988–1991	24	5	7	12	20.83%
Hans Ooft	1992–1993	27	16	7	4	59.25%
Paulo Roberto Falcão	1994	9	3	4	2	33.33%
Shu Kamo	1994–1997	46	23	10	13	50%
Takeshi Okada (1st)	1997–1998	15	5	4	6	33.33%
Philippe Troussier	1998–2002	50	23	16	11	46%
Zico	2002–2006	71	37	16	18	52.11%
Ivica Osim	2006–2007	20	13	2	5	65%
Takeshi Okada (2nd)	2007–2010	50	26	13	11	52%
Hiromi Hara (caretaker)	2010	2	2	0	0	100%
Alberto Zaccheroni	2010–2014	55	30	12	13	54.54%
Javier Aguirre	2014–2015	10	7	1	2	70%
Vahid Halilhodžić	2015–2018	38	21	9	8	55.26%
Akira Nishino	2018	7	2	1	4	28.57%
Hajime Moriyasu	2018–present	62	41	9	12	67.21%
Manager	Period	Record
		Matches	Won	Draw	Lost	Win %

Players

Current squad

The following 26 players were called up for the 2022 FIFA World Cup on 1 November 2022. Yuta Nakayama was forced to withdraw from the official squad list, due to injury, and was then replaced by Shuto Machino.

Caps and goals as of 5 December 2022, after the match against  Croatia.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Eiji Kawashima	(1983-03-20) 20 March 1983 (age 41)	95	0	Strasbourg
12	1GK	Shūichi Gonda	(1989-03-03) 3 March 1989 (age 35)	38	0	Shimizu S-Pulse
23	1GK	Daniel Schmidt	(1992-02-03) 3 February 1992 (age 32)	11	0	Sint-Truiden
2	2DF	Miki Yamane	(1993-12-22) 22 December 1993 (age 30)	16	2	Kawasaki Frontale
3	2DF	Shogo Taniguchi	(1991-07-15) 15 July 1991 (age 32)	16	0	Al-Rayyan
4	2DF	Ko Itakura	(1997-01-27) 27 January 1997 (age 27)	16	1	Borussia Mönchengladbach
5	2DF	Yuto Nagatomo	(1986-09-12) 12 September 1986 (age 37)	142	4	FC Tokyo
16	2DF	Takehiro Tomiyasu	(1998-11-05) 5 November 1998 (age 25)	32	1	Arsenal
19	2DF	Hiroki Sakai	(1990-04-12) 12 April 1990 (age 34)	74	1	Urawa Red Diamonds
22	2DF	Maya Yoshida (captain)	(1988-08-24) 24 August 1988 (age 35)	126	12	Schalke 04
26	2DF	Hiroki Ito	(1999-05-12) 12 May 1999 (age 24)	7	0	VfB Stuttgart
6	3MF	Wataru Endo	(1993-02-09) 9 February 1993 (age 31)	47	2	VfB Stuttgart
7	3MF	Gaku Shibasaki	(1992-05-28) 28 May 1992 (age 31)	60	3	Leganés
8	3MF	Ritsu Dōan	(1998-06-16) 16 June 1998 (age 25)	33	5	SC Freiburg
9	3MF	Kaoru Mitoma	(1997-05-20) 20 May 1997 (age 26)	13	5	Brighton & Hove Albion
10	3MF	Takumi Minamino	(1995-01-16) 16 January 1995 (age 29)	47	17	Monaco
11	3MF	Takefusa Kubo	(2001-06-04) 4 June 2001 (age 22)	22	1	Real Sociedad
13	3MF	Hidemasa Morita	(1995-05-10) 10 May 1995 (age 28)	19	2	Sporting CP
14	3MF	Junya Ito	(1993-03-09) 9 March 1993 (age 31)	42	9	Reims
15	3MF	Daichi Kamada	(1996-08-05) 5 August 1996 (age 27)	26	6	Eintracht Frankfurt
17	3MF	Ao Tanaka	(1998-09-10) 10 September 1998 (age 25)	18	3	Fortuna Düsseldorf
24	3MF	Yuki Soma	(1997-02-25) 25 February 1997 (age 27)	9	4	Nagoya Grampus
18	4FW	Takuma Asano	(1994-11-10) 10 November 1994 (age 29)	41	8	VfL Bochum
20	4FW	Shuto Machino	(1999-09-30) 30 September 1999 (age 24)	4	3	Shonan Bellmare
21	4FW	Ayase Ueda	(1998-08-28) 28 August 1998 (age 25)	12	0	Cercle Brugge
25	4FW	Daizen Maeda	(1997-10-20) 20 October 1997 (age 26)	11	2	Celtic

