Japan

Confederation – AFC (Asia)

FIFA Code – JPN

Nickname(s) – Samurai Blue

Tournament History

Before 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup, Japan had appeared seven times in this tournament history where their best performance was in 1993 and 2011 as they had reached the quarter-finals in those both editions. The current U-17 FIFA World Cup is their eight appearances in this tournament history.

Year	Hosts	Final Status
*1993*	*Japan*	*Quarter-Finals*
1995	Ecuador	Group Stage
2001	Trinidad and Tobago	Group Stage
2007	South Korea	Group Stage
2009	Nigeria	Group Stage
*2011*	*Mexico*	*Quarter-Finals*
2013	UAE	Round of 16

(Note: The best performance(s) is/are marked in bold and italic)

Present Status (for 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup)

i) The Journey: Japan secured their place for the upcoming 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup after reaching the semi-finals of 2016 AFC U-16 Championship. However, in that semi-final encounter, they had suffered a loss against Iraq by a 4-2 margin.

ii) Head Coach: Yoshiro Moriyama (Nationality – Japan) is guiding this youth group since 2015. His standard formation is the 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1, and he gives the importance to the possession-base football.

iii) Full Squad: (Goalkeepers) Kosei Tani, Zion Suzuki, Togo Umeda

(Defenders) Nobuki Iketaka, Yuki Kobayashi, Yukinari Sugawara, Seiya Baba, Taichi Yamasaki, Takumu Kemmotsu

(Midfielders) Rei Hirakawa, Hinata Kida, Kohei Okuno, Shimpei Fukuoka, Soichiro Kozuki, Toichi Suzuki, Naoki Tsubaki

(Forwards) Takefusa Kubo, Hiroto Yamada, Taisei Miyashiro, Keito Nakamura, Koki Saito

iv) Player(s) To Watch Out:

Takefusa Kubo (Present Club – FC Tokyo)

Takefusa Kubo is a budding star for his nation. He is an attacking midfielder who has played every age-level international football for Japan since 2015. He was even selected for the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup at the age of just 15. During the 2016 AFC U-16 Championship, he had scored total four goals.

After passing the trial, Takefusa Kubo was invited to join FC Barcelona’s youth Academy in 2011. Playing his first full season at there in 2012/13, he became the top goal-scorer in league with 74 goals in 30 games for Barca Alevin C (U11 team). His high success remained to continue till his leaving that Spanish club in 2015.