Top Football Manga Recommendations

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 , Battle Royale , Male Protagonist , Athletics , Primarily Male Cast , Primarily Teen Cast , Ensemble Cast , Shounen , Fitness , Foreign , Super Power , Augmented Reality , Tragedy , Language Barrier , Suicide

Komi-san wa, Komyushou desu.

Also known as Komi Can't Communicate.

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Romance , Slice of Life

Timid Tadano is a total wallflower, and that’s just the way he likes it. But all that changes when he finds himself alone in a classroom on the first day of high school with the legendary Komi. He quickly realizes she isn’t aloof—she’s just super awkward. Now he’s made it his mission to help her on her quest to make 100 friends!



Notes:
- Winner of the 67th Shogakukan Manga Award in the Shounen Category in 2021.
- Chapter count includes 37 extra chapters.

Tags: School , Coming of Age , Kuudere , Ensemble Cast , Female Protagonist , Male Protagonist , Episodic , Love Triangle , Slapstick , Disability , Heterosexual , Shounen , Meta , Yandere , 4-koma , Gyaru , Surreal Comedy , Chuunibyou , Agender , Crossdressing , Football

Kami-sama ga Uso wo Tsuku.

Also known as the gods lie..

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

Natsuru Nanao, a 6th grader who lives alone with his mother, strikes up an unlikely friendship with the reserved and driven Rio Suzumura. Natsuru plays hookey from soccer camp that summer, and instead of telling the truth to his mother, he spends all his time with Rio and her kid brother at their rickety house, where a dark secret threatens to upend their fragile happiness.



Tags: Primarily Child Cast , Heterosexual , Coming of Age , Family Life , Seinen , Male Protagonist , Philosophy , Football , Tragedy , School , Bullying

Aoashi

Status: Releasing
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 , Seinen , Primarily Teen Cast , Heterosexual , Bullying , School , Love Triangle

Ohayou, Ibarahime

Also known as Wake up, Sleeping Beauty.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Romance , Supernatural

Despite being a scaredy-cat and crybaby, high schooler Tetsu Misato finds himself working at the eerie estate on the hill, where Shizu—the only child of the Karasawa family—is secreted away. However, his friendship with Shizu quickly turns to fear when several spirits of the dead appear before him, borrowing her appearance. As he struggles to find the humanity in her supernatural condition, Tetsu must also face a question at once terrifying and heartbreaking: What if the true Shizu never returns?



Note: Includes 5 extra chapters.

Tags: Rehabilitation , Dissociative Identities , Ghost , Family Life , Found Family , Heterosexual , Male Protagonist , Shoujo , Body Swapping , Urban Fantasy , Football , Tragedy

Mousou Telepathy

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Romance

Nakano-san is a high school girl who can look into people's minds. Because of that, she finds out that the mind of the popular Toda-kun is full of wild fantasies about her!

Included chapters: 102.5, 209.5, 277.5, 311.5, 416.5, 512.5, 612.5, 717.5, 717.6, 717.7

Tags: Female Protagonist , 4-koma , Super Power , School , Heterosexual , Nudity , Full Color , Primarily Teen Cast , Love Triangle , Football , Shounen , Yuri

Real Account

Also known as Real Account.

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Drama , Ecchi , Psychological , Sci-Fi

In a world driven by fictionalized friendship, courtesy of the program named "real account", the table suddenly turns, and the cybernetic world turns real! how will they survive?

Notes:
- Includes 2 extra chapters.
- The first part was serialized in Bessatsu Shounen Magazine until August 9, 2014; the second part, with the chapter count reset, started in Weekly Shounen Magazine on December 24, 2014.

Tags: Death Game , Male Protagonist , Shounen , Satire , Gore , Virtual World , Nudity , Twins , LGBTQ+ Themes , Football , Zombie , Clone , Incest

Blue Lock: EPISODE Nagi

Also known as BLUE LOCK -EPISODE NAGI-.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Sports

Seishiro Nagi, a second-year high schooler, thought everything was a pain and lived his life in an apathetic fog. That is, until he met Reo Mikage and they entered the mysterious striker training center, Blue Lock...

A new spin-off from Blue Lock's author, Muneyuki Kaneshiro, telling the story from Nagi's point of view!



Tags: Football , Male Protagonist , Primarily Male Cast , Primarily Teen Cast , Battle Royale , Shounen , Boys' Love , POV , Revenge , Athletics

Segimal Putsagwa Boseupagwon

Also known as After School Lessons for Unripe Apples.

Status: Hiatus
Genres: Comedy , Drama , Romance , Slice of Life

Mi-Ae is just a normal middle school girl trying to survive school. She likes reading comics, the pop group “The Fire Boys”, and karaoke. One day, a boy she used to know transfers to her school and begins to stir up trouble. No matter what she does, it seems he just doesn’t appreciate her efforts to get to know him. What’s up with that?