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up to the squad in the last 12 months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Kosei Tani	(2000-11-22) 22 November 2000 (age 23)	1	0	Shonan Bellmare	v.  Ecuador, 27 September 2022
GK	Keisuke Osako	(1999-07-28) 28 July 1999 (age 24)	3	0	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	2022 EAFF E-1 Championship
GK	Zion Suzuki	(2002-08-22) 22 August 2002 (age 21)	1	0	Urawa Red Diamonds	2022 EAFF E-1 Championship
DF	Yuta Nakayama	(1997-02-16) 16 February 1997 (age 27)	17	0	Huddersfield Town	2022 FIFA World Cup INJ
DF	Ayumu Seko	(2000-06-07) 7 June 2000 (age 23)	0	0	Grasshoppers	v.  Ecuador, 27 September 2022
DF	Sho Sasaki	(1989-10-02) 2 October 1989 (age 34)	15	2	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	2022 EAFF E-1 Championship
DF	Shinnosuke Hatanaka	(1995-08-25) 25 August 1995 (age 28)	10	0	Yokohama F. Marinos	2022 EAFF E-1 Championship
DF	Shinnosuke Nakatani	(1996-03-24) 24 March 1996 (age 28)	5	0	Nagoya Grampus	2022 EAFF E-1 Championship
DF	Daiki Sugioka	(1998-09-08) 8 September 1998 (age 25)	5	0	Shonan Bellmare	2022 EAFF E-1 Championship
DF	Ryuta Koike	(1995-08-29) 29 August 1995 (age 28)	2	0	Yokohama F. Marinos	2022 EAFF E-1 Championship
DF	Hayato Araki	(1996-08-07) 7 August 1996 (age 27)	1	0	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	2022 EAFF E-1 Championship
DF	Takuma Ominami	(1997-12-13) 13 December 1997 (age 26)	1	0	Kawasaki Frontale	2022 EAFF E-1 Championship
DF	Yukinari Sugawara	(2000-06-28) 28 June 2000 (age 23)	1	0	AZ	v.  Paraguay, 2 June 2022 INJ
DF	Naomichi Ueda	(1994-10-24) 24 October 1994 (age 29)	16	1	Kashima Antlers	v.  Vietnam, 29 March 2022
DF	Ryuya Nishio	(2001-05-16) 16 May 2001 (age 22)	0	0	Cerezo Osaka	Chiba Training Camp, January 2022
MF	Genki Haraguchi	(1991-05-09) 9 May 1991 (age 32)	74	11	Union Berlin	v.  Ecuador, 27 September 2022
MF	Reo Hatate	(1997-11-21) 21 November 1997 (age 26)	1	0	Celtic	v.  Ecuador, 27 September 2022
MF	Kento Hashimoto	(1993-08-16) 16 August 1993 (age 30)	15	1	Huesca	2022 EAFF E-1 Championship
MF	Ryo Miyaichi	(1992-12-14) 14 December 1992 (age 31)	5	0	Yokohama F. Marinos	2022 EAFF E-1 Championship
MF	Tomoki Iwata	(1997-04-07) 7 April 1997 (age 27)	4	0	Celtic	2022 EAFF E-1 Championship
MF	Tsukasa Morishima	(1997-04-25) 25 April 1997 (age 26)	4	0	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	2022 EAFF E-1 Championship
MF	Yasuto Wakizaka	(1995-06-11) 11 June 1995 (age 28)	4	0	Kawasaki Frontale	2022 EAFF E-1 Championship
MF	Joel Chima Fujita	(2002-02-16) 16 February 2002 (age 22)	2	0	Yokohama F. Marinos	2022 EAFF E-1 Championship
MF	Kota Mizunuma	(1990-02-22) 22 February 1990 (age 34)	2	0	Yokohama F. Marinos	2022 EAFF E-1 Championship
MF	Gakuto Notsuda	(1994-06-06) 6 June 1994 (age 29)	1	0	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	2022 EAFF E-1 Championship
MF	Ataru Esaka	(1992-05-31) 31 May 1992 (age 31)	1	0	Ulsan Hyundai	Chiba Training Camp, January 2022
MF	Sho Inagaki	(1991-12-25) 25 December 1991 (age 32)	1	2	Nagoya Grampus	Chiba Training Camp, January 2022
MF	Ryotaro Araki	(2002-01-29) 29 January 2002 (age 22)	0	0	Kashima Antlers	Chiba Training Camp, January 2022
MF	Daiki Matsuoka	(2001-06-01) 1 June 2001 (age 22)	0	0	Shimizu S-Pulse	Chiba Training Camp, January 2022
MF	Yuito Suzuki	(2001-10-25) 25 October 2001 (age 22)	0	0	Shimizu S-Pulse	Chiba Training Camp, January 2022
MF	Kota Watanabe	(1998-10-18) 18 October 1998 (age 25)	0	0	Yokohama F. Marinos	Chiba Training Camp, January 2022
FW	Kyogo Furuhashi	(1995-01-20) 20 January 1995 (age 29)	16	3	Celtic	v.  Ecuador, 27 September 2022
FW	Yoshinori Muto	(1992-07-15) 15 July 1992 (age 31)	29	3	Vissel Kobe	2022 EAFF E-1 Championship INJ
FW	Takuma Nishimura	(1996-10-22) 22 October 1996 (age 27)	3	2	Yokohama F. Marinos	2022 EAFF E-1 Championship
FW	Makoto Mitsuta	(1999-07-20) 20 July 1999 (age 24)	2	0	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	2022 EAFF E-1 Championship
FW	Mao Hosoya	(2001-09-07) 7 September 2001 (age 22)	1	0	Kashiwa Reysol	2022 EAFF E-1 Championship
FW	Yuto Iwasaki	(1998-06-11) 11 June 1998 (age 25)	1	0	Sagan Tosu	2022 EAFF E-1 Championship
FW	Daichi Hayashi	(1997-05-23) 23 May 1997 (age 26)	0	0	Sint-Truiden	v.  Vietnam, 29 March 2022
FW	Yuya Osako	(1990-05-18) 18 May 1990 (age 33)	57	25	Vissel Kobe	v.  Australia, 24 March 2022 INJ
FW	Tsuyoshi Ogashiwa	(1998-07-09) 9 July 1998 (age 25)	0	0	Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo	Chiba Training Camp, January 2022 INJ
INJ Withdrew due to injury PRE Preliminary squad / standby RET Retired from the national team SUS Serving suspension WD Player withdrew from the squad due to non-injury issue.

