FixturesSep 3, 2026
Mark the calendar. Samurai Blue is heading to Singapore this November for a shot at revenge, and Brazil is on the other side of it. The JFA has confirmed Japan will take part in the MIZUHO BLUE CHALLENGE, The Kallang Football Series Singapore, a four nation tournament running November 13 to 17 at Singapore National Stadium, marking 60 years of diplomatic relations between Japan and Singapore. Japan plays Brazil on November 14, the first meeting between the two sides since Brazil beat us 2-1 in the World Cup Round of 32 back in June, and closes out the series against Paraguay on November 17. Host nation Singapore fills out the bracket, opening against Paraguay on November 13 before facing Brazil to close the series. It falls inside a FIFA international window and slots in as one of our last big tests before the Asian Cup kicks off in Saudi Arabia this January. Kickoff times, broadcast plans, and ticket details are still TBA, the JFA says those come separately. For now: we know the date, we know the opponent, and we know exactly what this one means.
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Player WatchAug 29, 2026
Big money circled and Kaishu Sano did not move. Mainz set an internal deadline of August 27 on any sale of our World Cup midfielder, telling suitors they needed time to find a replacement if he left, and put the price at 60 million euros just to start the conversation. Liverpool, Newcastle, and RB Leipzig all came sniffing, Leipzig reportedly walked away calling the asking price too steep and signed a Barcelona midfielder instead. When the deadline passed with no offer meeting that number, Mainz confirmed it themselves: Sano stays for 2026/27. He showed exactly why they wanted to keep him, starting the full 90 minutes in Mainz's Bundesliga opener, a scoreless draw with promoted side Paderborn, doing what he does best: closing passing lanes and driving forward out of midfield, every bit the player who scored against Brazil at the World Cup this summer. His contract runs through 2028. The suitors can come back next window, but for now our guy in Mainz isn't going anywhere.
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Player WatchAug 29, 2026
Ten. That's how many Japanese players opened this Premier League season, an all time high, and it says everything about the summer we just lived through. Zion Suzuki's move to Aston Villa was the loudest arrival, but he didn't walk into England alone. Takehiro Tomiyasu is back too, joining countryman Daichi Kamada at Crystal Palace. Hidemasa Morita signed with Hull City. Daizen Maeda swapped Celtic for Ipswich. They're joining the crew already holding it down: Kaoru Mitoma at Brighton, Wataru Endo at Liverpool, Ao Tanaka at Leeds, Kota Takai at Tottenham, and Tatsuhiro Sakamoto at Coventry. Eight more Japanese players are grinding it out one level down in the Championship. "There aren't many examples of clubs signing Japanese players and having issues with their adaptation, with their personality, with their integration," CAA Base agent Joel Pannick told AFP. "The risk element that teams previously feared has gone." Veteran journalist Yoshiyuki Osumi went even sharper on Suzuki specifically, calling him "10 or 20 years ahead of his time for a Japanese goalkeeper." Rewind to 2001: Junichi Inamoto signed for Arsenal and never played a single league minute. Since then Kagawa, Okazaki, Minamino and Endo have all lifted titles in England. Now ten of ours are out there suiting up every single weekend, and this crop is just getting started.
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Player WatchAug 25, 2026
Nobody saw this one coming. Koki Ogawa, who scored for us against the Netherlands at this summer's World Cup, has completed a permanent transfer from Dutch side NEC Nijmegen to J1 League leaders FC Machida Zelvia, three years after he left Japan for Europe. "I'm very happy to fight as a member of FC Machida Zelvia," Ogawa said in the club's announcement. "I'll do my best to score plenty of goals and help us win the title." Japanese outlets report the fee at around 370 million yen, with a salary that would make him the highest paid domestic player in J1 history, though the club has not confirmed the numbers itself. Ogawa leaves NEC with 33 goals in 92 appearances and 14 caps for Samurai Blue. He's 29, he's coming home to a title race, and the timing could not be better with Kirin Challenge Cup dates on the calendar this September.
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Player WatchAug 21, 2026
Fast work. Two days after officially becoming an Aston Villa player, Zion Suzuki is reportedly set to be handed the gloves for Sunday's Premier League opener against Brighton, and if it happens, he becomes the first Japanese goalkeeper in the history of the competition. Suzuki already made that same kind of history in Serie A with Parma, and he has not hidden how much this one means to him. "My dream is to play in the Premier League, now it is time for me to play in the Premier League," he said this week. Nothing is confirmed until Unai Emery names his XI, and Emiliano Martinez's future at the club is still being sorted out, but all signs point to our World Cup keeper starting the season between the posts in England. Circle Sunday.
