Top 20 Best Soccer Anime [2024]

The sports genre can be some of the greatest shounen shows. Some, of course, are great comedy and slice-of-life shows.

Soccer is easily the second most popular sport in Japan, and they aren’t shy about giving their fans soccer anime series.

If you’re new to the genre or looking for more soccer anime that you might have missed, check out this list below!

Best Soccer Anime

20. Golden★Kids

Captain and goalkeeper of the Koganedai Downtown FC Golden Kids, Goal Kitagawa is determined to win his team. They have never won a single game since they started playing soccer together.

Knowing that he has to move away next month, Goal is determined to get a win before he leaves. With this newfound determination, Goal’s team…loses again. Their losing streak is now 0-22.

The community has begun to drop their support of the team. It’s just as worse at school with all the members being bullied.

All the members lose their love for the sport. But Goal won’t give up! Their next game against the Wild Tigers’ second-best team—the Golden Kids will get their first win no matter what!

19. Farewell, My Dear Cramer

With not enough girls to make their own soccer team, soccer prodigy Nozomi Onda always played with the boys’ soccer club in middle school.

Never playing with girls, Onda thinks they would just hold her back and only play her best with the opposite worth her time.

On the other hand, Sumire Suou is a rookie player with amazing rare talent, but the rest of her team can’t keep up with her. Onda and Suou cross paths as they enroll at Warabi Seinan High School and join the girls’ soccer team.

Both finally get to show off their skills with other girls, and playing together will bring them all closer together—pushing them to their full potential and bring them victory over other schools!

18. Soccer Fever

This anime series retells the stories of many great moments in the history of soccer/football. Following ex-reporter Brian Thompson, the best games of the Football World Cup are turned into anime!

Back to the first selection in Uruguay, 1930 to 1994, all held in the United States, we follow Thompson’s life as well as the greatest soccer players of all time such as Pelé, Müller Gard, Eusebio, and Franz Beckenbauer!

17. Ashita E Free Kick

An anime made back in 1992 follows young man Shun Godai who wants to pursue a life of soccer.

However, his grandfather wants him to drop soccer and follow a more realistic path of a businessman like him.

Shun is determined to make it as a professional athlete and, along with his friends and supporter, will work hard to make his dream a reality.

Will Shun reach his dream, or will he accept defeat and work in an office for the rest of his life?

16. Top Striker

Ever since his father gave him a soccer ball like a little baby, 13-year-old Hikaru Kicker has played soccer and loves nothing more.

Determined to learn and get better at the sport, Hikaru travels all the Italy to be taught by the best of the best.

Originally, he becomes a member of the best team at Genova but quits to support his friend Anna at her weaker team named Columbus.

Together, Hikaru and Anna work together to make their team better, and they finally show their skill by defeating the strongest teams in Genova.

Hikaru, Anna, and their team decide to join a soccer tournament and fight against powerful rivals and inner development in hopes of winning the championship!

15. Fight! Kickers

The Kickers are the first soccer team, and they’re only school kids! However, they finally meet their match with a new student and player named Daichi “Gregor” Kakeru, who makes the Kickers face their first defeat.

Things have changed, and now the Kickers are more motivated than ever before to change their image and become a strong team!

Gregor is happy to get started with that journey by quickly making enemies with the strongest team, the Devils! Thanks, Gregor.

14. Goal Field Hunter

Ever since he met a famous and admired soccer player, Hikaru dreamed of soccer. Now, Hikaru Tatsumura travels all the way from Japan to Brazil to follow his dream of becoming a professional soccer player.

Hikaru is normally a cheerful and easygoing guy—except when he plays soccer. Along with his unique playing style, he drops his cheerful nature and becomes dead-serious.

Hikaru has a long way to go before reaching his dream, but he is determined to succeed no matter the challenge!

13. Shippu! Iron Leaguer

The Iron League is where players consist of robots that play a variety of sports in tournaments such as soccer!

March Windy is a member of the team named Dark Prince. They hold a bad reputation for playing dirty and cheating to win.

Wanting to earn victory fair and square, March Windy leaves the Dark Prince and joins the weakest team named Silver Prince.

Now surrounded by loyal and hardworking teammates, March Windy and Silver Prince will go up against his former team and will push themselves to their limits to reach the top of the league!

12. Clean Freak! Aoyama-kun

Ace of his soccer club, Aoyama, is admired and respected by everyone in Fujimi High School. Level-headed, athletic, and charming, Aoyama only has one weird quirk: he has mysophobia.

Aoyama is a clean freak! Somehow, a clean freak that manages to play soccer—one of the grass-stained and bruising sports!

Despite his phobia and underdog team, Aoyama is determined to make it to Nationals—even if it means to get his hands dirty!

11. Dragon League

Tokio and his father Amon end up going to Elevenia, the soccer country in the world, to see a parade of the Winners, the best soccer team ever!

Tokio’s father ends up challenging the team captain Leon to a soccer game when he—no surprise—loses. What is surprising, however, is when Leon turns Amon into a dragon as punishment!

Now, Tokio much hold a rematch against Leon and win to save his father and turn him back into a human! The things a son does for his father.

