Australia–Japan football rivalry
international football rivalry
The Australia–Japan football rivalry or the Australia–Japan soccer rivalry is an association football rivalry between the Australia men's national soccer team (the Socceroos) and the Japan national football team, as well as between the Australia women's national soccer team (the Matildas) and the Japan women's national football team.
 | |
| Other names | Socceroos vs Samurai Blue |
|---|---|
| Locale | AFC (Asia) |
| Teams |  Australia Japan |
| First meeting | Australia 2–0 Japan 1956 Summer Olympics (27 November 1956) |
| Latest meeting | Australia 0–2 Japan World Cup qualification (24 March 2022) |
| Statistics | |
| Meetings total | 27 |
| All-time series | Japan 11 Australia 7 Draw game 9 |
The reason for the rivalry is due to Australia and Japan being two of the "Big Four" nations in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), the other two being Saudi Arabia and South Korea. These are the four most successful Asian countries in international soccer.