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Player WatchAug 19, 2026
It's official. Zion Suzuki is an Aston Villa player. Three transfer stories in nine days, and this is the one that sticks: our World Cup keeper has completed a permanent move from Parma for a fee in the region of 35 million euros (30 million plus 5 million in add-ons), signing a contract through the summer of 2031. He arrives as the first Japanese and first Asian player in Aston Villa's history, a nice line for a player who was born in the US, grew up in Urawa, and made his name for Urawa Reds before a stint in Belgium and two seasons in Serie A with Parma. The move puts a question mark over Emiliano Martinez's future at Villa Park, with Juventus reportedly circling him, but that's a problem for another day. For now: the keeper who stood tall for us against Brazil this summer just landed in the Premier League.
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Player WatchAug 16, 2026
Well, that escalated fast. Just five days after we told you Zion Suzuki looked headed for Paris, the whole move has fallen apart. Fabrizio Romano, the same reporter whose "here we go" broke the original story, now reports PSG's deal for our World Cup keeper collapsed over a dispute on agent commissions, with a private flight reportedly already sent for his medical before talks broke down. Suzuki did not wait around for long. Aston Villa moved fast, matching PSG's offer in the 30 to 35 million euro range, and within a day the two sides had a verbal agreement in place, with documents now being exchanged and a medical and move to Birmingham being arranged. If Suzuki's camp wanted a clearer path to regular Premier League football over PSG's crowded goalkeeper room, Aston Villa may be exactly that. We will update the moment it is official, again.
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Player WatchAug 11, 2026
Remember that screamer against Brazil? Turns out half the Premier League remembers it too. Kaishu Sano's stock has been climbing all summer, and it just jumped again. Multiple English outlets report Liverpool are readying a bid worth up to £51m (roughly €60m) for the Mainz midfielder, with Arsenal, Tottenham and Borussia Dortmund also said to be circling. Mainz sporting director Christian Heidel has stopped playing coy about it, telling German media the fee would need to be a club-record number, somewhere in the 60 to 70 million euro range, before Mainz would even consider letting their "duel monster" go. Sano is under contract through 2028 and Mainz say they are under no pressure to sell, but he is reportedly open to testing himself in the Premier League if the club and the number are right. Nothing is signed and no formal bid has landed yet, but our World Cup breakout star is officially a wanted man.
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Player WatchAug 11, 2026
Our World Cup goalkeeper's summer transfer saga looks like it has reached its final stage. Following Fabrizio Romano's "here we go," multiple outlets report that Zion Suzuki has passed his medical and signed a five-year contract with Paris Saint-Germain, in a deal worth around 35 million euros with add-ons. The plan, per that same reporting, is for Suzuki to make his first steps in Paris and then head straight back out on loan to Juventus for the 2026-27 season, keeping him playing regularly behind a PSG goalkeeper room that is already stacked. Neither PSG nor Parma has put out an official statement, so we're calling this reported, not done.
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Player WatchAug 8, 2026
It's official. Takehiro Tomiyasu is a Crystal Palace player. The Japan defender, whose Arsenal contract was ended by mutual consent last December, spent the second half of last season on loan at Ajax while working back from injury, then earned this move on the back of a successful trial, coming off the bench in a preseason friendly against Al-Ula. He signs on a free transfer and takes the number 17 shirt. He reunites with fellow Samurai Blue man Daichi Kamada at Selhurst Park, and gives Moriyasu one more center back with a Premier League home to call on heading into the fall friendlies. Good to have him back on a club badge that matters. 🔵🌊🇯🇵⚽️
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Watch GuideAug 8, 2026
We finally have an answer to the question we get most: where do I watch the Asian Cup in the US? CBS Sports announced on July 10 that it holds the exclusive English-language US rights to the AFC Asian Cup 2027 in Saudi Arabia. Every match streams live on Paramount+, with the bigger fixtures also on CBS Sports Network and the free CBS Sports Golazo Network. That means Japan's January title chase finally has an American home. We've updated our Watch Japan guide with the details. The deal also covers the 2028 AFC U-23 Asian Cup, the Olympic qualifying pathway for LA 2028.
