Urawa's ACL loss prompts reflection by Japanese soccer officials
For the Japanese soccer community, Urawa Reds' 3-0 aggregate defeat to Saudi Arabia's Al Hilal in the Asian Champions League final was unprecedented. That's because it was only the first time in five appearances in the final that a Japanese club has failed to clinch ...
JFA takes leap with new women's pro league
Eight years ago, Japan won the FIFA Women's World Cup and earned its place among women's soccer's elite nations. Now, as the sport known as "WoSo" packs stadiums in London, Madrid, Monterrey and Philadelphia, the country that introduced the likes of Homare Sawa and Saki ...
The Japan Football Association unveiled a new national team uniform on Wednesday, breaking from tradition with a patterned shirt incorporating five shades of blue representing different hues of the sky. The "Clear Sky Japan" kit was developed by Adidas Japan K.K. for representative sides including ...
JFA plans tactical changes for Nadeshiko Japan boss Asako Takakura's squad ahead of Olympics
Asako Takakura will remain as women's national head coach for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but she will be tasked with giving her team a new tactical direction, a Japan Football Association executive said Thursday. Speaking to reporters in Tokyo, JFA Women's Committee chairwoman Junko Imai ...
Former Japan manager Vahid Halilhodzic drops defamation suit against JFA
Former Japan manager Vahid Halilhodzic withdrew the lawsuit he filed against the Japan Football Association over his dismissal just two months before last year's World Cup finals on Wednesday. According to Halilhodzic's lawyer, the Bosnian will not go forward with his claim that the JFA ...
Japan Football Association President Kozo Tashima was re-elected to the FIFA Council on Saturday by the Asian Football Confederation. Tashima was one of the seven candidates up for election by the AFC Congress for five of its six seats on the FIFA council. The 61-year-old Tashima ...
The Japan national men's team will host an international friendly against Trinidad and Tobago on June 5, the Japan Football Association said Friday. The friendly at Toyota Stadium in Aichi Prefecture is likely to be the Samurai Blue's last match before departing for the Copa ...
The Japan Football Association on Tuesday named FC Tokyo midfielder Kento Hashimoto to replace the injured Hidemasa Morita on the men's national squad for upcoming international friendlies against Colombia and Bolivia. Kawasaki Frontale defensive midfielder Morita has withdrawn from the 23-man squad for the friendlies ...
Japan will warm up for this summer's FIFA Women's World Cup with a friendly against host France in April, the Japan Football Association said Tuesday. Nadeshiko Japan will face France on April 4 at Stade de l'Abbe-Deschamps in Auxerre. World No. 8 Japan has won ...
Takashi Inui, Tsukasa Shiotani named as injury replacements for Japan's Asian Cup squad
Shoya Nakajima and Hidemasa Morita have pulled out of Japan's Asian Cup squad with leg injuries and are being replaced by Takashi Inui and Tsukasa Shiotani, the Japan Football Association announced Saturday. Nakajima, who plays for Portuguese club Portimonense, has been used as an attacking ...
Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi receives offer to serve as goalkeeping coach for men's national team: source
The Japan Football Association has offered former Samurai Blue custodian Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi a job as national team goalkeeping coach, a source said Friday. The 43-year-old Kawaguchi, who retired from playing professionally after finishing this past season with third-division SC Sagamihara, reportedly responded positively to the ...
Emperor's Cup final to be first event at new National Stadium in 2020
Tokyo's new National Stadium, the main venue of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, was set Thursday as the venue for next season's Emperor's Cup final. The Japan Football Association's board of directors decided on the stadium, which is expected to be completed by the ...
