Japan 2026 Schedule & Game Calendar
View or download the complete 2026 Japan World Cup season schedule: all games, scores, venues, and broadcast info.
Japan 2026 Schedule & Results
Buy Japan Tickets (opens Ticketmaster in a new tab)The Japan play in the FIFA-WORLD-CUP (FIFA World Cup). Their 2026 schedule includes 3 games. They have 1 home games and 2 away games this season.
Download the complete Japan 2026 schedule as an ICS calendar file, CSV spreadsheet, or printable PDF using the Download button on the schedule above. Pick the full season, a single month, or a head-to-head matchup.
Japan in Group F: the draw, the dates, the maths
Japan landed in Group F for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, paired with the Netherlands, Tunisia, and Sweden. Two of those three opponents come from UEFA and one from CAF, while Japan carry the AFC flag into the group. The schedule sends Japan back and forth across the border: two matches at Dallas Stadium in the United States and one in Monterrey, Mexico. It opened on June 14 against the Netherlands, a 4:00 PM ET kickoff in Dallas that ended 2-2, with Japan listed as the away side. The middle fixture is a late one, a 12:00 AM ET start against Tunisia in Monterrey on June 21, and Japan travel as the visitors again. The group closes on June 25 back in Dallas, a 7:00 PM ET kickoff against Sweden, this time with Japan as the home team. Japan have never won the World Cup, so there is no title pedigree to lean on, just the task in front of them. The format does the rest of the talking. In a 48-team tournament split into 12 groups of four, the top two from each group advance, and the eight best third-placed teams fill out the new 32-team knockout bracket. One point from the opener means Japan still have plenty to play for across the Tunisia and Sweden games. The kickoff times are a quirk of their own: a teatime start in Dallas, an after-midnight slot in Monterrey, then a primetime evening game back in Dallas, so the three Japan fixtures sit at very different hours for anyone following along the US Eastern clock. The whole group, from the opening round to the final matchday on June 25, fits inside the wider tournament window that runs from June 11 to July 19 across the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Japan's three Group F dates, one by one
Japan play three group games inside a 12-day stretch, and the kickoff times jump around enough that they are worth pinning down early. The opener was the Netherlands on Sunday, June 14 at Dallas Stadium, a 4:00 PM ET start that finished 2-2 with Japan on the road. That one point keeps the group open. Next comes Tunisia on Sunday, June 21 in Monterrey, a 12:00 AM ET kickoff, which is the after-midnight slot for anyone watching in the Eastern zone and Japan's only fixture in Mexico. Then the group wraps up against Sweden on Thursday, June 25, back at Dallas Stadium for a 7:00 PM ET start, with Japan finally listed as the home team. Two cities, two countries, and a points haul that is still being built. The middle game is the awkward one to plan around, an after-midnight kickoff in the Eastern zone, while the bookend fixtures in Dallas land at more sociable hours. It also means a return trip: Japan play, travel to Monterrey, then come back to the same Dallas Stadium for the finale. Each fixture below carries the venue, the host city, and the kickoff in US Eastern, and the page refreshes on its own if any of those times shift.
Sizing up the Netherlands, Tunisia, and Sweden
Group F gives Japan a real spread of styles. The Netherlands, from UEFA, were the first test and took a 2-2 draw off Japan in Dallas, so neither side pulled clear in the opener. Tunisia, the CAF representative in the group, are next in Monterrey, and that fixture sits as a genuine swing game for both teams chasing a knockout place. Sweden, the second UEFA side here, close things out in Dallas, and by then the group table may well decide how cautious or open that match becomes. For Japan the read is straightforward enough: the draw with the Netherlands banked a point but not the three that would have eased things, so the games against Tunisia and Sweden carry the weight. With the top two going through and the best third-placed teams also advancing, Japan's group position will hinge on those two results and on goal difference if it stays tight. The confederation mix is part of what makes Group F hard to call. Two UEFA sides, one AFC side in Japan, and one from CAF, with no obvious pecking order between them after a level opening round. Japan will know that a 2-2 draw against one of the European teams is a perfectly respectable result, and that the group could yet come down to which side blinks across matchdays two and three.
What a knockout run would ask of Japan
Getting out of Group F is the first hurdle, not the finish line. The 2026 World Cup runs to 48 teams and 104 matches, and it introduces a Round of 32 ahead of the Round of 16 that older tournaments started with. If Japan win the group they drop into a bracket slot kept for group winners. Finish second, or sneak through as one of the eight best third-placed teams, and the draw can look very different. From the Round of 32 it is single-elimination the rest of the way: Round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals, and the final on July 19, with a third-place match for the losing semifinalists. Japan's knockout opponent is not set yet and cannot be until all 12 groups finish their final round, so the bracket only locks in over the closing days of the group stage. The seeding matters more than usual in this format, because where Japan finish in Group F decides not just whether they advance but which crossbracket path they take, and whether they meet a group winner or a runner-up first. Eight teams will reach the Round of 32 by the back door as third-placed qualifiers, which adds another layer of uncertainty to who lines up against whom. Whatever Japan draw will land on this page with its date, venue, and kickoff once it is confirmed.
How Japan’s Group F campaign is shaping up
Japan come into the 2026 World Cup without a title to their name, which puts them in the same position as most of the 48-team field. No World Cup pedigree to fall back on, no record to defend, just a group to get out of. The draw placed Japan in Group F with the Netherlands, Tunisia, and Sweden, and the three matches run across the United States and Mexico between June 14 and June 25.
The opener told Japan plenty about the level. They drew 2-2 with the Netherlands at Dallas Stadium on June 14, a result that split the points and left the group wide open after one round. From there the calendar pulls Japan south to Monterrey to face Tunisia on June 21, then back north to Dallas for Sweden on June 25. Two venues, two host countries, three very different opponents.
