Japan national football team records and statistics

The following is a list of the Japan national football team's competitive records and statistics.

Player records

 * Players in bold are still active with Japan.
 * Players in bold are still active with Japan.

Other records
Updated 29 March 2022


 * Youngest player
 * Daisuke Ichikawa, 17 years and 322 days old, 1 April 1998 against 🇰🇷 south korea


 * Youngest goalscorer
 * Shinji Kagawa, 19 years and 206 days old, 9 October 2008 against


 * Youngest captain
 * Gen Shoji, 24 years and 363 days old, 9 December 2017 EAFF E-1 Championship


 * Oldest player
 * Eiji Kawashima, 39 years and 9 days old, 29 March 2022 against


 * Oldest goalscorer
 * Masashi Nakayama, 33 years and 326 days old, 15 August 2001 against 🇦🇺 australia


 * Oldest captain
 * Shigeo Yaegashi, 35 years and 203 days old, 13 October 1968 Summer Olympics


 * Most hat-trick
 * 8, Kunishige Kamamoto


 * Most goal in one match
 * 6, Kunishige Kamamoto, 27 September 1967 against
 * 6, Kazuyoshi Miura, 22 June 1997 against 🇲🇴 macao


 * Most goal in calendar year
 * 18, Kazuyoshi Miura, 1997

Team records
Updated 19 January 2024


 * Biggest victory
 * 15–0 vs Philippines, 27 September 1967


 * Heaviest defeat
 * 15–2 vs Philippines, 10 May 1917


 * Most consecutive victories
 * 11, 15 June 2023 vs. El Salvador – 14 January 2024 vs. Vietnam


 * Most consecutive matches without defeat
 * 20, 24 June 2010 vs. Denmark – 11 November 2011 vs. Tajikistan


 * Most consecutive defeats
 * 6, 10 June 1956 vs. South Korea – 28 December 1958 vs. Malaya


 * Most consecutive matches without victory
 * 11, 13 August 1976 vs. Burma – 15 June 1976 vs. South Korea


 * Most consecutive draws
 * 4, 13 August 1976 vs. Burma – 20 August 1976 vs. Malaysia


 * Most consecutive matches scoring
 * 17, 1 December 2022 vs. Spain – 24 January 2024 vs. Indonesia


 * Most consecutive matches without scoring
 * 6, 18 June 1989 vs. Hong Kong – 31 July 1990 vs. North Korea


 * Most consecutive matches conceding a goal
 * 28, 6 November 1960 vs. South Korea – 11 December 1966 vs. Iran


 * Most consecutive matches without conceding a goal
 * 7, 19 November 2003 vs. Cameroon – 18 February 2004 vs. Oman

Competitive record
Champions  Runners-up   Third place   Fourth place


 * *Denotes draws includes knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out. Red border indicates that the tournament was hosted on home soil. Gold, silver, bronze backgrounds indicate 1st, 2nd and 3rd finishes respectively. Bold text indicates best finish in tournament.

Copa América
Japan is the first team from outside the Americas to participate in the Copa América, having been invited to the 1999 Copa América. Japan was also invited to the 2011 tournament and initially accepted the invitation. However, following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, the JFA later withdrew on 16 May 2011, citing the difficulty of releasing some Japanese players from European teams to play as replacements. On the next day, CONMEBOL invited Costa Rica to replace Japan in the competition.

On 16 August 2013, CONMEBOL president Eugenio Figueredo announced that Japan was invited to the 2015 Copa América. However, Japan later declined the invitation due to scheduling problems.

On 14 May 2018, CONMEBOL announced that Japan, alongside Qatar, would be the two invited teams for the 2019 Copa América.

Olympic Games
Since 1992, the Olympic team has been drawn from a squad with a maximum of three players over 23 years age, and the achievements of this team are not generally regarded as part of the national team's records, nor are the statistics credited to the players' international records.

Asian Games

 * Football at the Asian Games has been an under-23 tournament since 2002.

Head-to-head record
The list shown below shows the Japan national football team head-to-head record. As of 6 June 2024.

AFC
As of 11 June 2024

CAF
As of 17 October 2023

CONCACAF
As of 13 October 2023

CONMEBOL
As of 20 June 2023

OFC
As of 12 October 2021

UEFA
As of 12 September 2023

FIFA World Ranking
, after the match against .

Best Ranking  Best Mover   Worst Ranking   Worst Mover