The Japan national football team is one of the strongest football teams in Asia, although it has only gained this strength fairly recently and, outside Asia, is generally considered weaker than South Korea's national team, despite Japan's higher ranking. Japan's first World Cup appearance was in 1998, four years before they hosted the 2002 World Cup with South Korea. 2002 World Cup co-host South Korea went on to secure fourth place, while Japan were dismissed from the tournament in Round 2. The side have had considerably more success in the Asian Cup, taking home the winner's trophy in three of the last four finals. Their principal continental rivals are China, Iran and South Korea.

World Cup record

• 1930 - Did not enter
• 1934 - Did not enter
• 1938 - Withdrew
• 1950 - Did not enter
• 1954 - Did not qualify
• 1958 - Did not enter
• 1962 - Did not qualify
• 1966 - Did not enter
• 1970 to 1994 - Did not qualify
• 1998 - Round 1
• 2002 - Round 2

Asian Cup record

• 1956 to 1964 - Did not enter
• 1968 - Did not qualify
• 1972 - Did not enter
• 1976 - Did not qualify
• 1980 - Did not enter
• 1984 - Did not enter
• 1988 - Round 1
• 1992 - Champions
• 1996 - Quarterfinals
• 2000 - Champions
• 2004 - Champions

Top goalscorers

• Kunishige Kamamoto - 73 (1964-1977)
• Kazuyoshi Miura - 56 (1990-2000)
• Takuya Takagi - 28 (1992-1997)
• Hiromi Hara - 24 (1978-1988)
• Masashi Nakayama - 21 (1990-2003)

Other famous players

• Alex
• Junichi Inamoto
• Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi
• Hidetoshi Nakata
• Shunsuke Nakamura
• Shinji Ono
• Tsuneyasu Miyamoto (current captain)

External links

• Japan Football Association national teams
• RSSSF archive of national team results
• RSSSF archive of most capped players and highest goalscorers