Japan Football Shirts

The Japanese national team are one of the strongest in the Asian Confederation and a regular feature at FIFA World Cup Finals and in the latter stages of the Asian Cup. Boasting world class players including Shinji Kagawa, Keisuke Honda and Shinko Okazaki, the profile of Japanese football has never been higher and Japan remain strong favourites to qualify for the next World Cup.

Japanese football was put firmly on the map when they co-hosted the 2002 World Cup Finals with South Korea, qualifying from the group stages before being eliminated in the second phase.

The Japanese home shirt consists of a blue jersey, blue shorts and blue socks. This is unusual, as Japan are one of few national teams to wear a strip which does not represent the colours of the national flag. However, this is due to superstition. In Japan’s first major international tournament, the 1936 Summer Olympics, they wore a blue kit in a 3-2 victory over Sweden. Despite suffering many losses in future, they have continued to wear the blue home jersey for this reason.

Ironically, their first ever competitive match was also played in a blue jersey when they faced China in Tokyo in 1917. Even the 5-0 thrashing they suffered in this game did not convince them the kit was unlucky! Between 1988-1991 they wore a red home shirt, but soon reverted back to the blue jersey.

Japan Shirt History

The Japanese have had a long standing partnership with Adidas, who have been the national team sponsor since 1986 and most recently extended their partnership in early 2016.

Previous kits had been manufactured by Asics and Puma but it is with Adidas that the Japanese jerseys will be most commonly associated. One of the most famous kits was the 1998 World Cup shirt, which were designed by the JFA and incorporated red and white flame designs onto the sleeves.