Japan World Cup Squad
Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu has announced his 26-man squad for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™.
This will be Japan’s seventh consecutive appearance at the World Cup and the pool includes a record 20 players from oversea leagues.
Eiji Kawashima and Yuto Nagatomo have been selected for a fourth edition, while injury-afflicted Ko Itakura, Hidemasa Morita and Takuma Asano also make the cut.
This will ultimately not be the case for Yuta Nakayama. The Huddersfield Town player was on Moriyasu’s list but has been forced to withdraw due to a tendon injury. The name of his replacement should be known shortly.
Japan will face Germany in their first game of the tournament on 23 November before taking on Costa Rica and Spain.
Japan’s Qatar 2022 squad
Goalkeepers
Eiji Kawashima (Strasbourg)
Shuichi Gonda (Shimizu S-Pulse)
Schmid Daniel (Sint-Troiden VV)
Defenders
Hiroki Sakai (Urawa Red Diamonds)
Miki Yamane (Kawasaki Frontale)
Ko Itakura (Borussia Monchengladbach)
Takehiro Tomiyasu (Arsenal)
Maya Yoshida (Schalke)
Shogo Taniguchi (Kawasaki Frontale)
Hiroki Ito (Stuttgart)
Yuto Nagatomo (FC Tokyo)
Midfielders
Junya Ito (Reims)
Ritsu Doan (Fribourg)
Wataru Endo (Stuttgart)
Hidemasa Morita (Sporting)
Ao Tanaka (Fortuna Dusseldorf)
Daichi Kamada (Francfort)
Take Kubo (Real Sociedad)
Takumi Minamino (Monaco)
Kaoru Mitoma (Brighton)
Gaku Shibasaki (Leganes)
Yuki Soma (Nagoya Grampus)
Forwards
Daizen Maeda (Celtic)
Ayase Ueda (Cercle de Bruges)
Takuma Asano (Bochum)
Japan‘s Group E games
Germany v Japan
23 November, 16:00 local time
Japan v Costa Rica
27 November, 13:00 local time
Japan v Spain
1 December, 22:00 local time
All squads are provisional until the final list of 26 players is announced by FIFA, following their submission by participating teams, on 15 November.