Japan have appeared in the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

on seven occasions, the first being in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

where they lost all three group games and finished in 31st position.

Masashi Nakayama is a Japanese football manager and former player who is the manager of Azul Claro Numazu from 2023. He played as a forward in his playing career. Club career Playing as a forward, Nakayama made his J1 League debut on 11 March 1994. From then ...

scored Japan's first ever goal in a World Cup match against

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

on 26 June 1998 in a 21 defeat.

Keisuke Honda is a Japanese professional football manager and former player. he is the current general manager & head coach of the Cambodia U-23. A versatile player, Honda usually played as an attacking midfielder, but could also play as a winger, a f ...

became the first Japanese player to score in three world cups: 2010, 2014, 2018. Japan made their seventh and most recent appearance at the finals at the 2022 tournament in

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it ...

. In

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

, Japan became the first ever

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

nation to beat a side from

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

, after they won 21 against Colombia in the group stage. The team has progressed to the round of 16 on four occasions, 2002 (as join-hosts), 2010, 2018 and 2022.

FIFA World Cup record

By match

Record by opponent

Record players

Top goalscorers

References

External links

Japan at FIFA
{{Countries at the FIFA World Cup Countries at the FIFA World Cup