Manga like Catenaccio

Aoashi

Also known as Aoashi.

Status: Finished
Genres: Sports

Ashito Aoi, a third year middle school student from Ehime, meets Fukuda Tatsuya, a J Youth League coach. Even though he's still rough around the edges, Ashito has such amazing potential that he gets invited by coach Fukuda to participate in his team's try-outs in Tokyo. The story of a boy who will revolutionize Japanese football begins to unfold.

Notes:
Nominated for the 2017 Manga Taishou Award.
Winner of the 65th Shogakukan Manga Award for "Best General Manga" category in 2019.

Tags: Football , Male Protagonist , School Club , Primarily Male Cast , Coming of Age , Ensemble Cast , Primarily Teen Cast , Seinen , Heterosexual , School , Bullying , Love Triangle

Blue Lock

Also known as Blue Lock.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Action , Drama , Sports

After a disastrous defeat at the 2018 World Cup, Japan's team struggles to regroup. But what's missing? An absolute Ace Striker, who can guide them to the win. The Japan Football Union is hell-bent on creating a striker who hungers for goals and thirsts for victory, and who can be the decisive instrument in turning around a losing match...and to do so, they've gathered 300 of Japan's best and brightest youth players. Who will emerge to lead the team...and will they be able to out-muscle and out-ego everyone who stands in their way?



Note: Winner of the 45th Kodansha Manga Award in the Shounen Category in 2021.

Tags: Football , Athletics , Male Protagonist , Battle Royale , Primarily Teen Cast , Primarily Male Cast , Ensemble Cast , Shounen , Anti-Hero , Fitness , Super Power , Foreign , Augmented Reality , Tragedy , Suicide , Language Barrier , Revenge

Diamond no Kouzai

Also known as The Days of Diamond.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Drama , Psychological , Sports

“I was meant to play baseball!”

Jiro Ayasegawa has a natural gift for sports, but life can be lonely at the top. He’s crushed other players’ dreams. Some have even given up their sport altogether because of him. Eventually, he encounters "The Bambies," a low-level, local kids’ baseball team that plays purely for fun. Jiro signs up, thinking that he’s finally found an easy-going team to enjoy baseball with, until things take a sudden turn...



Tags: Baseball , Seinen , Coming of Age , Male Protagonist , Primarily Child Cast , Primarily Male Cast , Time Skip

SLAM DUNK

Also known as Slam Dunk.

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Drama , Sports

Hanamichi Sakuragi's got no game with girls--none at all! It doesn't help that he's known for throwing down at a moment's notice and always coming out on top. A hopeless bruiser, he's been rejected by 50 girls in a row! All that changes when he meets the girl of his dreams, Haruko, and she's actually not afraid of him! When she introduces him to the game of basketball, his life is changed forever...



Tags: Basketball , Male Protagonist , Primarily Male Cast , Ensemble Cast , Shounen , School , Primarily Teen Cast , Delinquents , Heterosexual , Rehabilitation , School Club , Tragedy , Philosophy , Unrequited Love

GIANT KILLING

Also known as Giant Killing.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Comedy , Drama , Sports

A truly great coach makes the game of soccer interesting! Tatsumi Takeshi is 35 and has spent the last few years coaching in England before being brought back to Japan to coach his old team. His favorite pastime? Causing giant upsets—aka Giant Killing!



Tags: Football , Primarily Adult Cast , Seinen , Male Protagonist , Ensemble Cast

DIG IT

Also known as DIG IT.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Drama , Sports

Gaku is the son of former Japanese national volleyball star Kei Shishiya. Through middle school, he's played as his team's ace hitter, though part of him wonders if that's a title he earned, or one he was simply given. One day, Kei meets Noboru, a generational volleyball talent with a monstrous spiking arm, and vows to turn him into the next national standout. In the wake of that choice, Gaku realizes he can't play the style his father demands, but swears he'll defeat both Kei and Noboru with a game that's entirely his own.



Tags: Volleyball , Revenge , Primarily Male Cast , School Club , Primarily Teen Cast , Male Protagonist , Seinen , School , Ensemble Cast

Embers

Also known as Embers.

Status: Finished
Genres: Sports

Middle school brawler Noboru Haitani has never lost a fight. But the bitter taste of a soccer defeat gradually warms him up to the sport, until one day Haitani finds himself in a match against a team featuring middle school soccer prodigy Takami. An outlaw fights his way into the world of soccer!



Tags: Football , Shounen , Delinquents , School , Male Protagonist

DAYS

Also known as DAYS.

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Drama , Slice of Life , Sports

During his last spring break before starting high school, Tsukushi Tsukamoto meets Jin Kazama, who invites him to a pick-up soccer game. Their chance meeting, and his first-ever experience with soccer, move kind-hearted, timid Tsukushi to enroll in his new high school's soccer club, which is among the strongest in all of Japan. Unbeknownst to the rest of the world, there's something amazing hidden inside Tsukushi's heart … and through his trials and tribulations in the soccer club, it's beginning to blossom!



Note: Won the 40th Kodansha Manga Award for Shounen in 2016.

Tags: Shounen , School Club , Primarily Male Cast , Ensemble Cast , Male Protagonist , Football , School

Fantasista

Status: Finished
Genres: Sports

Teppei Sakamoto is a boy at the country-side. He was a soccer lover and all his soccer skills are taught by his sister. Finally his sister wants him to join in Mizumoto High School Soccer team. Teppei's life turn has come!! How will this soccer newbie fare in the new environment?

Tags: Football , Shounen

BE BLUES!: Ao ni Nare

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Slice of Life , Sports

Ryuu Ichijou, a boy who dreams of joining Japan's national soccer team. Ryuu is called a genius soccer player, and his aspirations seem within his reach, but when he is in elementary school he gets hit by a car while protecting his friend, and must face two years of grueling rehabilitation. Story focuses on Ryuu as he joins high school soccer club and works through the remnants of his injuries to achieve his goal.

Tags: Football , School , Primarily Male Cast , Shounen , School Club , Coming of Age , Ensemble Cast , Male Protagonist , Tragedy , Time Skip , Female Harem , Love Triangle