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FixturesAug 7, 2026
The whole fall slate is public now. The JFA confirmed Aug 7 that Ecuador, Panama and New Zealand will join Japan for October's Kirin Cup Soccer, and it's a genuine knockout, not a round robin. Japan opens Oct 1 at Yokohama's International Stadium against Ecuador, kicking off at 19:10 JST on TBS and TVer, while Panama and New Zealand play the other semifinal the same night. Win, and Samurai Blue advance to face the Panama/NZ winner at National Stadium on Oct 5. Lose, and it's the loser instead, still a final, just for different stakes. Moriyasu called it "a wonderful strengthening opportunity," pointing out all three visitors played at this summer's World Cup. With Uruguay (Sep 24) and Venezuela (Sep 28) already locked in, every fall fixture now has a name attached, four proper tests before January's trip to Riyadh, and Japan will be chasing a first Kirin Cup title in 15 years.
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FixturesAug 5, 2026
One of the two open September dates just got filled in. The JFA and Kirin confirmed Aug 5 that Japan's first match since the World Cup, Sep 24 at Q&A Stadium Miyagi, will be against Uruguay, kicking off at 19:05 JST. That pairs with the Sep 28 clash against Venezuela in Hiroshima we already knew about, giving Samurai Blue two proper tests to open the post-World Cup cycle. Uruguay sit just outside Japan's own FIFA ranking bracket (20th to Japan's 13th) and the head-to-head is tight: two Japan wins, three draws, four losses all-time. Fuji TV will carry it nationwide with a TVer stream for anyone who needs it. Still to be filled in: the two October opponents for Kirin Cup Soccer in Yokohama and Tokyo. We'll keep you posted the moment those land.
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FixturesAug 1, 2026
Big news for anyone already looking past the Asian Cup toward LA 2028: Japan is going to host the tournament that decides who gets there. The JFA confirmed Jul 30 that the AFC U23 Asian Cup 2028 will be held in Japan. That's the same tournament that serves as Asia's Olympic qualifier, with only the top two finishers, the two teams who reach the final, punching a ticket to Los Angeles. Here's the part worth being precise about: hosting guarantees Japan a place in the U23 Asian Cup field itself, no need to grind through qualifiers like everyone else, but it does not hand them an Olympic spot. And this cycle, there is no other way in. Asia's men's Olympic slots were cut from 3.5 down to a flat 2 for LA 2028, and the old intercontinental playoff route is gone entirely. The host berth for the Olympics themselves goes to the USA, not Japan, since hosting the Games and hosting this qualifying tournament are two different things. Reach the final on home soil, or Japan does not go to LA. JFA president Tsuneyasu Miyamoto said he's delighted Japan gets to host it, calling it a stage where "young players can chase the big goal that lies beyond it." Japan beat out bids from Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Qatar and Uzbekistan for hosting rights. No dates, venues or kickoff times yet, some reports are floating January 2028 but that's not locked in, so treat it as TBA for now. Still, this is the kind of news worth marking down: a home tournament, the next wave of Samurai Blue talent, and the only road to an Olympic berth, all on our own turf.
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FixturesJul 27, 2026
One of the two Kirin Challenge Cup opponents is confirmed: Japan faces Venezuela on Monday, September 28 at Edion Peace Wing Hiroshima, kickoff 19:25 JST. It's the second of four home friendlies this fall on the road to January's Asian Cup, and the first real look at how this squad shapes up after the World Cup. It also opens Moriyasu's farewell run of home matches, and he is framing it exactly the way you'd expect: 「日本サッカーの未来のために、貴重な一戦として勝利を目指し、全力で挑みます」, or “For the future of Japanese football, I'll give everything to win this valuable match.” And he means it. Japan's record against Venezuela is a prickly one win, three draws and a loss, and Moriyasu himself has faced them twice as a coach without a win, so the all-out talk is earned, not boilerplate. He framed the whole fall as a chance to repay the fans who have fought alongside the team. No throwaway friendly in his eyes, and it shouldn't be one in ours. The September 24 opponent in Miyagi is still TBC; we'll update the moment JFA confirms it.
