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

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 in the teams' recent head-to-head 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 comeback job, as 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 heavyweihts overtuned a Kaishu Sano goal on the half-hour with two second-half goals.

Casemiro headed Brazil level after 56 minutes, and Gabriel Martinelli broke Japanese hearts in the sixth minute of stoppage time when extra seemed imminent.

Japan had previously held Brazil to a pair of stalemates in the 2005 and 2001 editions of the same tournament, before the South American giants made light work of their Asian foes in their first-ever World Cup meeting.

The two nations had previously ben drawn to face each other in the group stage of the 2006 competition, 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.