JAPAN

THEFIFAWORLDCUPS

JAPAN IN THE WORLD CUPS

QUICK FACTS
TITLES
APPEARANCES AT WC
HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORDS
PLAYER STATS
TOP GOALSCORERS

MOST CAPPED PLAYERS
SQUADS
AWARDED PLAYERS
COACHES
FIXTURES AND RESULTS
PLAYERS' CLUBS
MATCHES IN WC

We play football. We love football.

We breathe football. We live football.

JAPAN

The Japan national football team (Japanese: サッカー日本代表) represents Japan in international football and is controlled by the Japan Football Association (Japanese: 日本サッカー協会, JFA), the governing body for football in Japan.

The JFA was founded in1921, became a member of FIFA in 1924, and a member of AFC in 1954. The first national league in Japan for football clubs ran from 1965 to 1971. The first champion of the amateur era was Tokyo Industries, now known as Sanfrecce Hiroshima, in 1965. J. League officially kicked-off its first season with ten clubs in 1993. The first champion of the professional era was Verdy Kawasaki, now known as Tokyo Verdy, who defeated Kashima Antlers 3–1 on aggregate.

Japan is one of the successful football teams in Asia. The Japanese qualified for the last five consecutive FIFA World Cups, and have won the AFC Asian Cup a record of four times.

QUICK FACTS

Association	日本サッカー協会 (Japan Football Association)	J-League Division 1
Confederation	AFC	J-League Division 1
Nickname	サムライ・ブルー (Samuai Blue) ザック・ジャパン (Zac Japan)
Foundation year	1921
Affiliate since	1921
Topscorer in WC	Keisuke Honda: 3
Head Coach	Vahid Halilhodžić (Bosnia and Herzegovina)	Info: inter_national@jfa.or.jp
Titles	None	Info: inter_national@jfa.or.jp

TITLES

AFC ASIAN CUP		Gold	Silver	Bronze
	1992 Japan	1
	2000 Lebanon	1
	2004 China	1
	2011 Qatar	1

CONFEDERATION CUP		Gold	Silver	Bronze
	2001 Korea-Japan		2

JAPAN APPEARANCES IN WORLD CUPS

Nro	Flag	World Cup	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Perf.	Rd	Pos	Par	Pt	P/Par	Ap.
Total			17	4	4	9	14	22	-8	16	4.16		21.2	32	7	22.05	5
16		1998 France	3	0	0	3	1	4	-3	0	0.00	1R	31	32	1	0.96	1
17		2002 Korea-Japan	4	2	1	1	5	3	2	7	1.75	2R	9	32	2	0.28	2
18		2006 Germany	3	0	1	2	2	7	-5	1	0.33	1R	28	32	1	0.87	3
19		2010 South Africa	4	2	1	1	4	2	2	7	1.75	2R	9	32	2	0.28	4
20		2014 Brazil	3	0	1	2	2	6	-4	1	0.33	1R	29	32	1	0.91	5

Where: Perf: Pts/Pld Rd: Round Pos: Position Total Pos: SUM(Pos)/Ap Par: No. participants

Pt: How many points scores in the WC. Champion: 32, Finalist: 16, TP: 12, FP: 8, QF: 4, R16: 2, FR: 1

P/Par: Pos/Par Total P/Par: SUM(P/Par + 1.25 * each World Cup uncontested)/20 Ap: Appearances

HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORDS (IN WORLD CUPS)

More Played Matches
Nro	Flag	Team	Pld	W	D	L	%Won	%Lost
1		Croatia	2	0	1	1	0%	50%
2		Argentina	1	0	0	1	0%	100%
3		Australia	1	0	0	1	0%	100%
4		Belgium	1	0	1	0	0%	0%
5		Brazil	1	0	0	1	0%	100%
6		Cameroon	1	1	0	0	100%	0%
7		Colombia	1	0	0	1	0%	100%
8		Denmark	1	1	0	0	100%	0%
9		Greece	1	0	1	0	0%	0%
10		Ivory Coast	1	0	0	1	0%	100%
11		Jamaica	1	0	0	1	0%	100%
12		Netherlands	1	0	0	1	0%	100%
13		Paraguay	1	0	1	0	0%	0%
14		Russia	1	1	0	0	100%	0%
15		Tunisia	1	1	0	0	100%	0%
16		Turkey	1	0	0	1	0%	100%

