Japan vs. Brazil: Head-to-head record and past meetings

Japan and Brazil battle it out in an international friendly fixture at the Singapore National Stadium on Saturday.

Separated by only 11 places in the FIFA World Rankings, these two nations are preparing to face each other for the first time since they butted heads in the last 32 of the 2026 World Cup, with Brazil edging past Japan by a 2-1 scoreline on this occasion.

Here, Sports Mole takes an in-depth look at the head-to-head record and previous meetings between Japan and Brazil.

Head-to-head record

Previous meetings: 15

Brazil wins: 12

Draws: 2

Japan wins: 1

Despite operating on different sides of the globe, Brazil and Japan have been frequent foes since the inaugural meeting in 1989, won 1-0 by the Selecao courtesy of a goal from J. League regular Bismarck.

Brazil's narrow victory that day was unsurprisingly a sign of things to come, as the five-time World Cup winners have since prevailed in 12 of their 15 meetings with Japan, while playing out two draws and suffering just one defeat.

The Selecao's solitary loss came shortly before the 2026 World Cup, as Hajime Moriyasu's men stunned Carlo Ancelotti's side in a 3-2 friendly victory in October 2025.

What made that triumph even more impressive was the manner of Japan's success, as Brazil led 2-0 going into the second half but were undone by a mesmerising Samurai Blue comeback. Strikes from Takumi Minamino, Keito Nakamura and Ayase Ueda turned the friendly on its head.

While Japan's maiden win over Brazil snapped a six-game losing streak against the Selecao, Ancelotti's men got their revenge at the 2026 global showpiece, after the South American heavyweights overtuned a Kaishu Sano goal on the half-hour with two second-half goals.

Casemiro headed Brazil level after 56 minutes before substitute Gabriel Martinelli broke Japanese hearts in the sixth minute of stoppage time to advance to the last 16.

The two nations had previously been drawn to face each other in the group stage of the 2006 World Cup, and after Japan surprisingly struck first through Keiji Tamada, Brazil romped to a 4-1 win thanks in no small part to a Ronaldo double.

However, R9 is far from the highest scorer in this fixture; Neymar has racked up a mammoth nine goals against Japan, his highest total against a single national team - including all four in a 4-0 friendly win in 2014.

Prior to that, Japan had held Brazil to a pair of stalemates in the 2001 and 2005 editions of the Confederations Cup, with a goalless draw followed four years later by an entertaining 2-2 draw in which Masashi Oguro scored an 88th-minute equaliser for the Samurai Blue.