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Player WatchJul 25, 2026
IT'S OFFICIAL. Daizen Maeda is a Premier League player. 🔥 Ipswich Town confirmed the move today: £10m from Celtic (£8m plus £2m in add-ons), a deal that runs through the 2028/29 season. Four and a half years terrorizing defenders at Celtic. 79 goals. 212 appearances. Five straight league titles. And now? The Premier League he has dreamed about his whole career. "I have always dreamed of playing in the Premier League and I am very happy I can realise that dream with this club," Maeda said. Same relentless pressing, same fearless running, same total chaos every time he wears the Samurai Blue, now on the biggest stage in club football. The other half of the rumored Ipswich double didn't come together, though. Free agent Hidemasa Morita, who Ipswich had also been chasing for weeks, instead signed with fellow newly-promoted Hull City on a two year deal with an option for a third, with reports pointing to an issue in his Ipswich medical along the way. Two Samurai Blue names, two new Premier League homes, just not the pairing a lot of us were picturing. Welcome to England, Daizen. Ipswich, you have no idea what you just signed. Good luck at Hull, Morita-san. 🔵🌊🇯🇵⚽️
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Deep DiveJul 25, 2026
For 64 minutes, three men mapped out the next four years of Samurai Blue in dense, careful Japanese: coach Hajime Moriyasu, JFA president Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, and technical director Masakuni Yamamoto. We ran the entire press conference through our own local translation pipeline and verified the key quotes line by line. Here is the human moment you could feel even without the words, and eight things that got lost in translation.
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Deep DiveJul 24, 2026
Next March, when Samurai Blue walk out for the first match of the post-Moriyasu era, the man in the technical area will be Go Oiwa. If you followed the Olympic team, you already know his work, even if you never learned his name. This is the full story: where he came from, what he won, how he sets a team up, and the honest answer to the question every one of us is quietly asking, including whether the players we love are still in his plans.
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Moriyasu WatchJul 24, 2026
Turns out we almost lost him. 💔 At his press conference the day after the board made it official, JFA president Tsuneyasu Miyamoto walked reporters through how the succession plan actually came together, and for the first time admitted the JFA seriously discussed replacing Moriyasu with a foreign coach. Back in March, the plan was simply for him to lead the team through the World Cup and no further, full stop. It was only in May that JFA leadership circled back and asked whether he'd stay through the Asian Cup instead. Miyamoto confirmed there was an actual list of outside candidates on the table. In the end, the JFA looked at what Moriyasu has actually built, eight years of growth, a World Cup knockout run, a squad that plays with his fingerprints all over it, and decided tearing it down for a fresh face wasn't worth it. It stings that it was ever a real question. But the right call got made, and the man who's earned this gets to finish it on his own terms. One more tournament. Let's send him off loud in Riyadh. 🔵🌊🇯🇵⚽️
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Moriyasu WatchJul 23, 2026
Now it's real. At its board meeting in Tokyo today, the JFA confirmed the plan we'd only had in whispers: Hajime Moriyasu, 57, stays on as Samurai Blue boss through the AFC Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia this January and February, and then he's done. 💔 Go Oiwa, the 54-year-old who steered Japan's U-23s to the Paris quarterfinals, takes the senior job from the March international window on, no matter how the Asian Cup goes. Oiwa keeps his young-guns role too, doubling up with the U-21s toward LA 2028, and he's been handed the longer brief: build toward the 2030 World Cup while carrying forward the culture Moriyasu built, in his own way. Moriyasu could yet stay inside the JFA in another capacity under a separate reported one-year deal. But the headline is the one we've been bracing for: Riyadh is the last dance. Eight years, a World Cup knockout run, and one more tournament to send him off right. Let's make January loud. 🔵🌊🇯🇵⚽️
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Player WatchJul 21, 2026
Voting's wrapped on the World Cup 2026 Goal of the Tournament, and Daizen Maeda's strike against Sweden didn't take the crown; the award went elsewhere. No shame in it. He made the 12-goal shortlist alongside Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland, and his was the outlier and the best kind: not a solo wondergoal but a flowing team move, slick one-touch passing and razor movement that ripped Sweden open in the group stage and finished as one of the whole tournament's cleanest goals. The Nation showed up for it. It'll live on our highlight reels long after we've forgotten who took the trophy. 🔵🌊🇯🇵⚽️
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Player WatchJul 19, 2026
Zion Suzuki's World Cup might be over, but his summer is just heating up. After a run of big saves that helped keep Japan alive through the group stage and nearly did the same against Brazil, the 23-year-old Parma goalkeeper is reportedly attracting serious Premier League interest, with Leeds United, Newcastle United and Aston Villa all credited with chasing him, and Juventus also in the mix. The reported numbers are all over the place, anywhere from about £17m to £30m plus depending on who you ask, and Sky Sports has cautioned that talk of an imminent deal is overstated: right now Suzuki looks like one name on a list, not a done deal. Nothing is signed. But for a keeper who was a relative unknown outside Japan before this tournament, the fact that four clubs are even in the conversation says everything about the summer he just had.