Tags: Kuudere , Female Protagonist , Full Color , School , Heterosexual , Primarily Teen Cast , Conspiracy , Rural , Delinquents , Bullying , Football , Long Strip

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

H2

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Drama , Romance , Sports

Hiro has two loves: baseball and porn. But due to an elbow injury he gives up baseball choosing a school with no baseball team. His childhood friend Hikari attends a different school with baseball ace Hideo and the two wish Hiro had not given up baseball. Hiro joins the soccer team but meets Haruka, a very clumsy girl, who is manager of the unofficial baseball club. When the soccer team challenges the baseball club to a game, with hopes of humiliating them, the baseball club nearly loses until Hiro, disgusted by the soccer team`s arrogance, switches to the baseball club.

Tags: Baseball , School , Shounen , Love Triangle , School Club , Coming of Age , Heterosexual , Tragedy , Football , Archery , Primarily Teen Cast

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 , Time Skip , Tragedy , Female Harem , Love Triangle

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 , Male Protagonist , Primarily Male Cast , Ensemble Cast , Football , School

Sayonara Watashi no Cramer

Also known as Farewell, My Dear Cramer.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Sports

With no soccer accomplishments to speak of during the entirety of Sumire Suo’s junior high school years, the young wing gets an odd offer. Suo’s main rival, Midori Soshizaki, invites her to join up on the same team in high school, with a promise that she’ll never let Suo “play alone.” It’s an earnest offer, but the question is whether Suo will take her up on it. Thus the curtain opens on a story that collects an enormous cast of individual soccer-playing personalities!



Tags: Football , Primarily Female Cast , Shounen , Female Protagonist , Ensemble Cast

Captain Tsubasa

Also known as Captain Tsubasa.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Sports

11-year-old Tsubasa Ohzora transfers to his new school where he quickly becomes the star of the school's soccer team. His Brazilian coach, Roberto Hongo, notices the potential of the young athlete and soon offers him a chance to come with him to Brazil. Young Tsubasa trains more and more and is with each passing game more confident in his abilities. Old enemies become his friends and the World Cup seems closer and closer for him. Note: The chapter count reflects the original serialization before chapters were merged in the volume releases.

Tags: Football , School Club , Shounen , Primarily Male Cast , Primarily Child Cast

Wo Zai 1999 Deng Ni

Also known as I’ll Wait for You in 1999.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Slice of Life

I want to protect you forever... Because you and I have no other loved ones in this world.

The coming-of-age story of two orphans who become best friends.

Tags: Full Color , Tragedy , Coming of Age , Achronological Order , Found Family , Orphan , Time Skip , Bullying , Family Life , Drawing , Adoption , Boys' Love , Male Protagonist , School , Disability , Football , Kuudere

Dwikkeutjangnyeol

Status: Hiatus
Genres: Action , Drama , Supernatural

“Hey, don’t get confused. I’ve never thought of you as my little brother. You don’t even know your right place.”

That was the dagger that hurt the most. Han Myoung-Woo, the child of a wealthy family with a quick mind. But god didn’t give him everything: he suffered from a near incurable genetic heart disease.

He did his best in order to earn the respect of the people around him, but his father, the chairman, and his family members never took him seriously.

That was when an accident suddenly struck him. And… He woke up in the body of the severely injured student Kim Cheol-Min.

Tags: Revenge , Male Protagonist , College , Full Color , Reincarnation , Economics , Primarily Adult Cast , Football

Area no Kishi

Also known as The Knight in the Area.

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Sports

Believing himself to be useless at football, Aizawa Kakeru opts to become the manager of his school's football team, while his brother Suguru is its ace, and is even good enough to represent Japan. However, Kakeru may be harbouring a strong talent within himself that only Suguru can see, and the two often get into arguments over Kakeru's denial of his skills. Things are made more complicated with the return of Nana, an old playmate of theirs that Kakeru has a crush on. Join the brothers in their journey to the national and even international championships!

Story written under the penname Igano, Hiroaki.

Tags: Football , Shounen , School

Koi no Hajimari

Status: Finished
Genres: Romance

Average-looking, always speaks-her-mind Hachiya Nanami just wants a boyfriend that likes her for her—preferably the school's popular soccer star, Mizuno. As their best friends start dating, they immediately find that they, too have a lot in common. This is the perfect chance for Hachiya to finally score her dream guy. But does Mizuno feel the same way? Note: Chapter count includes six extras chapters.

Tags: Shoujo , Female Protagonist , Primarily Teen Cast , School , Heterosexual , Love Triangle , Football , Meta

Embers

Status: Releasing
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