Japan national under-17 football team explained

Japan Under-17
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Fifa Trigramme:	JPN
Nickname:	サムライ・ブルー (Samurai Blue)^[1]
Association:	Japan Football Association
Sub-Confederation:	EAFF (East Asia)
Confederation:	AFC (Asia)
Coach:	Yoshiro Moriyama
Most Caps:	Hikaru Naruoka (44)
Top Scorer:	Koki Saito (16)
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First Game:	4–0 (Bangkok, Thailand; 22 August 1984)
Largest Win:	0–26 (Qingdao, China; 1 September 2023)
Largest Loss:	5–0 (Benidorm, Spain; 4 December 2019)
Regional Name:	FIFA U-17 World Cup
Regional Cup Apps:	10
Regional Cup First:	1993
Regional Cup Best:	Quarterfinals (1993, 2011)
2Ndregional Name:	AFC U-16 Championship
2Ndregional Cup Apps:	15
2Ndregional Cup First:	1985
2Ndregional Cup Best:	Champions (1994, 2006, 2018, 2023)

The Japan national under-17 football team（Japanese: U-17サッカー日本代表）is a national association football youth team of Japan and is controlled by the Japan Football Association. The team were champions in the 1994 and 2006 AFC U-17 Championships, as well as the 2012 AFF U-16 Youth Championship. The year before the FIFA U-17 World Cup, the national team is renamed the Japan national under-16 football team, and the year before that, the national team is renamed the Japan national under-15 football team.

Results and fixtures

Legend

2024

Players

Current squad

The following U-16 players were called up for a Spain Tour, held from 8 to 12 December 2024.^[2]

Recent call-ups

The following players were called up to an U-17 or U-16 in the past 12 months.

^INJ Withdrew due to injury
^PRE Preliminary squad / standby
^TRP 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-17 World Cup

1993 FIFA U-17 World Championship
1995 FIFA U-17 World Championship
2001 FIFA U-17 World Championship
2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup
2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup
2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup
2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup
2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup
2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup

AFC U-17 Asian Cup

2010 AFC U-16 Championship
2012 AFC U-16 Championship
2014 AFC U-16 Championship
2016 AFC U-16 Championship
2018 AFC U-16 Championship

Records

Most capped player

width=30		width=150	Name	width=60	Caps	width=60	Goals	width=60	Pos	width=80	Career
1	Hikaru Naruoka	44	5	MF	2017–2019
2	Kaito Suzuki	38	1	DF	2017–2019
3	Shinya Nakano	36	1	DF	2017–2019
4	Koshiro Sumi	34	4	MF	2017–2019
	Tochi Suzuki	34	6	MF	2015–2017
	Kosei Tani	34	0	GK	2015–2017
7	Takefusa Kubo	28	15	MF	2015–2017
7	Yutaka Michiwaki	28	15	FW	2022–2023
9	Gaku Nawata	22	13	FW	2022–2023
10	Homare Tokuda	20	12	FW	2022–2023

Top goalscorer

width=20		width=150	Name	width=50	Goals	width=50	Caps	width=50	Ratio	width=80	Career
1	Koki Saito	16	15		2017–2018
2	Takefusa Kubo	15	28		2015–2017
2	Yutaka Michiwaki	15	28		2022–2023
4	Keita Nakano	13	18		2017–2019
4	Gaku Nawata	13	22		2022–2023
6	Homare Tokuda	12	20		2022–2023
7	Takashi Usami	10	16		2007–2009
7	Minato Yoshida	10	12		2023–
9	Rento Takaoka	9	19		2022–2023
9	Keito Nakamura	9	16		2015–2017

Honours

Continental

AFC U-17/U-16 Championship

Champions (4): 1994, 2006, 2018, 2023

AFF U-16 Youth Championship

Champions (1): 2012

Unofficial

Tournament de Montaigu

Champions (1): 2004

International Dream Cup

Champions (5): 2015, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2023

Competitive record

FIFA U-17 World Cup

FIFA U-17 World Cup record
Hosts / Year	Result	width=20		width=20		width=20		width=20	width=20	width=20
1985	did not qualify
1987
1989
1991	did not enter
1993	Quarterfinals	4	1	1	2	3	4
1995	Group stage	3	1	1	1	2	2
1997	did not qualify
1999
2001	Group stage	3	1	0	2	2	9
2003	did not qualify
2005
2007	Group stage	3	1	0	2	4	6
2009	Group stage	3	0	0	3	5	9
2011	Quarterfinals	5	3	1	1	13	5
2013	Round of 16	4	3	0	1	7	4
2015	did not qualify
2017	Round of 16	4	1	2	1	8	4
2019	Round of 16	4	2	1	1	4	2
2023	Round of 16	4	2	0	2	5	5
2025	to be determined
Total	10/20	37	15	6	16	53	50

Denotes draws includes knockout matches decided on penalty kicks. Red border indicates that the tournament was hosted on home soil.