Records

Players in bold are still active with Japan.

Most appearances

Rank	Player	Caps	Goals	Pos	Career
1	Yasuhito Endō	152	15	MF	2002–2015
2	Yuto Nagatomo	141	4	DF	2008–present
3	Maya Yoshida	125	12	DF	2010–present
4	Masami Ihara	122	5	DF	1988–1999
5	Shinji Okazaki	119	50	FW	2008– 2019
6	Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi	116	0	GK	1997–2010
7	Makoto Hasebe	114	2	MF	2006–2018
8	Yuji Nakazawa	110	17	DF	1999–2010
9	Shunsuke Nakamura	98	24	MF	2000–2010
	Keisuke Honda	98	37	MF	2008–2018

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Goals	Caps	Ratio	Career
1	Kunishige Kamamoto	75	76	0.99	1964–1977
2	Kazuyoshi Miura	55	89	0.62	1990–2000
3	Shinji Okazaki	50	119	0.42	2008–2019
4	Hiromi Hara	37	75	0.49	1978–1988
	Keisuke Honda	37	98	0.38	2008–2018
6	Shinji Kagawa	31	97	0.32	2008–2019
7	Takuya Takagi	27	44	0.61	1992–1997
8	Kazushi Kimura	26	54	0.48	1979–1986
9	Yuya Osako	25	57	0.44	2013–present
10	Shunsuke Nakamura	24	98	0.24	2000–2010

Captains

Name	Pos	Period	Note
Shigeo Yaegashi	MF	1968	Summer Olympics bronze medalist leading captain (1968)
Aritatsu Ogi	MF	1969–1974
Kunishige Kamamoto	FW	1975–1977
Nobuo Fujishima	MF	1978
Hiroshi Ochiai	MF DF	1978–1979
Hideki Maeda	MF	1980–1981
Mitsuhisa Taguchi	GK	1982–1984
Kazushi Kimura	MF	1986
Hisashi Kato	DF	1985–1987
Hiromi Hara	FW	1988
Shigetatsu Matsunaga	GK	1989
Shinichi Morishita	GK	1990
Tetsuji Hashiratani	MF	1991–1995	AFC Asian Cup winning captain (1992)
Masami Ihara	DF	1996–1999
Masashi Nakayama	FW	2001	FIFA Confederations Cup runners-up leading captain (2001)
Ryuzo Morioka	CB	2000–2002	AFC Asian Cup winning captain (2000)
Hidetoshi Nakata	CM	2002–2004
Tsuneyasu Miyamoto	CB	2003–2006	AFC Asian Cup winning captain (2004), East Asian Football Championship runners-up leading captain (2003) (2005)
Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi	GK	2006–2008	East Asian Football Championship runners-up leading captain (2008)
Yuji Nakazawa	CB	2008–2010	East Asian Football Championship third place leading captain (2010)
Makoto Hasebe	DM	2010–2018	AFC Asian Cup winning captain (2011)
Yuichi Komano	DF	2013	EAFF East Asian Cup winning captain (2013)
Gen Shoji	CB	2017	EAFF E-1 Championship runners-up leading captain (2017)
Maya Yoshida	CB	2018–present	AFC Asian Cup runners-up leading captain (2019)
Sho Sasaki	LB	2019	EAFF E-1 Championship runners-up leading captain (2019)
Shogo Taniguchi	CB	2022	EAFF E-1 Championship winning captain (2022)

Competitive record

     Champions       Runners-up       Third place       Fourth place  

*Denotes draws includes knockout matches decided on penalty shootouts. Red border indicates that the tournament was hosted on home soil. Gold, silver, bronze backgrounds indicate 1st, 2nd and 3rd finishes respectively. Bold text indicates best finish in tournament.

