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Japan national under-20 football team

National association football team

National association football team

FieldValue
NameJapan Under-20
Badge_size160px
FIFA TrigrammeJPN
Nicknameサムライ・ブルー
(Samurai Blue)
AssociationJFA
Sub-confederationEAFF
ConfederationAFC
CoachYuzo Funakoshi
Most capsKoki Ogawa (36)
Top scorerKoki Ogawa (23)
pattern_la1_jap24h
pattern_b1_jap24h
pattern_ra1_jap24h
pattern_sh1_jap24h
pattern_so1_jap24h
socks1001040
pattern_la2_jap24a
pattern_b2_jap24a
pattern_ra2_jap24a
pattern_sh2_jap24a
pattern_so2_jap24a
socks2FFFFFF
First game4–0
(Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 19 April 1959)
Largest win26–0
(Bangkok, Thailand; 31 October 2011)
Largest loss6–0
(Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 22 April 1959)
Regional nameFIFA U-20 World Cup
Regional cup apps12
Regional cup first1979
Regional cup bestRunners-up (1999)
2ndRegional nameAFC U-20 Asian Cup
2ndRegional cup apps39
2ndRegional cup first1959
2ndRegional cup bestChampions (2016)

(Samurai Blue) | Sub-confederation = EAFF (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 19 April 1959) (Bangkok, Thailand; 31 October 2011) (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 22 April 1959)

The Japan national under-20 football team (Japanese: U-20サッカー日本代表) is a national association football team of Japan and is controlled by the Japan Football Association. The year before the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the national team is renamed the Japan national under-19 football team, and the year before that, the national team is renamed the Japan national under-18 football team.

Results and fixtures

;Legend

2025

U-20

  • Sato
  • Jovanovic
  • Ishii
  • Ichihara
  • Sato
  • Al-Mustafa
  • Soufi
  • Ozeki
  • Takaoka
  • Kanda
  • Kim Tae-won
  • Ghandipour
  • Ogura
  • Aali
  • Shahrabadi
  • Shakouri
  • Hassani
  • Andarz
  • Nakajima
  • Takaoka
  • Takahashi
  • Sato
  • Ichihara
  • Toure
  • Pearman
  • Kroupi
  • Goto
  • Ishii
  • Ozeki
  • Tsakiris
  • Kanda
  • Nishihara
  • Michiwaki
  • Ozeki
  • Hiraga
  • Ishiwatari
  • Ichihara
  • Camberos
  • Padilla
  • Jurado
  • Virgen
  • Jiménez
  • Camberos
  • Obi
  • Nakamura
  • Simmelhack
  • Sidibé
  • Thiero
  • Makalou
  • Mori
  • Ishii
  • Fixtures & Results (U-20 2025), JFA.jp

U-18

  • Flávio Gonçalves
  • Nakayama
  • Onishi
  • Tanaka
  • Nakatsumi
  • Kandé
  • Cissé
  • Sy
  • ?
  • Wada
  • Onishi
  • Nakayama
  • Domínguez
  • Coulibaly
  • Bakola
  • Vaz
  • Fixtures & Results (U-18 2025), JFA.jp

2024

U-19

U-18

Coaching staff

Current staff

RoleName
Head coachJPN Yuzo Funakoshi
Assistant coachesJPN Daisuke Sugawara
JPN Kenji Haneda
Goalkeeping coachJPN Toshiyasu Takahara
Fitness coachJPN Atsushi Kanno

Players

Current squad

The following U-20 players were called up on 12 September 2025 for the 2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup, held from September to October on Chile. | access-date = 13 September 2025

Recent call-ups

The following players were called up to an U-20, U-19 or U-18 squad in the past 12 months.

INJ Withdrew due to injury

PRE Preliminary squad / standby

TP Training partner

WD Player withdrew from the squad due to non-injury issue.

(Players are listed within position group by order of latest call-up, seniority, and then alphabetically by its surname)

Previous squads

;FIFA U-20 World Cup

Records

: :Players in bold are still active, at least at club level. :Caps and goals is calculated by all national team level include U18, U19, and U20.

