Australia–Japan football rivalry

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Australia–Japan football rivalry
Other namesSocceroos vs Samurai Blue
LocaleAFC (Asia)
Teams Australia
 Japan
First meetingAustralia 2–0 Japan
1956 Summer Olympics
(27 November 1956)
Latest meetingAustralia 0–2 Japan
World Cup qualification
(24 March 2022)
Statistics
Meetings total27
All-time series Japan 11
 Australia 7
Draw game 9

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.

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.

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