Japan national football team
Japan is the first team from outside the Americas to participate in the Copa América, having been invited in both 1999 and 2011. However, Japan declined their invitation on 16 May 2011, after events related to the difficulty of releasing some Japanese players from European teams to play as replacements. On 17 May 2011, CONMEBOL invited Costa Rica to replace Japan in the competition; the Costa Rican Football Federation accepted their invitation later that day.
Sport in Japan
The Japanese national football team is very successful at an international level, and has competed in the 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, and 2018 FIFA World Cups. Their best result was Round 2 in 2002, 2010 and 2018. The Japanese national team has also competed in six AFC Asian Cups, with the team being the Champions in 1992, 2000, 2004 and 2011 AFC Asian Cups. The team's highest ranking was 9th in the world in February 1998. Japan has competed in many other footballing events including the Confederations Cup, the East Asian Football Championship, and the Copa América.