FIFA World Cup

FIFA World Cup record		Qualification record
Year		Result	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA	Squad	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1930		Withdrew									Qualified as invitees
1934		Did not enter									Did not enter
1938		Withdrew									Withdrew
1950		Suspended from FIFA									Suspended from FIFA
1954		Did not qualify									2	0	1	1	3	7
1958		Did not enter									Did not enter
1962		Did not qualify									2	0	0	2	1	4
1966		Did not enter									Did not enter
1970		Did not qualify									4	0	2	2	4	8
1974											4	1	0	3	5	4
1978											4	0	1	3	0	5
1982											4	2	0	2	4	2
1986											8	5	1	2	15	5
1990											6	2	3	1	7	3
1994											13	9	3	1	35	6
1998		Group stage	31st	3	0	0	3	1	4	Squad	15	9	5	1	51	12
2002		Round of 16	9th	4	2	1	1	5	3	Squad	Qualified as co-hosts
2006		Group stage	28th	3	0	1	2	2	7	Squad	12	11	0	1	25	5
2010		Round of 16	9th	4	2	1	1	4	2	Squad	14	8	4	2	23	9
2014		Group stage	29th	3	0	1	2	2	6	Squad	14	8	3	3	30	8
2018		Round of 16	15th	4	1	1	2	6	7	Squad	18	13	3	2	44	7
2022			9th	4	2	1	1	5	4	Squad	18	15	1	2	58	6
2026		To be determined									To be determined
Total		Round of 16	7/22	25	7	6	12	25	33	—	138	83	27	28	305	91

Match history

FIFA World Cup history
Year	Round	Opponent	Score	Result
1998	Group stage	Argentina	0–1	Loss
	Group stage	Croatia	0–1	Loss
	Group stage	Jamaica	1–2	Loss
2002	Group stage	Belgium	2–2	Draw
	Group stage	Russia	1–0	Win
	Group stage	Tunisia	2–0	Win
	Round of 16	Turkey	0–1	Loss
2006	Group stage	Australia	1–3	Loss
	Group stage	Croatia	0–0	Draw
	Group stage	Brazil	1–4	Loss
2010	Group stage	Cameroon	1–0	Win
	Group stage	Netherlands	0–1	Loss
	Group stage	Denmark	3–1	Win
	Round of 16	Paraguay	0–0 (3–5 p)	Draw (Loss)
2014	Group stage	Ivory Coast	1–2	Loss
	Group stage	Greece	0–0	Draw
	Group stage	Colombia	1–4	Loss
2018	Group stage	Colombia	2–1	Win
	Group stage	Senegal	2–2	Draw
	Group stage	Poland	0–1	Loss
	Round of 16	Belgium	2–3	Loss
2022	Group stage	Germany	2–1	Win
	Group stage	Costa Rica	0–1	Loss
	Group stage	Spain	2–1	Win
	Round of 16	Croatia	1–1 (1–3 p)	Draw (Loss)

AFC Asian Cup

AFC Asian Cup record		Qualification record
Year		Result	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Squad	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1956		Withdrew									Withdrew
1960
1964
1968		Did not qualify									4	3	1	0	8	4
1972		Withdrew									Withdrew
1976		Did not qualify									5	2	1	2	4	4
1980		Withdrew									Withdrew
1984
1988		Group stage	10th	4	0	1	3	0	6	Squad	4	2	1	1	6	3
1992		Champions	1st	5	3	2	0	6	3	Squad	Qualified as hosts
1996		Quarter-finals	5th	4	3	0	1	7	3	Squad	Qualified as champions
2000		Champions	1st	6	5	1	0	21	6	Squad	3	3	0	0	15	0
2004		Champions	1st	6	4	2	0	13	6	Squad	Qualified as champions
2007		Fourth place	4th	6	2	3	1	11	7	Squad	6	5	0	1	15	2
2011		Champions	1st	6	4	2	0	14	6	Squad	6	5	0	1	17	4
2015		Quarter-finals	5th	4	3	1	0	8	1	Squad	Qualified as champions
2019		Runners-up	2nd	7	6	0	1	12	6	Squad	8	7	1	0	27	0
2023		Qualified									8	8	0	0	46	2
2027		To be determined									To be determined
Total		4 Titles	10/19	48	30	12	6	92	44	—	44	35	4	5	138	19