FIFA U-17 World Cup history
Year	Round	Score	Result
1993	Group stage	0–1	Loss
		0–0	Draw
		2–1	Win
	Quarterfinals	1–2	Loss
1995	Group stage	0–1	Loss
		2–1	Win
		0–0	Draw
2001	Group stage	1–0	Win
		0–4	Loss
		1–5	Loss
2007	Group stage	3–1	Win
		0–3	Loss
		1–2	Loss
2009	Group stage	2–3	Loss
		3–4	Loss
		0–2	Loss
2011	Group stage	1–0	Win
		1–1	Draw
		3–1	Win
	Round of 16	6–0	Win
	Quarterfinals	2–3	Loss
2013	Group stage	1–0	Win
		3–1	Win
		2–1	Win
	Round of 16	1–2	Loss
2017	Group stage	6–1	Win
		1–2	Loss
		1–1	Draw
	Round of 16	0–0	Draw
2019	Group stage	3–0	Win
		0–0	Draw
		1–0	Win
	Round of 16	0–2	Loss
2023	Group stage	1–0	Win
		1–3	Loss
		2–0	Win
	Round of 16	1–2	Loss

AFC U-17 Asian Cup

AFC U-17 Asian Cup record
Hosts / Year	Result	width=20		width=20		width=20		width=20	width=20	width=20
1985	Group stage	1	0	0	1	0	3
1986	did not qualify
1988	Group stage	4	1	1	2	4	8
1990	did not enter
1992	did not qualify
1994	Champions	6	4	0	2	13	9
1996	Fourth place	6	3	2	1	13	7
1998	Group stage	4	2	1	1	8	6
2000	Third place	6	5	0	1	20	6
2002	Group stage	3	1	0	2	3	5
2004	Group stage	3	1	1	1	4	3
2006	Champions	6	4	2	0	17	6
2008	Semifinals	5	4	0	1	16	3
2010	Semifinals	5	3	1	1	11	3
2012	Runners-up	6	4	1	1	14	6
2014	Quarter-finals	4	2	0	2	7	6
2016	Semifinals	5	4	0	1	24	4
2018	Champions	6	5	1	0	13	4
2023	Champions	6	5	1	0	22	6
Total	15/18	76	48	11	17	189	85

Denotes draws includes knockout matches decided on penalty kicks. Red border indicates that the tournament was hosted on home soil.

Result

AFC U-17 Asian Cup history
Year	Round	Score	Result
1985	Group stage	0–3	Loss
1988	Group stage	0–2	Loss
		0–0	Draw
		3–2	Win
		1–4	Loss
1994	Group stage	2–5	Loss
		0–1	Loss
		3–0	Win
		3–0	Win
	Semifinals	4–3	Win
	Final	1–0	Win
1996	Group stage	2–2	Draw
		3–2	Win
		5–2	Win
		3–0	Win
	Semifinals	0–1	Loss
	Third place	0–0	Draw
1998	Group stage	1–2	Loss
		2–1	Win
		3–1	Win
		2–2	Draw
2000	Group stage	2–0	Win
		2–0	Win
		3–0	Win
		7–1	Win
	Semifinals	2–3	Loss
	Third place	4–2	Win
2002	Group stage	1–2	Loss
		1–3	Loss
		1–0	Win
2004	Group stage	0–0	Draw
		1–2	Loss
		3–1	Win
2006	Group stage	6–0	Win
		1–1	Draw
		3–2	Win
	Quarterfinals	1–1	Draw
	Semifinals	2–0	Win
	Final	4–2	Win
2008	Group stage	4–0	Win
		6–1	Win
		3–0	Win
	Quarterfinals	2–0	Win
	Semifinals	1–2	Loss
2010	Group stage	6–0	Win
		1–0	Win
		0–0	Draw
	Quarterfinals	3–1	Win
	Semifinals	1–2	Loss
2012	Group stage	2–0	Win
		1–3	Loss
		3–0	Win
	Quarterfinals	2–1	Win
	Semifinals	5–1	Win
	Final	1–1	Draw
2014	Group stage	2–0	Win
		3–0	Win
		2–4	Loss
	Quarterfinals	0–2	Loss
2016	Group stage	7–0	Win
		8–0	Win
		6–0	Win
	Quarterfinals	1–0	Win
	Semifinals	2–4	Loss
2018	Group stage	5–2	Win
		0–0	Draw
		2–0	Win
	Quarterfinals	2–1	Win
	Semifinals	3–1	Win
	Final	1–0	Win
2023	Group stage	1–1	Draw
		4–0	Win
		8–4	Win
	Quarterfinals	3–1	Win
	Semifinals	3–0	Win
	Final	3–0	Win

External links

Japan national under-17 football team – official website at JFA.jp
Japan national team 2021 schedule at JFA.jp

Head-to-head record

The following table shows Japan's head-to-head record in the FIFA U-17 World Cup.

Notes and References

"サムライ・ブルー (Samurai Blue)" basically refers to the Japan national football team, and in fact "Samurai Blue" is not oftten used by the under generation.
Web site: U-16日本代表メンバー・スケジュール　スペイン遠征（12.8-12.19 スペイン／Albir Garden Resort）. JFA. 3 December 2024. 3 December 2024. ja.