The 5 Greatest Football Players From Japan

Opinion

29 May

Written By Chris Magee

The 5 Greatest Japanese Footballers of All Time

Japan is one of the biggest footballing nations in the Asian federation, winning the AFC Asian Cup four times.

But who are the greatest football players from Japan? The Sporting Blog ranks the top 5!

japanese flag — The land of the rising sun, and very good football players.

The Samurai Blue currently remain one of the best teams on the continent. They were one of the only teams from Asia to play in the Qatar World Cup in 2022, and they’ve qualified again for 2026.

The World Cup presents the opportunity for some players to cement their legacies and others to kickstart their football story. In this article, we’ll take a trip down memory lane, looking back at the top 5 football players from Japan.

5. Yasuhito Endo

Caps: 152

Goals: 15

Endo, Japan's all-time appearance leader, spent his 26-year club career in his home country. Following stints with Yokohama Flugels and Kyoto Purple Sanga, he spent the majority of his career with Gamba Osaka. Endo has been named in the J-League Team of the Season 12 times for Osaka.

Endo, a two-time Asian Cup champion, also scored one of his country’s goals in the 2010 World Cup victory over Denmark. Endo is one of the greats of the modern era, a mainstay for the Samurai Blue from 2002 to 2015.

4. Hidetoshi Nakata

Caps: 77

Goals: 11

Hidetoshi Nakata scored almost half of his national team goals in Japan’s 1998 World Cup qualification matches. His tally of five helped Japan reach their first-ever World Cup.

Nakata was nominated for the Ballon d’Or that year, and he was nominated a further two times in his career, as well as competing for the FIFA World Player of the Year four times. The Japanese playmaker was also listed in Pelé’s top 100 players of the 20th century.

Nakata had his biggest impact on European football in Italy, winning the Serie A with AS Roma and defeating Juventus while at Parma to win the Coppa Italia.

Nakata’s final season of football was on loan with the Bolton Wanderers in the Premier League. He made his final appearance at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

Nakata retired young at just 29 years old. He stated that he had fallen out of love with the game, and he felt like money dominated it, rather than true love for the sport.

3. Shinji Kagawa

Caps: 97

Goals: 31

Shinji Kagawa was vital for Jurgen Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund side, which won the Bundesliga twice. He was a magical, creative player. He was tireless, an invaluable asset on and off the ball.

Kagawa scored a goal and created another in his final appearance for Dortmund against Bayern as they won the DFB Pokal in 2012.

Kagawa won the Premier League after moving to Manchester United, but ultimately, his move to England was a failure. He never managed to regain the heights of his Dortmund days. His return to Dortmund in 2014 improved his career, but his peak was long gone.

The 2012 Asian Footballer of the Year played a huge role with the Japanese national team. Despite being surprisingly left out of the 2010 World Cup squad, he reacted by leading his nation to an Asian Cup win in 2011.

Kagawa has an impressive goalscoring record for his country, averaging just under one goal every three games from midfield. The Japanese playmaker is still active, playing for his boyhood club, Cerezo Osaka.

2. Kazuyoshi Miura

Caps: 89

Goals: 55

Kazuyoshi Miura was born in 1967, and he’s still playing professional football at the age of 59. This makes him the oldest active professional footballer in the world. Miura currently plays for Fukushima United in the J3 League, on loan from Yokohama FC.

The goalscoring ability Miura demonstrated early in his career enticed Italian club Genoa to sign him in 1994, making him the first Japanese footballer to feature in Serie A.

Despite failing to adapt to Europe, he is still an icon of Japanese football. The fact that he remains part of the game well into his 50s is amazing — and his ability to threaten opposing defences is remarkable.

Miura's national team goalscoring record is very impressive, managing well over a goal every two games.

He played a huge part in the 1998 World Cup qualification, scoring 14 goals, but he was controversially left out of the squad for the finals. Miura retired from the squad in 2000, second on Japan's all-time goalscoring list.

1. Kunishige Kamamoto

Caps: 76

Goals: 75

It would be impossible for Kunishige Kamamoto not to top the list, with one of the greatest international goalscoring records in the world, not just for Japan.

Kamamoto spent his entire career at Yanmar Diesel. Over the course of his 17-year tenure with the club, the centre-forward scored over 202 goals in 251 appearances.

Kamamoto was also a productive player for Japan, and he is still the country's greatest goal scorer. His goals helped the Samurai Blue take home a bronze medal at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico. He also collected the Golden Boot award at the tournament.

The Yanmar legend is one of the finest forwards of all time. He is, without a doubt, the best football player that Japan has ever produced!

Have we missed anyone off our list? Who would you put in that top spot? Tell us in the comments!