Match history

AFC Asian Cup history
Year	Round	Opponent	Score	Result
1988	Group stage	Iran	0–0	Draw
	Group stage	South Korea	0–2	Loss
	Group stage	UAE	0–1	Loss
	Group stage	Qatar	0–3	Loss
1992	Group stage	UAE	0–0	Draw
	Group stage	North Korea	1–1	Draw
	Group stage	Iran	1–0	Win
	Semi-finals	China	3–2	Win
	Final	Saudi Arabia	1–0	Win
1996	Group stage	Syria	2–1	Win
	Group stage	Uzbekistan	4–0	Win
	Group stage	China	1–0	Win
	Quarter-finals	Kuwait	0–2	Loss
2000	Group stage	Saudi Arabia	4–1	Win
	Group stage	Uzbekistan	8–1	Win
	Group stage	Qatar	1–1	Draw
	Quarter-finals	Iraq	4–1	Win
	Semi-finals	China	3–2	Win
	Final	Saudi Arabia	1–0	Win
2004	Group stage	Oman	1–0	Win
	Group stage	Thailand	4–1	Win
	Group stage	Iran	0–0	Draw
	Quarter-finals	Jordan	1–1 4–3	Draw Win
	Semi-finals	Bahrain	4–3	Win
	Final	China	3–1	Win
2007	Group stage	Qatar	1–1	Draw
	Group stage	UAE	3–1	Win
	Group stage	Vietnam	4–1	Win
	Quarter-finals	Australia	1–1 4–3	Draw Win
	Semi-finals	Saudi Arabia	2–3	Loss
	Third play-off	South Korea	0–0 5–6	Draw Loss
2011	Group stage	Jordan	1–1	Draw
	Group stage	Syria	2–1	Win
	Group stage	Saudi Arabia	5–0	Win
	Quarter-finals	Qatar	3–2	Win
	Semi-finals	South Korea	2–2 3–0	Draw Win
	Final	Australia	1–0	Win
2015	Group stage	[[Palestinian National Authority {{{altlink}}}|Palestinian National Authority]]	4–0	Win
	Group stage	Iraq	1–0	Win
	Group stage	Jordan	2–0	Win
	Quarter-finals	UAE	1–1 4–5	Draw Loss
2019	Group stage	Turkmenistan	3–2	Win
	Group stage	Oman	1–0	Win
	Group stage	Uzbekistan	2–1	Win
	Round of 16	Saudi Arabia	1–0	Win
	Quarter-finals	Vietnam	1–0	Win
	Semi-finals	Iran	3–0	Win
	Final	Qatar	1–3	Loss
2023	Group stage	TBD	–
	Group stage	TBD	–
	Group stage	TBD	–

Copa América

Japan is the first team from outside the Americas to participate in the Copa América, having been invited to the 1999 Copa América. Japan was also invited to the 2011 tournament and initially accepted the invitation. However, following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, the JFA later withdrew on 16 May 2011, citing the difficulty of releasing some Japanese players from European teams to play as replacements. On the next day, CONMEBOL invited Costa Rica to replace Japan in the competition.

On 16 August 2013, CONMEBOL president Eugenio Figueredo announced that Japan was invited to the 2015 Copa América. However, Japan later declined the invitation due to scheduling problems.

On 14 May 2018, CONMEBOL announced that Japan, alongside Qatar, would be the two invited teams for the 2019 Copa América.

FIFA Confederations Cup

FIFA Confederations Cup record
year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Squad
1992	Did not qualify
1995	Group stage	6th	2	0	0	2	1	8	Squad
1997	Did not qualify
1999
2001	Runners-up	2nd	5	3	1	1	6	1	Squad
2003	Group stage	6th	3	1	0	2	4	3	Squad
2005	Group stage	5th	3	1	1	1	4	4	Squad
2009	Did not qualify
2013	Group stage	7th	3	0	0	3	4	9	Squad
2017	Did not qualify
Total	Runners-up	5/10	16	5	2	9	19	25	—

Match history

FIFA Confederations Cup history
Year	Round	Opponent	Score	Result
1995	Group stage	Nigeria	0–3	Loss
	Group stage	Argentina	1–5	Loss
2001	Group stage	Canada	3–0	Win
	Group stage	Cameroon	2–0	Win
	Group stage	Brazil	0–0	Draw
	Semi-finals	Australia	1–0	Win
	Final	France	0–1	Loss
2003	Group stage	New Zealand	3–0	Win
	Group stage	France	1–2	Loss
	Group stage	Colombia	0–1	Loss
2005	Group stage	Mexico	1–2	Loss
	Group stage	Greece	1–0	Win
	Group stage	Brazil	2–2	Draw
2013	Group stage	Brazil	0–3	Loss
	Group stage	Italy	3–4	Loss
	Group stage	Mexico	1–2	Loss

Olympic Games

Since 1992, the Olympic team has been drawn from a squad with a maximum of three players over 23 years age, and the achievements of this team are not generally regarded as part of the national team's records, nor are the statistics credited to the players' international records.