What Japan need is plain enough. Two of the four teams in Group F advance automatically, and across the 12 groups the eight best third-placed sides also reach the Round of 32. The draw with the Netherlands gave Japan a foothold rather than a lead, so the Tunisia and Sweden fixtures are where the group is won or lost. Finish in the top two and the route opens up. Slip to third and Japan are into the scramble for one of those eight extra places, where goal difference can decide everything.
Walking through Japan’s fixtures, city by city
Japan’s tournament started on Sunday, June 14 at 4:00 PM ET against the Netherlands in Dallas. Dallas Stadium hosted it, Japan were the away team, and the 2-2 scoreline means they took a point from a fixture that could have gone either way. A draw in the opener is not the worst start, but it does leave Japan needing results from the two games that follow.
The second match is the outlier on the schedule. Japan face Tunisia in Monterrey on Sunday, June 21, and the kickoff is listed at 12:00 AM ET, which makes it an after-midnight watch for anyone following from the Eastern time zone. It is also Japan’s only game in Mexico, and the only time they leave the Dallas base during the group. On paper it is the fixture Japan will look to win, though a 48-team field has already shown that the gap between sides can be thinner than expected.
Group F finishes for Japan on Thursday, June 25 against Sweden, back at Dallas Stadium for a 7:00 PM ET start. This is the one fixture where Japan are the listed home team, and by the time it kicks off the group picture may already be sharp or it may come down to this game and goal difference. Either way, June 25 is the date that decides which side of the knockout bracket Japan land on, so it is worth circling.
Kickoff times and the matchday rhythm for Japan
The timing of Japan’s three games is worth a closer look, because the slots are all over the clock. The opener against the Netherlands was a 4:00 PM ET kickoff, an afternoon game in Dallas. The Tunisia fixture flips to the other extreme, a 12:00 AM ET start in Monterrey that reads as the small hours for anyone tracking the tournament on Eastern time. Then the Sweden finale settles into a 7:00 PM ET evening kickoff back in Dallas. For followers in the Americas that spread means three very different routines around the same team inside 12 days.
The gaps between games matter too. Japan had a week between the Netherlands draw on June 14 and the Tunisia game on June 21, then four days before facing Sweden on June 25. That closing turnaround is the tight one, and the Sweden game shares its 7:00 PM ET kickoff with the other Group F fixture, which pairs Tunisia and the Netherlands at the same time. Simultaneous final-round kickoffs are standard at a World Cup, kept that way so no side can play knowing the other group result, and it means the Group F table can swing in the last few minutes of the schedule.
For Japan that simultaneity raises the stakes on the Sweden game. Depending on what the Netherlands and Tunisia have done across the first two rounds, Japan could go into June 25 already through, fighting for a place, or chasing a specific scoreline to climb the table. The calendar download keeps all of that straight, because both June 25 fixtures sit on it side by side.
Japan’s path into the expanded knockout rounds
Clear Group F and the new bracket takes over. The 2026 World Cup stretches to 104 matches and adds a Round of 32 that simply did not exist in the old 32-team format, so there is one more knockout round to survive than at any World Cup before it. Group winners and runners-up are joined by the eight best third-placed teams, and from the Round of 32 the path runs through the Round of 16, the quarterfinals, the semifinals, and the final on July 19. The two beaten semifinalists meet in a third-place match.
Who Japan would face in that first knockout game is unknown for now, and it stays that way until all 12 groups have played their closing fixtures. The bracket fills from the top as group placings lock in, so Japan’s Round of 32 opponent only becomes clear in the final days of the group stage. You can track the full picture, every group and the bracket as it forms, on the 2026 World Cup overview.
For a side with no title behind them, the knockouts are where Japan would make their mark. A clean group exit means little if the first elimination game slips away, and the expanded format means more rounds to clear before the final. That context shadows each result in the group. Each point Japan bank is really about seeding for the games that decide the trophy.
Syncing the Japan schedule to your calendar
Every Japan fixture on this page can be pulled straight onto your own calendar. Hit the download button on the schedule above and you can take the full set as an ICS file, a CSV spreadsheet, or a printable PDF, with the option to grab the whole campaign or just a single match.
The ICS file works for most. Drop it into Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, or Outlook and Japan’s three group games appear with kickoff times already shifted to your own zone, plus the venue and host city attached. Because the feed is wired to live tournament data, it also keeps itself accurate: if a kickoff moves, or once Japan’s knockout opponent is confirmed, those entries update without you lifting a finger.
Following more than one team in Group F? The same downloads exist for every nation at the 2026 World Cup, so you can sit Japan’s fixtures next to another side and read the whole group off one calendar. Block out the three Japan dates first, June 14, June 21, and June 25, and let any knockout match drop in as the bracket fills.
Japan World Cup FAQ
Which group is Japan in at the 2026 World Cup?
Japan is in Group F at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, alongside Netherlands, Tunisia, and Sweden.
When does Japan play at the 2026 World Cup?
Japan's group-stage matches are vs Netherlands on June 14, vs Tunisia on June 21, and vs Sweden on June 25, with kickoff times shown above in your timezone. Knockout fixtures are added once their opponents are decided.
How do I download Japan's World Cup schedule?
Use the download button on the schedule above to save Japan's fixtures as an ICS calendar, CSV, or printable PDF, then sync to Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, or Outlook.
Add Japan's World Cup fixtures to your calendar
Get every Japan fixture, from the Group F games to any knockout match they reach, as an ICS, CSV, or printable PDF. Sync once and the calendar stays current.