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Moriyasu WatchJul 15, 2026
The succession finally has a reported name: Go Oiwa. Sponichi and Kyodo report the JFA has settled on the 54-year-old U-21 and Olympic boss to take over the senior team from the March 2027 window, while continuing to lead the squad building toward LA 2028. The reported plan even explains the strange 6-month Moriyasu deal: per Sponichi, it was designed with Oiwa as the assumed successor all along, bridging him past September's Asian Games with the U-21s. Oiwa's resume is the JFA's favorite kind: Paris 2024 quarterfinals with an all-young squad, back-to-back U-23 Asian Cup titles, and a domestic pedigree that keeps the Japanese-coach lineage going. Nothing is signed: the board meets around July 23, and this stays reported until the JFA says it out loud. But the road after Moriyasu just got a name and a face.
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Ticket AlertJul 13, 2026
Planning a fall trip? The JFA opened an additional ticket sale for the Kirin Cup Soccer night at National Stadium on October 5: first come, first served through Ticket JFA, no lottery this time. It's a doubleheader, so one ticket gets you both matches of the night, with Japan's game kicking off between 7:00 and 7:30 PM Japan time. Opponents are still to be announced. As always: buy through Ticket JFA only, resale above face value is prohibited, and ID checks apply.
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Moriyasu WatchJul 9, 2026
We love Moriyasu here, so this one stings to even write. 💔 But covering the Nation means covering all of it. In the wake of the World Cup exit, some voices, including a Guardian column, have floated Ange Postecoglou, the former Celtic and Tottenham boss who won the J.League with Yokohama F. Marinos back in 2019, as the kind of name Japan could look to next. To be clear: this is discourse and opinion, not a reported candidacy, and nothing is official. Moriyasu is reportedly staying on through the Asian Cup. But supporters are talking, so we will too. Where do you stand?
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Moriyasu WatchJul 9, 2026
Multiple outlets report Moriyasu has accepted a short-term extension through the AFC Asian Cup, with the JFA lining up a new coach from the March windows on. The reported terms have no title-based extension: even if Japan lifts the trophy in Riyadh, he steps down after. The board is expected to finalize around July 23. If it holds, January in Saudi Arabia isn't just a title chase, it's a send-off. We'll update when it's official.
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Matchday BriefJul 8, 2026
The JFA has confirmed kickoff times and ticket-sale details for the two September Kirin Challenge Cup matches: Sep 24 in Miyagi kicks off at 7:05 PM JST, and Sep 28 in Hiroshima at 7:25 PM JST. Opponents are still to be announced. Head to our schedule and the times now show automatically in your local timezone, so you'll know exactly when to wake up. The October Kirin Cup Soccer times aren't finalized yet.
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Moriyasu WatchJul 6, 2026
On Japanese morning TV today, Moriyasu revealed the team held an uchiage (a wrap party) the same day they landed back in Tokyo. In his telling, it started quiet, the drinks got it going, and by the end everyone was crying a little and saying let's keep going, let's do it again. Eight years in, whatever he decides about his own future, this group clearly isn't done with each other. Neither are we.
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Moriyasu WatchJul 2, 2026
After the Round of 32 exit against Brazil, Hajime Moriyasu told reporters he will take time before deciding what comes next. Eight years, two World Cups, a 69% win rate, and the first-ever win over Brazil: whatever happens, his era changed expectations for this team. We're watching this one closely.
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FixturesJun 30, 2026
The JFA has scheduled four September and October matches: Kirin Challenge Cup on Sep 24 (Miyagi) and Sep 28 (Hiroshima), then Kirin Cup on Oct 1 (Yokohama) and Oct 5 (Tokyo). Opponents are still TBC. These are the first steps toward the Asian Cup in January 2027, and likely our first look at what this squad becomes after the World Cup.
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Match ReportJun 29, 2026
Sano's first-half screamer had us dreaming. Then Casemiro leveled, and Martinelli broke our hearts in stoppage time. Japan leaves the World Cup unbeaten in the group (second in Group F behind the Netherlands) with the Round of 32 exit stinging precisely because this team looked like it belonged. Full results and the complete Moriyasu-era record are on our schedule page.
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Ticket AlertMay 12, 2026
Tickets for the Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia (Jan 7 to Feb 5, 2027) went on sale through the tournament's official Ahlan platform, with group-stage seats from 30 riyal. If you've ever wanted to follow Japan at a major tournament, this is the affordable one. Our ticket guide has the full breakdown, including the eVisa situation.
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