Japan national under-20 football team explained

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

2024

U-19

• Fixtures & Results (U-19 2024), JFA.jp

U-18

• Fixtures & Results (U-18 2024), JFA.jp

2023

U-18

• Fixtures & Results (U-18 2023), JFA.jp

Players

Current squad

The following players were called up for a Mexico Tour, held from 11 to 21 November 2024 on Mexico City. On 10 November, Yotaro Nakajima was replaced due to poor conditioning by Nick Schmidt. On 17 November, Keisuke Sakaiya sustained an injury mid-tour and left the squad.^[2]

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

• 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship
• 1995 FIFA World Youth Championship
• 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship
• 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship
• 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship
• 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship
• 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship
• 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup
• 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup
• 2019 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

width =30		width =150	Name	width =60	Caps	width =60	Goals	width =60	Pos	width =80	Career
1	Koki Ogawa	36	23	FW	2015–2017
2	Yuta Nakayama	30	0	DF	2015–2017
3	Takehiro Tomiyasu	28	1	DF	2016–2017
4	Ryosuke Yamanaka	25	0	DF	2011–2012
5	Ritsu Doan	24	8	MF	2016–2017
6	Koji Miyoshi	23	5	MF	2013–2017
7	Isa Sakamoto	21	12	FW	2021–2023
8	Sota Kitano	19	6	FW	2022–2023
9	Yuya Kubo	18	15	FW	2010–2012
10	Naohiro Takahara	16	16	FW	1998–1999

Top goalscorers

width =20		width =150	Name	width =50	Goals	width =50	Caps	width =50	Ratio	width= 80	Career
1	Koki Ogawa	23	36		2015–2017
2	Naohiro Takahara	16	16		1998–1999
3	Yuya Kubo	15	18		2010–2012
4	Isa Sakamoto	12	21		2021–2023
5	Kanta Chiba	11	4		2021–2022
6	Kento Shiogai	9	9		2023–
7	Ritsu Doan	8	24		2016–2017
	Naoki Kumata	8	13		2022–2023
9	Sota Kitano	6	19		2022–2023
	Hidetoshi Nakata	6	12		1994–1995
	Taisei Miyashiro	6	11		2018–2020
	Kensuke Nagai	6	11		2007–2011

Honours

Intercontinental

• FIFA U-20 World Cup

Runners-Up (1): 1999

Continental

AFC U-19 Championship

• Winners (1): 2016

Runners-Up (6): 1973, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2006

Competitive record

FIFA U-20 World Cup

FIFA U-20 World Cup record
Hosts / Year	Result	width=20		width=20		width=20		width=20		width=20		width=20
1977	did not qualify
1979	Group stage	3	0	2	1	1	2
1981	did not qualify
1983
1985
1987
1989
1991
1993
1995	Quarterfinals	4	1	1	2	6	6
1997	Quarterfinals	5	2	1	2	12	9
1999	Runners-up	7	4	1	2	11	9
2001	Group stage	3	1	0	2	4	4
2003	Quarterfinals	5	3	0	2	6	10
2005	Round of 16	4	0	2	2	3	5
2007	Round of 16	4	2	2	0	6	3
2009	did not qualify
2011
2013
2015
2017	Round of 16	4	1	1	2	4	6
2019	Round of 16	4	1	2	1	4	2
2023	Group stage	3	1	0	2	3	4
2025	to be determined
Total	11/24	46	16	12	18	60	60

• 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 matches
Year	Round	Result	Opponent
1979	Group stage
		L	0-1
		D	0-0
		D	1-1
1995	Group stage
		D	2-2
		L	1-2
		W	2-0
	Quarterfinals
		L	1-2
1997	Group stage
		L	1-2
		L	6-2
		L	3-3
	Round of 16
		W	1-0
	Quarterfinals
		L	1-2
1999	Group stage
		L	1-2
		W	3-1
		W	2-0
	Round of 16
		D	1-1
	Quarterfinals
		W	2-0
	Semifinals
		W	2-1
	Finals
		L	0-4
2001	Group stage
		L	0-2
		L	1-2
		W	3-0
2003	Group stage
		W	1-0
		L	1-4
		W	1-0
	Round of 16
		W	2-1
	Quarterfinals
		L	1-5
2005	Group stage
		L	1-2
		D	1-1
		D	1-1
	Round of 16
		L	0-1
2007	Group stage
		W	3-1
		W	1-0
		D	0-0
	Round of 16
		D	2-2
2017	Group stage
		W	2-1
		L	0-2
		D	2-2
	Round of 16
		L	0-1
2019	Group stage
		D	1-1
		W	3-0
		D	0-0
	Round of 16
		L	0-1
2023	Group stage
		W	1-0
		L	1-2
		L	1-2

AFC U-20 Asian Cup

AFC U-20 Asian Cup record
width=80	Year	width=100	Result	width=20	Pld	width=20	W	width=20	D	width=20	L	width=20	GF	width=20	GA
1959	Third place	4	2	0	2	12	11
1960	Third place	4	2	1	1	10	11
1961	Group stage	4	0	1	3	4	8
1962	Group stage	4	1	0	3	4	9
1963	Group stage	5	1	1	3	8	13
1964	Group stage	3	0	1	2	1	4
1965	Group stage	4	2	0	2	8	4
1966	Group stage	4	0	0	4	2	13
1967	Group stage	3	0	0	3	2	6
1968	First round	3	0	1	2	0	6
1969	Quarterfinals	3	1	0	2	5	11
1970	Fourth place	6	2	1	3	5	13
1971	Fourth place	6	4	1	1	13	2
1972	Quarterfinals	5	2	2	1	12	5
1973	Runners-up	5	1	2	2	5	6
1974	Quarterfinals	4	2	0	2	9	4
1975	Group stage	4	2	0	2	10	5
1976	Tie-breaker play-off	4	1	2	1	2	4
1977	Fourth place	5	1	2	2	8	6
1978	Group stage	4	1	2	1	8	6
1980	Final tournament	4	2	0	2	4	5
1982	Didn't qualify
1985
1986
1988	Group stage	3	0	0	3	3	7
1990	Group stage	3	1	1	1	5	4
1992	Third place	5	3	0	2	8	4
1994	Runners-up	6	4	0	2	9	4
1996	Fourth place	6	3	1	2	12	6
1998	Runners-up	6	3	1	2	18	10
2000	Runners-up	6	3	1	2	15	8
2002	Runners-up	6	4	1	1	11	4
2004	Third place	6	3	0	3	10	3
2006	Runners-up	6	3	2	1	12	6
2008	Quarterfinals	4	2	1	1	10	6
2010	Quarterfinals	4	3	0	1	11	4
2012	Quarterfinals	4	1	1	2	2	4
2014	Quarterfinals	4	2	1	1	7	5
2016	Champions	6	4	2	0	13	0
2018	Semifinals	5	4	0	1	15	5
2023	Semifinals	5	4	1	0	11	4
Total	38/41	173	74	30	69	304	236

See also

Japan

Men's

• International footballers
• National football team (Results (2020–present))
• National under-23 football team
• National under-20 football team
• National under-17 football team
• National futsal team
• National under-20 futsal team
• National beach soccer team

Women's

• International footballers
• National football team (Results)
• National under-20 football team
• National under-17 football team
• National futsal team

External links

• Japan national under-20 football team – official website at JFA.jp
• Japan national team 2021 schedule at JFA.jp

Notes and 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.
2. Web site: U-19日本代表 メンバー・スケジュール　メキシコ遠征（11.11-11.21 メキシコ／メキシコシティ）. jfa.jp/eng/. JFA. 7 November 2024. ja. 7 November 2024.