The Japan Football Association (JFA), together with the “Blue Lock” franchise, has presented an international youth program that is specifically looking for talented soccer players with Japanese roots. We summarize.
»Blue Lock« becomes reality
The new project is called “FUTURE CAMP inspired by BLUE LOCK” and is intended to make it easier for young football talents who grow up outside of Japan to enter the Japanese support system.
The first event is scheduled for August 3-6, 2026 in Irvine, California, and represents the Japan Football Association’s largest international screening project to date.
All young players born in 2010 and 2011 who either have Japanese citizenship, have at least one Japanese parent or could become eligible for Japanese citizenship in the future are eligible to take part.
The selected participants then undergo training camps, test matches and various performance and fitness analyzes under the guidance of coaches from the Japan Football Association.
Talent search outside Japan
According to the JFA, the project is intended to help discover talented players who received their football training outside of Japan and have therefore previously found it difficult to integrate into national support structures.
In this context, association president Tsuneyasu Miyamoto explained that the increasing internationalization of football required new ways to find talent. In the long term, the project will therefore be carried out not only in the USA, but also in Europe and other regions.
“Blue Lock” author Muneyuki Kaneshiro also commented on the collaboration and described the program as a “Blue Lock in real life”. He hopes that talents will be discovered there that surpass the abilities of the characters from his manga series.
With more than 50 million copies sold worldwide, »Blue Lock« is one of the most successful sports manga of recent years. The series has also been adapted as an anime, which so far includes two seasons and a side story film. A third season is already in the works.
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Announcement:
Via official website
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