Summer Olympics record		Qualification record
Year		Result	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Squad	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1908		Did not enter									Did not enter
1912
1920
1924
1928
1936		Quarter-finals	8th	2	1	0	1	3	10	Squad	No qualification
1948		Did not enter									Did not enter
1952
1956		First round	10th	1	0	0	1	0	2	Squad	No qualification
1960		Did not qualify									2	1	0	1	1	2
1964		Quarter-finals	8th	3	1	0	2	5	9	Squad	Qualified as hosts
1968		Bronze medalists	3rd	6	3	2	1	9	8	Squad	5	4	1	0	26	4
1972		Did not qualify									4	2	0	2	14	7
1976											6	2	1	3	9	11
1980											5	3	1	1	16	5
1984											10	3	1	6	26	17
1988											8	6	1	1	19	3
1992–present		See Japan national under-23 team
Total		Bronze medalists	4/17	12	5	2	5	17	29	—	40	21	5	14	111	49

Match history

Summer Olympics history
Year	Round	Opponent	Score	Result
1936	First round	Sweden	3–2	Win
	Quarter-finals	Italy	0–8	Loss
1956	First round	Australia	0–2	Loss
1964	Group stage	Argentina	3–2	Win
	Group stage	Ghana	2–3	Loss
	Quarter-finals	Czechoslovakia	0–4	Loss
1968	Group stage	Nigeria	3–1	Win
	Group stage	Brazil	1–1	Draw
	Group stage	Spain	0–0	Draw
	Quarter-finals	France	3–1	Win
	Semi-finals	Hungary	0–5	Loss
	Bronze play-off	Mexico	2–0	Win

Asian Games

EAFF E-1 Championship

EAFF E-1 Championship record
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Squad
2003	Runners-up	2nd	3	2	1	0	3	0	Squad
2005	Runners-up	2nd	3	1	1	1	3	3	Squad
2008	Runners-up	2nd	3	1	2	0	3	2	Squad
2010	Third Place	3rd	3	1	1	1	4	3	Squad
2013	Champions	1st	3	2	1	0	8	6	Squad
2015	Fourth Place	4th	3	0	2	1	3	4	Squad
2017	Runners-up	2nd	3	2	0	1	4	5	Squad
2019	Runners-up	2nd	3	2	0	1	7	2	Squad
2022	Champions	1st	3	2	1	0	9	0	Squad
Total	Champions	9/9	27	13	9	5	44	25	—

Match history

EAFF E-1 Championship history
Year	Round	Opponent	Score	Result
2003	First match	China	2–0	Win
	Second match	Hong Kong	1–0	Win
	Third match	South Korea	0–0	Draw
2005	First match	North Korea	0–1	Loss
	Second match	China	2–2	Draw
	Third match	South Korea	1–0	Win
2008	First match	North Korea	1–1	Draw
	Second match	China	1–0	Win
	Third match	South Korea	1–1	Draw
2010	First match	China	0–0	Draw
	Second match	Hong Kong	3–0	Win
	Third match	South Korea	1–3	Loss
2013	First match	China	3–3	Draw
	Second match	Australia	3–2	Win
	Third match	South Korea	2–1	Win
2015	First match	North Korea	1–2	Loss
	Second match	South Korea	1–1	Draw
	Third match	China	1–1	Draw
2017	First match	North Korea	1–0	Win
	Second match	China	2–1	Win
	Third match	South Korea	1–4	Loss
2019	First match	China	2–1	Win
	Second match	Hong Kong	5–0	Win
	Third match	South Korea	0–1	Loss
2022	First match	Hong Kong	6–0	Win
	Second match	China	0–0	Draw
	Third match	South Korea	3–0	Win

Head-to-head record

The following table shows Japan's all-time international record, correct as of 1 December 2022.