Best Results
Nro	Flag	Team	Pld	W	D	L	%Won	%Lost
1		Cameroon	1	1	0	0	100%	0%
2		Denmark	1	1	0	0	100%	0%
3		Russia	1	1	0	0	100%	0%
4		Tunisia	1	1	0	0	100%	0%

Worst Results
Nro	Flag	Team	Pld	W	D	L	%Won	%Lost
1		Argentina	1	0	0	1	0%	100%
2		Australia	1	0	0	1	0%	100%
3		Brazil	1	0	0	1	0%	100%
4		Colombia	1	0	0	1	0%	100%
5		Ivory Coast	1	0	0	1	0%	100%
6		Jamaica	1	0	0	1	0%	100%
7		Netherlands	1	0	0	1	0%	100%
8		Turkey	1	0	0	1	0%	100%

PLAYER STATS

Goalscorers at world cups

Nro	Player	TG	30	34	38	50	54	58	62	66	70	74	78	82	86	90	94	98	02	06	10	14
		14																1	5	2	4	2
1	Keisuke Honda	3																			2	1
2	Junichi Inamoto	2																	2
2	Shinji Okazaki	2																			1	1
3	Yasuhito Endō	1																			1
	Hiroaki Morishima	1																	1
	Shunsuke Nakamura	1																		1
	Hidetoshi Nakata	1																	1
	Masashi Nakayama	1																1
	Takayuki Suzuki	1																	1
	Keiji Tamada	1																		1

World cups, games and minutes played

Nro	Player	#Min	#WC	#Mat	98	02	06	10	14
1	Hidetoshi Nakata	894	3	10	270	354	270
2	Yuji Nakazawa	660	2	7			270	390
	Eiji Kawashima	660	2	7				390	270
	Keisuke Honda	660	2	7				390	270
	Yuto Nagatomo	660	2	7				390	270
6	Makoto Hasebe	565	2	7				375	190
7	Yoshito Ōkubo	556	2	7				353	203
8	Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi	540	4	6	270	0	270	0
9	Yūichi Komano	480	2	5			90	390
10	Yasuhito Endō	470	3	6			0	390	80
11	Tsuneyasu Miyamoto	469	2	6		289	180
12	Junichi Inamoto	404	3	8		267	134	3
13	Kōji Nakata	394	2	5		360	34
14	Marcus Tulio Tanaka	390	1	4				390
15	Atsushi Yanagisawa	366	2	5		226	140
16	Seigo Narazaki	360	3	4	0	360	0
	Kazuyuki Toda	360	1	4		360
	Naoki Matsuda	360	1	4		360
19	Shinji Okazaki	354	2	7				105	249
20	Yuki Abe	351	1	4				351
21	Shinji Ono	342	3	6	12	319	11
21	Alessandro Dos Santos	342	2	5		72	270
23	Shunsuke Nakamura	296	2	4			270	26
24	Takayuki Suzuki	274	1	4		274
25	Daisuke Matsui	272	1	4				272

Hidetoshi Nakata

Keisuke Honda

TOP GOALSCORERS IN ALL COMPETITIONS

Players in bold are still active in the competence - As of November 16, 2017

#	Name	Goals	Caps	AVG/Games	Career
1	Kunishige Kamamoto	80	84	0.95	1964-77
2	Kazuyoshi Miura	55	89	0.61	1990-00
3	Shinji Okazaki	50	110	0.45	2008-Present
4	Hiromi Hara	37	75	0.49	1978-88
5	Keisuke Honda	36	90	0.40	2008-Present
6	Shinji Kagawa	29	89	0.32	208-Present
7	Takuya Takagi	27	44	0.61	1992-97
8	Kazushi Kimura	26	54	0.48	1979-86
9	Shunsuke Nakamura	24	98	0.24	2000-10
10	Naohiro Takahara	23	57	0.40	2000-08

MOST CAPPED PLAYERS IN ALL COMPETITIONS

Players in bold are still active in the competence - As of November 16, 2017

#	Name	Caps	Career
1	Yasuhito Endo	152	2002-15
2	Masami Ihara	122	1988-99
3	Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi	116	1997-10
4	Yuji Nakazawa	110	1999-10
4	Shinji Okazaki	110	2008-Present
6	Makoto Hasebe	106	2006-Present
7	Yuto Nagatomo	101	2008-Present
8	Shunsuke Nakamura	98	2000-10
9	Yasuyuki Konno	93	2004-16
10	Kazuyoshi Miura	89	1990-00

