Japan Captain Wataru Endo Pulls Out of World Cup Due to Foot Injury

Japan captain Wataru Endo, who missed several months of the 2025-26 English Premier League season due to a left foot injury, will not play in the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Endo announced his withdrawal from the 48-nation tournament on social media on Thursday, June 11, only three days before the Samurai Blue's World Cup opener against the Netherlands in a Group F match.

"Since getting injured and up till this point, I've done everything I could and I have no regrets," Endo wrote on Twitter (formerly X). "Of course I'm frustrated that I can't play at this World Cup.

"But more than that, I'm proud that I've been able to captain this team since the Qatar World Cup and help it grow into a group where it feels natural to say our target is to win the World Cup."

Endo expressed optimism about the Samurai Blue heading into soccer's World Cup.

"The current team is truly a wonderful team," he wrote. "I believe they will overcome any adversity and show us sights we've never seen before."

Retiring from the National Team

Endo also announced his retirement from international football.

"With this campaign, I will be retiring from the national team," Endo wrote. "So from here on, I'll be cheering for the Japan national team as one of the fans."

He's won 73 caps and scored four goals for the Samurai Blue. Endo competed at the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. He made his senior national team debut in August 2015 in an East Asian Cup match against China.

The 33-year-old underwent surgery in February 2026 after injuring his left foot in Liverpool's February 11 game against Sunderland. He was sidelined for the remainder of the Premier League campaign.

New Japan Captain for 2026 World Cup

Masakuni Yamamoto, the director of the Japan national team, said that Ajax defender Ko Itakura, 29, will replace Endo as Samurai Blue captain.

"Wataru is the one who will feel the most frustration at this," Itakura was quoted as saying by Agence France-Presse. "He has been a real leader for this team. I want to accept this role with a sense of responsibility and determination."

In a related announcement, Endo's World Cup roster spot will be filled by Shuto Machino, a 26-year-old forward who plays club soccer for German Bundesliga side Borussia Monchengladbach, Yamamoto said.

*Japan's Wataru Endo in action against Indonesia in a World Cup qualifier in November 2024. (©Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana/REUTERS)*

Determined to Return at the World Cup

After his long layoff due to the aforementioned injury, Wataru Endo appeared in Japan's international friendly against Iceland on May 31 in Tokyo. It was the Samurai Blue's final warmup match before the World Cup.

Endo was in the starting lineup and left the game, which Japan won 1-0, at halftime due to pain in his left foot.

At a pre-World Cup training camp in Monterrey, Mexico, Samurai Blue manager Hajime Moriyasu said in early June that a decision had yet to be made about Endo's status for the tournament.

"According to the medical reports, there is nothing to say that he can't play," Moriyasu said, according to Agence France-Presse. "So we just believe, pray and wait."

But Moriyasu, who made his World Cup managerial debut in 2022, said he needed to have contingency plans, too.

"I'm always considering replacements if a player can't play, and that doesn't just go for Endo but for everyone," Moriyasu told reporters. "We have several players returning from injury and we need to keep assessing them until the last minute. But we called them up with the assumption that they would be fit in time."

As it turned out, the Japan national team's medical team determined that Wataru Endo was not physically ready to compete in the tournament. And it's now the end of an era for the Samurai Blue.

Author: Ed Odeven

Follow Ed's [Japan Sports Notebook] on Sundays, [Odds and Evens] during the week, and he can be found on X (formerly Twitter) ＠ed_odeven.