The Japan national under-23 football team is a national association football youth team of Japan and is controlled by the Japan Football Association. The team won the gold medal at the 2010 Asian Games and were champions in the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship. Since 1992, it was decided that teams targeting athletes under the age of 23 will participate in the Olympics (additional provisions for overage limits have been added since 1996). Therefore, the name changes to Japan national under-22 football team the year before the Olympics and Japan national under-21 football team two years prior. The exception to this was the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which was postponed one year, so in 2021, the team was called the Japan national under-24 football team. At the 2024 Olympics, they advanced to the Knockout stage without three overage players and several key players.

Team image

Nicknames

"サムライ・ブルー (Samurai Blue)" basically refers to the Japan national football team, but the under-23 football team are sometimes referred to as "Young" Samurai Blue. However, in reality, Samurai Blue is not often used. In the Olympic Games, the name Olympíc Japan "オリンピックジャパン (Orinpikku Japan)" is used to referred to U-23 national team.

Rivalries

South Korea

Japan maintains a strong football rivalry with South Korea, even in youth set-ups.

Results and fixtures

2025

U-21

2024

U-23

Head-to-head record

, after the match against . The following table shows Japan under-23 team's all-time international record.

Coaching staff

The following staff managed the players selected for the 2024 Olympic Games.

Players

Current squad

The following players were called up for the Olympic Games, which is held from July to August 2024. Due to injury, Riku Handa had to withdraw from the squad.

Recent call-ups

The following players were called up to an U-23, U-22 or U-21 squad in the past 12 months. INJ Withdrew due to injury PRE Preliminary squad / standby TRP Training partner WD Player withdrew from the squad due to non-injury issue. (Players are listed within position group by order of latest call-up, seniority, caps, goals, and then alphabetically)

Previous squads

Overaged players in the Olympic Games

Manager history

Records

Most capped players

Top goalscorers

Competitive record

Champions Runners-up Third place Fourth place

Olympic Games

Match history

AFC U-23 Asian Cup

Match history

Asian Games

Match history