Opponent	From	To	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Afghanistan	1951	2015	3	3	0	0	13	0	+13
Angola	2005	2005	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1
Argentina	1992	2010	7	1	0	6	4	15	−11
Australia	1956	2022	27	11	9	7	39	32	+7
Austria	2007	2007	1	0	1	0	0	0	0
Azerbaijan	2012	2012	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2
Bahrain	1978	2010	10	8	0	2	17	7	+10
Bangladesh	1975	1993	5	5	0	0	22	1	+21
Belarus	2013	2013	1	0	0	1	0	1	−1
Belgium	1999	2018	6	2	2	2	11	8	+3
Bolivia	1999	2019	3	2	1	0	4	1	+3
Bosnia and Herzegovina	2006	2016	3	1	1	1	6	4	+2
Brazil	1989	2022	13	0	2	11	5	35	−30
Brunei	1980	2000	3	3	0	0	18	2	+16
Bulgaria	1976	2016	6	1	1	4	10	13	−3
Cambodia	1970	2015	4	4	0	0	10	1	+9
Cameroon	2001	2020	5	3	2	0	5	0	+5
Canada	2001	2022	3	2	0	1	6	3	+3
Chile	2008	2019	3	1	1	1	4	4	0
China	1917	2021	35	15	8	12	45	52	−7
Chinese Taipei	1963	1983	7	4	2	1	17	8	+9
Colombia	2003	2019	5	1	1	3	3	7	−4
Costa Rica	1995	2022	5	3	1	1	10	3	+7
Croatia	1997	2022	4	1	1	2	5	5	0
Cyprus	2014	2014	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1
Czech Republic	1998	2011	3	1	2	0	1	0	+1
Denmark	1971	2010	2	1	0	1	5	4	+1
Ecuador	1995	2022	4	2	2	0	5	1	+4
Egypt	1998	2007	2	2	0	0	5	1	+4
El Salvador	2019	2019	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2
England	1995	2010	3	0	1	2	3	5	−2
Finland	2006	2009	2	2	0	0	7	1	+6
France	1994	2012	6	1	1	4	5	14	−9
Germany	2004	2022	3	1	1	1	4	6	−2
Ghana	1964	2022	8	5	0	3	18	14	+4
Greece	2005	2014	2	1	1	0	1	0	+1
Guatemala	2010	2013	2	2	0	0	5	1	+4
Haiti	2017	2017	1	0	1	0	3	3	0
Honduras	2002	2014	3	2	1	0	14	7	+7
Hong Kong	1958	2022	24	13	5	6	48	21	+27
Hungary	1993	2004	2	0	0	2	2	4	−2
Iceland	1971	2012	3	3	0	0	8	3	+5
India	1954	2006	12	9	0	3	36	11	+25
Indonesia	1934	1989	18	10	2	6	39	25	+14
Iran	1951	2019	18	6	6	6	21	19	+2
Iraq	1978	2016	13	7	3	3	19	10	+9
Israel	1973	1977	7	0	0	7	2	17	−15
Italy	1936	2013	3	0	1	2	4	13	−9
Ivory Coast	1993	2020	5	3	0	2	4	4	0
Jamaica	1998	2014	4	2	1	1	7	3	+4
Jordan	1988	2015	6	2	3	1	12	5	+7
Kazakhstan	1997	2005	3	2	1	0	10	2	+8
Kuwait	1978	1996	5	1	0	4	2	8	−6
Kyrgyzstan	2018	2021	3	3	0	0	11	1	+10
Latvia	2005	2013	2	1	1	0	5	2	+3
Lebanon	1967	1967	1	1	0	0	3	1	+2
Macau	1980	2000	4	4	0	0	26	0	+26
Malaysia	1958	2004	26	9	7	10	40	43	−3
Mali	2018	2018	1	0	1	0	1	1	0
Malta	2006	2006	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1
Mexico	1996	2020	7	1	0	6	6	15	−9
Mongolia	2019	2021	2	2	0	0	20	0	+20
Montenegro	2007	2007	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2
Myanmar	1955	2021	14	7	5	2	29	12	+17
Nepal	1986	1997	5	5	0	0	28	0	+28
Netherlands	2009	2013	3	0	1	2	2	6	−4
New Zealand	1981	2017	6	3	0	3	10	8	+2
Nigeria	1968	2003	4	2	1	1	8	6	+2
North Korea	1975	2017	19	8	4	7	19	14	+5
Norway	2002	2002	1	0	0	1	0	3	−3
Oman	1988	2021	15	10	3	2	21	6	+15
Pakistan	1962	1988	2	1	1	0	5	2	+3
[[Palestinian National Authority {{{altlink}}}|Palestinian National Authority]]	2015	2015	1	1	0	0	4	0	+4
Panama	2018	2020	2	2	0	0	4	0	+4
Paraguay	1995	2022	12	5	4	2	19	11	+8
Peru	1967	2011	7	2	3	2	4	5	−1
Philippines	1915	1983	20	15	0	5	88	35	+53
Poland	1981	2018	7	2	0	5	10	14	−4
Qatar	1983	2019	10	2	4	4	12	15	−3
Romania	1974	2003	4	0	1	3	3	12	−9
Russia	1978	2002	4	1	0	3	3	11	−8
Saudi Arabia	1990	2021	16	10	1	5	25	13	+12
Scotland	1995	2009	3	1	2	0	2	0	+2
Senegal	1987	2018	4	0	2	2	4	7	−3
Serbia	1961	2021	10	4	0	6	7	20	−13
Singapore	1959	2015	26	21	2	3	58	18	+40
Slovakia	2000	2004	3	2	1	0	5	2	+3
Spain	2001	2022	2	1	0	1	2	2	0
South Africa	2009	2009	1	0	1	0	0	0	0
South Korea	1954	2022	81	16	23	42	76	124	−48
South Vietnam	1961	1973	5	4	0	1	14	5	+9
South Yemen	1982	1982	1	1	0	0	3	1	+2
Sri Lanka	1972	1993	3	3	0	0	16	0	+16
Sweden	1936	2002	5	1	3	1	7	7	0
Switzerland	2007	2018	2	1	0	1	4	5	−1
Syria	1978	2017	11	9	2	0	27	9	+18
Tajikistan	2011	2021	4	4	0	0	19	1	+18
Thailand	1962	2017	22	16	4	2	52	16	+36
Togo	2009	2009	1	1	0	0	5	0	+5
Trinidad and Tobago	2006	2019	2	1	1	0	2	0	+2
Tunisia	1996	2022	5	4	0	1	6	3	+3
Turkey	1997	2002	2	1	0	1	1	1	0
Turkmenistan	2019	2019	1	1	0	0	3	2	+1
Ukraine	2002	2018	3	1	0	2	2	3	−1
United Arab Emirates	1981	2017	19	6	9	4	22	17	+5
United States	1993	2022	3	2	0	1	7	4	+3
Uruguay	1985	2019	7	2	2	4	17	23	−6
Uzbekistan	1996	2019	11	7	3	1	30	10	+20
Venezuela	2010	2019	5	1	3	1	6	6	0
Vietnam	2007	2022	5	4	1	0	8	2	+6
Wales	1992	1992	1	0	0	1	0	1	−1
Yemen	2006	2010	4	4	0	0	8	3	+5
Zambia	2014	2014	1	1	0	0	4	3	+1
Total	1917	2022	771	363	163	245	1,348	937	+410