Most capped player

#NameCapsGoalsPosCareer
1Koki Ogawa3623FW2015–2017
2Yuta Nakayama300DF2015–2017
3Takehiro Tomiyasu281DF2016–2017
4Ryosuke Yamanaka250DF2011–2012
5Ritsu Doan248MF2016–2017
6Koji Miyoshi235MF2013–2017
7Isa Sakamoto2112FW2021–2023
8Sota Kitano196FW2022–2023
9Yuya Kubo1815FW2010–2012
10Naohiro Takahara1616FW1998–1999

Top goalscorers

#NameGoalsCapsRatioCareer
1Koki Ogawa23362015–2017
2Naohiro Takahara16161998–1999
3Yuya Kubo15182010–2012
4Isa Sakamoto12212021–2023
5Kanta Chiba1142021–2022
6Kento Shiogai992023–
7Ritsu Doan8242016–2017
Naoki Kumata8132022–2023
9Sota Kitano6192022–2023
Hidetoshi Nakata6121994–1995
Taisei Miyashiro6112018–2020
Kensuke Nagai6112007–2011

Honours

Intercontinental

  • FIFA U-20 World Cup :Runners-Up (1): 1999

Continental

;AFC U-19 Championship:

Competitive record

[[FIFA U-20 World Cup]]

Hosts / YearResultGPWDLGSGA
TUN 1977did not qualify
JPN 1979Group stage302112
AUS 1981did not qualify
MEX 1983
URS 1985
CHI 1987
KSA 1989
PRT 1991
AUS 1993
QAT 1995Quarterfinals411266
MAS 19975212129
NGA 1999Runners-up741*2119
ARG 2001Group stage310244
UAE 2003Quarterfinals5302610
NED 2005Round of 16402235
CAN 2007422*063
EGY 2009did not qualify
COL 2011
TUR 2013
NZL 2015
KOR 2017Round of 16411246
POL 2019412142
ARG 2023Group stage310234
CHI 2025Round of 16430171
AZEUZB 2027To be determined
Total12/25501912196761

:*Denotes draws which 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 place finishes respectively. Bold text indicates best finish in tournament.

FIFA U-20 World Cup matchesYearRoundResultOpponent
1979Group stage
L0-1
D0-0
D1-1
1995Group stage
D2-2
L1-2
W2-0
Quarterfinals
L1-2
1997Group stage
L1-2
L6-2
L3-3
Round of 16
W1-0
Quarterfinals
L1-2
1999Group stage
L1-2
W3-1
W2-0
Round of 16
D1-1
Quarterfinals
W2-0
Semifinals
W2-1
Finals
L0-4
2001Group stage
L0-2
L1-2
W3-0
2003Group stage
W1-0
L1-4
W1-0
Round of 16
W2-1
Quarterfinals
L1-5
2005Group stage
L1-2
D1-1
D1-1
Round of 16
L0-1
2007Group stage
W3-1
W1-0
D0-0
Round of 16
D2-2
2017Group stage
W2-1
L0-2
D2-2
Round of 16
L0-1
2019Group stage
D1-1
W3-0
D0-0
Round of 16
L0-1
2023Group stage
W1-0
L1-2
L1-2
2025Group stage
W2-0
W2-0
W3-0
Round of 16
L0-1

[[AFC U-20 Asian Cup]]

YearResultPldWDLGFGA
MAS 1959Third place42021211
MAS 196042111011
THA 1961Group stage401348
THA 1962410349
MAS 19635113813
South Vietnam 1964301214
JPN 1965420284
PHI 19664004213
THA 1967300326
KOR 1968301206
THA 1969Quarterfinals3102511
PHI 1970Fourth place6213513
JPN 1971Fourth place6411132
THA 1972Quarterfinals5221125
IRN 1973Runners-up512256
THA 1974Quarterfinals420294
KUW 1975Group stage4202105
THA 1976Tie-breaker play-off412124
IRN 1977Fourth place512286
BAN 1978Group stage412186
THA 1980Final tournament420245
THA 1982Didn't qualify
UAE 1985
KSA 1986
QAT 1988Group stage300337
IDN 1990311154
UAE 1992Third place530284
IDN 1994Runners-up640294
KOR 1996Fourth place6312126
THA 1998Runners-up63121810
IRN 20006312158
QAT 20026411114
MAS 2004Third place6330103
IND 2006Runners-up6321126
KSA 2008Quarterfinals4211106
CHN 20104301114
UAE 2012411224
MYA 2014421175
BHR 2016Champions6420130
IDN 2018Semifinals5401155
UZB 20235410114
CHN 2025513176
Total39/42178753667311242

References

Head-to-head record

The following table shows Japan's head-to-head record in the FIFA U-20 World Cup and AFC U-20 Asian Cup.

In [[FIFA U-20 World Cup]]

OpponentPldWDLGFGAGDWin %Total

In [[AFC U-20 Asian Cup]]

OpponentPldWDLGFGAGDWin %Total

References

  1. "サムライ・ブルー ([[Samurai]] Blue)" basically refers to the [[Japan national football team]], and in fact "Samurai Blue" is not often used by the under generation.
Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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