American football team

Japan U23

Club · Japan · AFC U23 Asian Cup

«Olympic Japan»

45 Matches

33 wins

5 draws

7 losses

100–25 Goals

+75 Difference

2.2 Scored per game

Form W W D W W W

Malaysia held Japan's new under-23 selection to a 1-1 draw in December 1990 — the side did not exist as a club or an academy, only as a squad the Japan Football Association had put together for the fixture. It has never settled on one home ground since; qualifiers and friendlies have gone to Ajinomoto Stadium in Chofu or to Saitama Stadium 2002, whichever the tournament calendar called for.

The name changes with the occasion. During Olympic cycles the side plays as Olympic Japan, kept apart from the senior team's own nickname, Samurai Blue. Makoto Teguramori took the AFC U-23 Asian Cup in 2016 with a 3-2 win over South Korea, then again in 2024, beating Uzbekistan 1-0. Go Oiwa carried the run into a third title in 2026, a 4-0 final win over China, with a third-place finish in 2022 sitting between the two runs of victories.

Three Asian Cup titles in four editions since 2016.

Latest results

All matches

16 Sep	Asian Games	Hong Kong U23 H	2:0	W
24 Jan	AFC U23 Asian Cup	China PR U23 A	4:0	W
20 Jan	AFC U23 Asian Cup	Korea Republic U23 H	1:0	W
16 Jan	AFC U23 Asian Cup	Jordan U23 H	1:1	D
13 Jan	AFC U23 Asian Cup	Qatar U23 H	2:0	W
10 Jan	AFC U23 Asian Cup	UAE U23 A	3:0	W