FIFA World Ranking

, after the match against  Saudi Arabia.

     Best Ranking       Best Mover       Worst Ranking       Worst Mover  

Japan's FIFA World Ranking History
	Rank	Year	Games Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	Best	Worst
Rank	Move	Rank	Move
	27 23 (7 February 2019)	2022	2	2	0	0	23 (February)	3	26
	26	2021	12	10	2	0	26 (November)	2	28	1
	27	2020	4	2	1	1	27	1	28	0
	28	2019	23	15	3	5	26	29	33	7
	50	2018	14	6	3	5	41	7	61	5
	57	2017	13	6	3	4	40	7	57	11
	45	2016	10	7	1	2	45	8	58	7
	53	2015	17	11	5	1	50	5	58	8
	54	2014	13	7	2	4	54	2	44	4
	47	2013	19	8	3	8	21	2	48	7
	22	2012	12	8	2	2	19	7	33	11
	19	2011	15	9	5	1	13	12	29	2
	29	2010	18	8	4	6	29	13	46	6
	43	2009	17	11	3	3	31	4	43	9
	35	2008	19	10	7	2	32	4	38	6
	34	2007	13	7	5	1	30	7	46	5
	47	2006	19	9	4	6	15	1	49	13
	15	2005	20	11	3	6	13	5	19	4
	17	2004	22	17	2	3	17	4	29	1
	29	2003	16	6	5	5	22	2	29	3
	22	2002	13	5	5	3	22	8	38	4
	34	2001	13	6	3	4	26	11	44	9
	38	2000	18	10	6	2	34	15	62	6
	57	1999	7	0	4	3	33	0	57	13
	20	1998	18	7	2	8	9	10	30	10
	14	1997	22	11	7	4	14	4	20	2
	21	1996	13	10	1	2	20	6	30	2
	31	1995	17	6	4	7	31	7	41	8
	36	1994	9	3	4	2	36	14	54	12
	43	1993	16	11	3	2	43	23	44	1
	66	1992

Honours

Intercontinental

• Olympic Games

Bronze medalists: 1968

• FIFA Confederations Cup

Runners-up: 2001

Continental

• AFC Asian Cup

Champions: 1992, 2000, 2004, 2011

Runners-up: 2019

Fourth place: 2007

• Asian Games

Third place: 1951, 1966

Fourth place: 1970

Regional

• Far Eastern Games

Champions: 1930

• Dynasty Cup

Champions: 1992, 1995, 1998

Fourth place: 1990

• EAFF E-1 Football Championship
  • East Asian Football Championship (2003–2010), EAFF East Asian Cup (2013–2015)

Champions: 2013, 2022

Runners-up: 2003, 2005, 2008, 2017, 2019

Third place: 2010

Others

• Afro-Asian Cup of Nations

Champions: 1993, 2007

• AFC – OFC Challenge Cup

Champions: 2001

Minor-friendly

• Kirin Cup

Champions: (12): 1991, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2015

Awards

• AFC National Team of the Year

Years: 2000, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2011

• Japan Professional Sports Grand Prize

Years: 2002

See also

In Spanish: Selección de fútbol de Japón para niños

National teams

Men's

• Japan national under-23 football team
• Japan national under-20 football team
• Japan national under-17 football team
• Japan national futsal team
• Japan national under-20 futsal team
• Japan national beach soccer team

Women's

• Japan women's national football team
• Japan women's national under-23 football team
• Japan women's national under-20 football team
• Japan women's national under-17 football team