SQUADS

	Japan Squad - 1998 World Cup
	Japan Squad - 2002 World Cup
	Japan Squad - 2006 World Cup
	Japan Squad - 2010 World Cup
	Japan Squad - 2014 World Cup

AWARDED PLAYERS

IFFHS PLAYER OF THE CENTURY
#	Name	Votes	Years
1	Kazuyoshi Miura	71	1986-12
2	Kunishige Kamamoto	70	1967-84
3	Masami Ihara	31	1990-02
4	Yashuhiko Okudera	22	1970-88

Kazuyoshi Miura

Source: Flickr: 20120122 松田直樹追悼試合

Author: norio nakayama

COACHES

#	Cou	Name	Years	W	D	L	%Won	Years
1		Shigeyoshi Suzuki						1930, 36
2		Shigemaru Takenokoshi (1)	24	6	6	12	25%	1934, 38-40, 51-56, 58-59
3		Kōichi Kudō						1942
4		Hirokazu Ninomiya	3	1	1	1	33%	1951
5		Hidetoki Takahashi	14	3	2	9	21%	1957, 60-62
6		Taizo Kawamoto	2	0	0	2	0%	1958
7		Ken Naganuma	73	34	12	27	46%	1962-69, 72-76
8		Shunichiro Okano	19	11	2	6	58%	1970-71
9		Hiroshi Ninomiya	27	6	6	15	22%	1976-78
10		Yukio Shimomura	14	8	4	2	57%	1979-80
11		Masashi Watanabe	3	2	0	1	67%	1980
12		Saburō Kawabuchi	10	3	2	5	30%	1980-81
13		Takaji Mori	43	22	5	16	51%	1981-85
14		Yoshinobu Ishii	17	11	2	4	65%	1986-87
15		Kenzo Yokoyama	24	7	5	12	29%	1988-91
16		Hans Ooft	27	17	6	4	63%	1992-93
17		Falcão	9	3	4	2	33%	1994
18		Shu Kamo	46	24	8	14	52%	1994-97
19		Takeshi Okada	64	31	17	16	48%	1997-98, 07-10
20		Philippe Troussier	50	23	15	12	46%	1998-2002
21		Zico	71	38	15	18	53%	2002-06
22		Ivica Osim	20	13	2	5	65%	2006-07
23		Alberto Zaccheroni	55	30	12	13	54%	2010-2014
24		Javier Aguirre	10	7	1	2	70%	2014-2015
24		Vahid Halilhodžić	36	21	8	7	58%	2015-Present

(1) The results correspond to the period from 1951-56 and 1958-59

Coaches with most appearances

#	Cou	Name	Years	W	D	L	%Won	Years
1		Ken Naganuma	73	34	12	27	46%	1962-69, 72-76
2		Zico	71	38	15	18	53%	2002-06
3		Takeshi Okada	64	31	17	16	48%	1997-98, 07-10
4		Alberto Zaccheroni	55	30	12	13	54%	2010-2014
5		Philippe Troussier	50	23	15	12	46%	1998-2002

FIXTURES AND RESULTS

Main article: Japan national football team schedule and results

2017

#	Date	Place		Score		Competition
1	23 Mar 17	Al Ain, UAE	Japan	2-0	United Arab Emirates	2018 Q
2	28 Mar 17	Saitama, Japan	Japan	4-0	Thailand	2018 Q
3	7 Jun 17	Chōfu, Japan	Japan	1-1	Sirya	Kirin Cup 2017
3	13 Jun 17	Tehran, Iran	Japan	1-1	Iraq	2018 Q
4	31 Aug 17	Saitama, Japan	Japan	2-0	Australia	2018 Q
5	5 Sep 17	Riyadh, Saudi Arabia	Japan	0-1	Saudi Arabia	2018 Q
6	6 Oct 17	Toyota, Japan	Japan	2-1	New Zealand	Kirin Cup 2017
7	10 Oct 17	Yokohama, Japan	Japan	2-0	Haiti	Kirin Cup 2017
8	10 Nov 17	Villeneuve d'Ascq, France	Japan	1-3	Brazil	F
9	14 Nov 17	Brugge, Belgium	Japan	0-1	Belgium	F
10	9 Dec 17	Tokyo, Japan	Japan	1-0	Korea DPR	2017 EAFF FC
11	12 Dec 17	Tokyo, Japan	Japan	2-1	China PR	2017 EAFF FC
12	16 Dec 17	Tokyo, Japan	Japan	1-4	South Korea	2017 EAFF FC

