Japan at the FIFA World Cup

Japan have appeared in the finals of the FIFA World Cup on seven occasions, the first being in 1998 where they lost all three group games and finished in 31st position. Masashi Nakayama scored Japan's first ever goal in a World Cup Finals against Jamaica on 26 June 1998 in a 2–1 defeat.^[1] Keisuke Honda becomes the first Japanese player to score in three world cups: 2010, 2014, 2018.^[2]

They are making their seventh appearance at the finals in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. In the 2018 World Cup, Japan became the first ever Asian nation to beat a side from South America, after they won 2–1 against Colombia in the group stage. The team made it to the Round of 16 (the first knock-out round) but lost to Belgium, 3–2.

FIFA World Cup record

FIFA World Cup finals record									Qualification record
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1930	Did not enter								No qualification
1934	Did not enter								Did not enter
1938	Withdrew								Withdrew
1950	Suspended from FIFA								Suspended from FIFA
1954	Did not qualify								2	0	1	1	3	7
1958	Did not enter								Did not enter
1962	Did not qualify								2	0	0	2	1	4
1966	Did not enter								Did not enter
1970	Did not qualify								4	0	2	2	4	8
1974									4	1	0	3	5	4
1978									4	0	1	3	0	5
1982									4	2	0	2	4	2
1986									8	5	1	2	15	5
1990									6	2	3	1	7	3
1994									13	9	3	1	35	6
1998	Group stage	31st	3	0	0	3	1	4	15	9	5	1	51	12
2002	Round of 16	9th	4	2	1	1	5	3	Qualified as hosts
2006	Group stage	28th	3	0	1	2	2	7	12	11	0	1	25	5
2010	Round of 16	9th	4	2	1	1	4	2	14	8	4	2	23	9
2014	Group stage	29th	3	0	1	2	2	6	14	8	3	3	30	8
2018	Round of 16	15th	4	1	1	2	6	7	18	13	3	2	44	7
2022	In progress								18	15	1	2	58	6
2026	To be determined								To be determined
Total	Round of 16	7/22	21	5	5	11	20	29	138	83	27	28	305	91

By match

World Cup	Round	Opponent	Score	Result	Japan scorers
1998	Group stage	Argentina	0–1	L
		Croatia	0–1	L
		Jamaica	1–2	L	Nakayama
2002	Group stage	Belgium	2–2	D	Suzuki, Inamoto
		Russia	1–0	W	Inamoto
		Tunisia	2–0	W	Morishima, H. Nakata
	Round of 16	Turkey	0–1	L
2006	Group stage	Australia	1–3	L	Nakamura
		Croatia	0–0	D
		Brazil	1–4	L	Tamada
2010	Group stage	Cameroon	1–0	W	Honda
		Netherlands	0–1	L
		Denmark	3–1	W	Honda, Endō, Okazaki
	Round of 16	Paraguay	0–0 (a.e.t.) (3–5 p)	D
2014	Group stage	Ivory Coast	1–2	L	Honda
		Greece	0–0	D
		Colombia	1–4	L	Okazaki
2018	Group stage	Colombia	2–1	W	Kagawa , Osako
		Senegal	2–2	D	Inui, Honda
		Poland	0–1	L
	Round of 16	Belgium	2–3	L	Haraguchi, Inui
2022	Group stage	Germany	2–1	W	Dōan, Asano
		Costa Rica	0-1	L
		Spain	TBD

Record players

Rank	Player	Matches	World Cups
1	Yuto Nagatomo	12	2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022
2	Makoto Hasebe	11	2010, 2014 and 2018
2	Eiji Kawashima	11	2010, 2014 and 2018
4	Hidetoshi Nakata	10	1998, 2002 and 2006
	Shinji Okazaki	10	2010, 2014 and 2018
	Keisuke Honda	10	2010, 2014 and 2018
7	Maya Yoshida	8	2014, 2018 and 2022
7	Junichi Inamoto	8	2002, 2006 and 2010
8	Yuji Nakazawa	7	2006 and 2010
8	Yoshito Ōkubo	7	2010 and 2014

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Goals	World Cups
1	Keisuke Honda	4	2010 (2), 2014 (1), and 2018 (1)
2	Junichi Inamoto	2	2002
	Shinji Okazaki	2	2010 and 2014
	Takashi Inui	2	2018

References

^ "2-1 victory over Japan lifts the Reggae Boyz". Sports Illustrated. 19 September 1998. Retrieved 15 January 2014.
^ "Super sub Honda makes history with goal against Senegal". Kyodo News. 25 June 2018. Retrieved 26 June 2018.

External links

Japan at FIFA

[1] "2-1 victory over Japan lifts the Reggae Boyz". Sports Illustrated. 19 September 1998. Retrieved 15 January 2014.

[2] "Super sub Honda makes history with goal against Senegal". Kyodo News. 25 June 2018. Retrieved 26 June 2018.

[1]

[2]

v t e Japan national football team
General	Japan Football Association (JFA) History Managers
Venues	Japan National Stadium Saitama Stadium 2002
Statistics	All-time match results Records and statistics Head-to-head record Hat-tricks All-time goalscorers
Players	Players (by caps) Other players Captains
Goals	Kunishige Kamamoto
World Cup Finals	Summary 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
AFC Asian Cup Finals	Summary 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023 2027
Other tournaments	EAFF E-1 Football Championship East Asian Games Asian Games Olympics Copa América FIFA Confederations Cup
Culture	Rivalries South Korea China North Korea Australia Saudi Arabia Iran Agony of Doha
Other JFA teams	Men's U-17 U-20 U-23 Women's U-17 U-20 U-23 Futsal U-20 women's Beach soccer Esports

v t e Countries at the FIFA World Cup
Team appearances All-time table
AFC	Australia² China Indonesia¹ Iran Iraq Japan Kuwait North Korea Qatar Saudi Arabia South Korea United Arab Emirates
CAF	Algeria Angola Cameroon DR Congo¹ Egypt Ghana Ivory Coast Morocco Nigeria Senegal South Africa Togo Tunisia
CONCACAF	Canada Costa Rica Cuba El Salvador Haiti Honduras Jamaica Mexico Panama Trinidad and Tobago United States
CONMEBOL	Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador Paraguay Peru Uruguay
OFC	New Zealand
UEFA	Austria Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Czech Republic¹ Denmark East Germany³ England France Germany¹ Greece Hungary Iceland Israel² Italy Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Russia¹ Scotland Serbia¹ Slovakia¹ Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Wales
¹ Considered a successor team by FIFA, or have competed under another name(s). ² Have been member of multiple confederations. ³ Team and national federation no longer exist.