J.LEAGUE is proud to announce a groundbreaking collaboration with Captain Tsubasa to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the world-famous football manga first written and illustrated by Mr. Yoichi Takahashi since 1981.

“I am very pleased to have such a project done in the milestone year of the 40th anniversary of the serialization,”Mr. Takahashi said. “There was no professional football league when the series started, but I feel that the existence of 57 J.League clubs is a wonderful achievement for everyone who loves football, from players and officials to fans and supporters.”

For the first time ever, the main characters of the series Tsubasa Ozora and Genzo Wakabayashi will appear in J.LEAGUE club uniforms and starting on May 1st, collectible goods will go on sale in Japan on our official J.LEAGUE club shop and individual club shops.

Captain Tsubasa is one of the most globally popular pieces of creative football media in history and has been produced in a variety of mediums. The cumulative circulation of books and paperback publications of Captain Tsubasa has exceeded 70 million copies in Japan and has been translated into 20 languages in many overseas countries.

For more information in Japanese and for the list of items, please see our original press release here.