2018

#	Date	Place		Score		Competition
1	23 Mar 18	Liège, Belgium	Japan	1-1	Mali	F
2	27 Mar 18	Liège, Belgium	Japan	1-2	Ukraine	F
3	30 May 18	Yokohama, Japan	Japan	0-2	Ghana	F
4	8 Jun 18	Lugano, Switzerland	Japan	0-2	Switzerland	F
5	12 Jun 18	Lausanne, Switzerland	Japan	4-2	Paraguay	F
6	18 Jun 18	Saransk, Russia	Japan	2-1	Colombia	Russia 2018
7	24 Jun 18	Yekaterinburg, Russia	Japan		Senegal	Russia 2018
8	28 Jun 18	Volgograd, Russia	Japan		Poland	Russia 2018

PLAYERS'S CLUBS

These are the clubs that have historically contributed more players to the Japan national football team.

Pos	Logo	Team	Players	Country	Flag
1		Kashima Antlers	13	Japan
2		Júbilo Iwata	11	Japan
3		Yokohama Marinos	8	Japan
4		Gamba Osaka	7	Japan
		Nagoya Grampus Eight	7	Japan
		Shimizu S-Pulse	7	Japan
		Urawa Red Diamonds	7	Japan
8		FC Tokyo	6	Japan
9		Cerezo Osaka	5	Japan
10		Kawasaki Frontale	4	Japan
11		Shonan Hiratsuka	3	Japan
11		Yokohama Fl ügels	3	Japan
13		Grenoble	2	France
		1. FC Nürnberg	2	Germany
		JEF United Ichihara	2	Japan
		Sanfrecce Hiroshima	2	Japan
17		Standard Liège	1	Belgium
		Arsenal	1	England
		Manchester United	1	England
		Portsmouth	1	England
		Southampton F.C.	1	England
		West Bromwich Albion F.C.	1	England
		TSV 1860 München	1	Germany
		Hamburguer SV	1	Germany
		Hannover 96	1	Germany
		FSV Mainz 05	1	Germany
		FC Schalke 04	1	Germany
		VfB Stuttgart	1	Germany
		VfL Wolfsburg	1	Germany
		Calcio Catania	1	Italy
		Fiorentina	1	Italy
		Internazionale	1	Italy
		Milan	1	Italy
		Parma	1	Italy
		Albirex Niigata	1	Japan
		Kashiwa Reysol	1	Japan
		Vissel Kobe	1	Japan
		Feyenoord	1	Netherlands
		CSKA Moscow	1	Russia
		Celtic	1	Scotland
		FC Basel	1	Switzerland

MATCHES IN WORLD CUPS

1998 France World Cup

First Round: Match 1

Argentina

1-0

Japan

Date:

14 June 1998

G. Batistuta 28'

Stadium:

Stade de Toulouse

Venue:

Toulouse

Attendance:

33,500

Referee:

Mario van der Ende (Netherlands)

First Round: Match 2

Croatia

1-0

Japan

Date:

20 June 1998

D. Šuker 77'

Stadium:

Stade de la Beaujoire

Venue:

Nantes

Attendance:

35,500

Referee:

Ramesh Ramdhan (Trinidad and Tobago)

First Round: Match 3

Jamaica

2-1

Japan

Date:

26 June 1998

T. Whitmore 39', 54'

M. Nakayama 74'

Stadium:

Stade Gerland

Venue:

Lyon

Attendance:

39,100

Referee:

Günter Benkö (Austria)

2002 Korea-Japan World Cup

First Round: Match 4

Japan

2-2

Belgium

Date:

4 June 2002

T. Suzuki 59'

M. Wilmots 57'

Stadium:

Saitama Stadium

J. Inamoto 67'

P. Van Der Heyden 75'

Venue:

Saitama

Attendance:

55,256

Referee:

William Mattus (Costa Rica)