10. Offside

Because of his height, Goro Kumagaya has always been a strong goalkeeper in soccer and were ready to prove himself as a strong teammate when he enrolled at Yokonan High School, the top soccer school.

However, due to an accident, Goro ends up leading the team to their worst game ever and ruining their elite reputation.

Discouraged with himself, Goro meets Shingo, Hideki, and Kazuhito of Kawasaki High School’s soccer club, who are hidden gems when it comes to the game and wants to prove themselves to Yokonan and all the other schools!

Goro will discover new things about himself by joining them, especially his rare talent as an ace striker!

9. Days

Tsukushi Tsukamoto and Jin Kazama are polar opposites that find each other through soccer! Tsukushi is a shy and clumsy high schooler who has always been bullied and has no talent in soccer.

On the other hand, Jin is a soccer genius, popular, and charming who has a rebellious streak and hates following the rules.

The two meet each other by chance when Jin saves Tsukushi and his childhood friend from bullies and pushes him into the world of soccer that could make both of them better and stronger players and people!

8. The Knight in the Area

Brother Kakeru and Suguru have always loved and had a deep passion for soccer. Suguru goes on to become a talented ace in youth soccer while Kakeru gives up on playing on stands on the sidelines with a managerial role.

However, when a tragedy shakes Kakeru’s life to the core, he second-guesses the path he chose.

Deciding to give his dream a second chance, Kakeru trains hard to join a national team and have a shot at the World Cup.

With his childhood friend and soccer prodigy Nana by his side, Kakeru will push himself past his limits to achieve his and his brother’s dream!

7. Victory Kickoff!!

Sixth-grader Shou Oota loves soccer but finds himself disheartened when he becomes the last member of his soccer team, and the manager threatens to disband it!

Although he’s not the best at the sport, Shou makes up for it with his strong spirits and goes out to try to find new members to keep the team alive.

After meeting a professional female soccer player named Misaki Shimizu, Shou believes he can bring his soccer team back from the dead and become an amazing athlete just like her one day!

6. Whistle!

Despite not being very good at the sport, Shou Kazamatsuri always dreamed of becoming a professional soccer player. He gets into the elite Musashi no Mori Junior High School, homed to one of the best soccer teams.

However, he never gets a good position and decides to transfer to Sakura Jousui Junior High so he can get a chance to play!

Through hard work, support of friends, and inner determination, Shou becomes a better player that will get him one step closer to his dream!

5. Blue Legend Shoot!

After being inspired by Yoshiharu Kubo’s miraculous victory in a soccer tournament, Toshihiko Tanaka enrolls at the same school as his idol, Kakegawa High School, to join the soccer club and become a talented and respected player just like Kubo!

Tanaka’s ambitions start to fall apart when he can’t even play, and Kubo becomes ill and can no longer support the team as the captain.

Of course, Tanaka’s friends Kenji Shiraishi and Kazuhiro Hiramatsu, who quit soccer during middle school, think joining the club would be a great idea! They would be wrong.

Just as Tanaka is about to lose hope in his dream, he reunites with his childhood friend Kazumi Endo who pushes Tanaka to stay in the team and play again with his friends. Who knows, this might be exactly what Tanaka needs.

4. Captain Tsubasa (2018)

11-year-old Tsubasa Oozora has played soccer ever since he was a little kid and had an unmatched love for the sport! Unfortunately, his passion for soccer developed to the point of obsession for Tsubasa.

To get into the best elementary school, his mother moves the two of them to Nankatsu. Where he was the best player in his small town, Nankatsu is full of skilled players that will push Tsubasa to stand out.

He quickly becomes surrounded by rivals and new friends, Tsubasa will push himself and his talent as far as he can to reach his dream of representing Japan in the World Cup!

3. Giant Killing

East Tokyo United is one of the worst soccer teams in Japan. Almost all of their fans have abandoned them and have gone through a long line of firing and hiring new coaches to choices in soccer players to bring back the team to no avail.

The board of directors takes a risk and hides a new coach named Takeshi Tatsumi. He was one of the greatest soccer players ever who once abandoned the East Tokyo United team when he was younger.

Now, the team sees him as a traitor. Despite all the odds against him, Tatsumi is determined to lead his new team to victory and bring the terrible team up to glory!

2. Hungry Heart: Wild Striker

Kyosuke Kano has always lived in the shadow of his professional soccer player, brother Seisuke. Sick of being compared to his successful and talented brother, he quits playing soccer and vows to never touch a soccer ball ever again.

In his new high school, one of his classmates discovers who he is and asks him to join the school’s soccer team. Reluctantly, Kyosuke agrees and meets the rest of the team, who all share the same dream of becoming professional soccer players.

With they be able to reignite Kyosuke’s passion, or will he quit soccer all over again?

1. Inazuma Eleven

With all the schools in Japan competing to be the best soccer test in the country, Raimon Middle School’s soccer team is facing disbandment instead of proving they’re the best!

Mamoru Endou, grandson of the club’s first goalkeeper and the captain, is determined to rebuild his team and finds it in Shuuya Gouenji, a talented soccer player who gave up on the sport.

Mamoru is determined to reignite Shuuya’s passion and have him join his team! But, will Mamoru’s passion and determination be enough to save his soccer team, or will he give up on soccer just like Shuuya did?