Current FIFA Ranking: 18
Highest FIFA Ranking: 9 (Feb 1998)
Lowest FIFA Ranking: 66 (Dec 1992)
Football Team Nickname: Samurai Blue
Honours: Asian Cup (4): 1992, 2000, 2004, 2011
Head coach: Hajime Moriyasu (since July 2018)
Top scorer in qualifying: Ayase Ueda (7)
Star players: Ayase Ueda (Feyenoord), Takumi Minamino (Monaco), Kaoru Mitoma (Brighton)
Japan have qualified for an eighth straight World Cup (their only appearances at the finals) but will be looking to progress past the Round of 16 for the first time – they were the first team to qualify for 2026.
They fell at the Round of 16 stage for the second World Cup in a row in 2022 – having stunned the world with a 2-1 win v Spain on the final matchday, they then lost on penalties to Croatia in the first knockout round.
Hajime Moriyasu is now into his 7th year in charge - he led them to the 2019 Asian Cup final where they were beaten 3-1 by Qatar. As a player in 1993, Moriyasu featured in a match known as ‘the agony of Doha’ in which a 91st minute equaliser by Iraq’s Jaffar Omran denied Japan qualification to a first ever World Cup.
Previous World Cup appearances (7):
2022: Round of 16 (1-1 v Croatia; aet, lost 3-1 on pens)
2018: Round of 16
2014: Group stage
2010: Round of 16
2006: Group stage
2002: Round of 16
1998: Group stage