First Round: Match 5

Japan

1-0

Russia

Date:

9 June 2002

J. Inamoto 51'

Stadium:

International Stadium Yokohama

Venue:

Yokohama

Attendance:

66,108

Referee:

Markus Merk (Germany)

First Round: Match 6

Japan

2-0

Tunisia

Date:

14 June 2002

H. Morishima 48'

Stadium:

Nagai Stadium

H. Nakata 75'

Venue:

Osaka

Attendance:

45,213

Referee:

Gilles Veissière (France)

Round of 16: Match 7

Turkey

1-0

Japan

Date:

18 June 2002

Ümit Davala 12'

Stadium:

Miyagi Stadium

Venue:

Miyagi

Attendance:

45,666

Referee:

Pierluigi Collina

2006 Germany World Cup

First Round: Match 8

Australia

3-1

Japan

Date:

12 June 2006

T. Cahill 84', 89'

S. Nakamura 26'

Stadium:

Fritz-Walter-Stadion

J. Aloisi 90+2'

Venue:

Kaiserslautern

Attendance:

46,000

Referee:

Essam Abd El Fatah (Egypt)

First Round: Match 9

Japan

0-0

Croatia

Date:

18 June 2006

Stadium:

EasyCredit-Stadion

Venue:

Nuremberg

Attendance:

41,000

Referee:

Nuremberg (Belgium)

First Round: Match 10

Brazil

4-1

Japan

Date:

22 June 2006

Ronaldo 45+1', 81'

K. Tamada 34'

Stadium:

Signal Iduna Park

Juninho 53'

Venue:

Dortmund

Gilberto 59'

Attendance:

65,000

Referee:

Éric Poulat (France)

2010 South Africa World Cup

First Round: Match 11

Japan

1-0

Cameroon

Date:

14 June 2006

K. Honda 39'

Stadium:

Free State Stadium

Venue:

Bloemfontein

Attendance:

30,620

Referee:

Olegário Benquerença (Portugal)

First Round: Match 12

Netherlands

1-0

Japan

Date:

19 June 2006

W. Sneijder 53'

Stadium:

Moses Mabhida Stadium

Venue:

Durban

Attendance:

62,010

Referee:

Héctor Baldassi (Argentina)

First Round: Match 13

Japan

3-1

Denmark

Date:

24 June 2006

K. Honda17'

J. Tomasson 81'

Stadium:

Royal Bafokeng Stadium

Y. Endō 30'

Venue:

Rustenburg

S. Okazaki 87'

Attendance:

27,967

Referee:

Jerome Damon (South Africa)

a.e.t.

Round of 16: Match 14

Paraguay

0-0

Japan

Date:

29 June 2010

Stadium:

Loftus Versfeld Stadium

Penalties
	E. Barreto	1-1	Y. Endō
	L. Barrios	2-2	M. Hasebe
	C. Riveros	3-2	Y. Komano	X
	N. Valdez	4-3	K. Honda
	O. Cardozo	5-3

Venue:

Pretoria

Attendance:

36,742

Referee:

Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium)

2014 Brazil World Cup

First Round: Match 15

Cote d'Ivoire

2-1

Japan

Date:

14 June 2014

W. Bony 64'

K. Honda 16'

Stadium:

Arena Pernambuco

Gervinho 66'

Venue:

Recife

Attendance:

40,267

Referee:

Enrique Osses (Chile)

First Round: Match 16

Japan

0-0

Greece

Date:

19 June 2014

Stadium:

Arena das Dunas

Venue:

Natal

Attendance:

39,485

Referee:

Joel Aguilar (El Salvador)

First Round: Match 17

Japan

1-4

Colombia

Date:

24 June 2014

S. Okazaki 45'+1

J. Cuadrado 17'

Stadium:

Arena Pantanal

J. Martínez 55', 82'

Venue:

Cuiabá

J. Rodríguez 90'

Attendance:

40,340

Referee:

Pedro Proença (Portugal)

2018 Russia World Cup

First Round: Match 18

Colombia

1-2

Japan

Date:

19 June 2018

J. Quintero 39'

S. Kagawa 6' (pen)

Stadium:

Saransk

Y. Osako 73'

Venue:

Mordovia Arena

Attendance:

40,842

Referee:

Damir Skomina (Slovenia)

Last updated: 21 June 2018

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