Nagoya Grampus U-18

Nagoya Grampus U-18 is the under-18 team of Nagoya Grampus, one of the ten original J.League clubs, and the academy that produced YOSHIDA Maya, Japan's captain at the 2022 World Cup, and SUGAWARA Yukinari, a member of the 2026 World Cup squad. It is one of the fixtures of the Premier League WEST: fifteen seasons out of sixteen since the league began in 2011. Its best year was 2019, when it won the Japan Club Youth Championship, the J Youth Cup and the WEST, and lost the national final by a single goal. The team trains at the Toyota Sports Center in Toyota City, on the same site as the first team.

Aichi · head coach MIKI Takashi

2026 season

Currently 3rd in the Premier League WEST with 25 points from 14 matches (7W 4D 3L, 32-21). Updated daily.

Playing style

The academy builds everything on four actions it names in the same order at every age: control the ball, pass it, carry it, and get free of a marker. The first is about placing the ball where the next action can happen; the last is about movement without the ball. MIKI Takashi, the under-18 head coach, uses that base for an aggressive pressing game in which the goals are spread around the team rather than left to one striker — midfielders arriving late in the box are a large part of the plan.

Honours

Competition	Year	Notes
Japan Club Youth (U-18) Championship	2019, 2021	Third five times
J Youth Cup	2011, 2019	Runners-up 2015
Premier League WEST	2019	Final lost 2-3 to Aomori Yamada
All Japan Youth (U-18) Championship	runners-up 2006, 2008	Third in 2007

The 2019 season is the one the club measures itself against: three national-level titles in one year, and a 3-2 defeat by Aomori Yamada High School in the Premier League Final.

History

Early 1990s — Nagoya Grampus Eight is founded ahead of the J.League's first season and begins building an academy. For the first years it also recruits heavily from strong local school teams, because very few boys yet came through club youth football.
2006–2008 — Two finals of the All Japan Youth Championship, the national competition that preceded the Premier League.
2007 — YOSHIDA Maya is promoted to the first team.
2011 — The J Youth Cup, and a place in the first season of the Premier League WEST.
2018 — SUGAWARA Yukinari, who joined from a local club in Toyokawa, reaches the first team while still of school age.
2019 — The treble: Club Youth Championship, J Youth Cup and Premier League WEST.
2021 — A second Club Youth Championship.
2026 — MIKI Takashi's squad includes two players already promoted to the first team for 2027, and seven who are Japan youth internationals.

Development pathway

One site with the first team. The Toyota Sports Center has two large pitches and is shared with the professionals, including the medical, nutrition and physical staff.
The same four basics from under-15 up. Control, pass, carry, get free: the club's view is that these are what allow a player to think quickly under modern pressing, and that YOSHIDA and SUGAWARA were built on them.
Mostly its own, with some from outside. Most of the squad comes up through the club's under-15 team. A handful arrive from elsewhere — JFA Academy Fukushima, clubs in Gifu, Mie and Toyama — to add something different.
University as part of the pathway. Not every graduate goes straight to the first team. The club treats a spell at university as a continuation of development, and several players have returned to Nagoya, or reached other clubs, that way.

Former players

YOSHIDA Maya (defender, LA Galaxy) — promoted in 2007, then VVV-Venlo, Southampton, Sampdoria and Schalke before the United States. Played at three World Cups, captaining Japan at the last of them.
SUGAWARA Yukinari (right-back, Werder Bremen) — from a local club in Toyokawa to the under-18s and into the first team while still at high school, then AZ Alkmaar and Southampton. In Japan's squad for the 2026 World Cup.
SUGIURA Shungo (forward, Nagoya Grampus) — at the club's football school from the age of four, and promoted from the under-18s.

Players to watch in 2026

Players worth knowing in the 2026 season:

ODIKE Chisom Taichi (defender, third year, no. 4) and SHIRAOGAWA Rekuto (defender, third year, no. 11) — both promoted to the first team for 2027 and both Japan under-17 internationals. They already hold first-team numbers.
YAIRO Hayato (forward, second year, no. 17) — ten league goals, the most in the squad, and a Japan under-16 international.
FUKAYA Sakuto (midfielder, first year, no. 30) and SAMESHIMA Atsuki (midfielder, first year, no. 35) — both selected for Japan at the 2026 U-16 International Dream Cup.
TAKEUCHI Yuzo (defender, first year, no. 29) — a first-year starter, in Japan's under-17 squad for the Limoges International Tournament.
SAITO Taiyo (midfielder, second year, no. 15) — in Japan's under-17 squad for the International Youth Soccer in Niigata.
KOJIMA Aoto (midfielder, third year, no. 8) and MIZUNO Masato (forward, third year, no. 2) — four league goals each.
KATO Naotaro (goalkeeper, third year, no. 1), NARUSE Fugo (defender, no. 5), KAMIYA Kiichi (midfielder, no. 6), SENGA Shotaro (midfielder, no. 10) and CHUJO Haruto (midfielder, no. 14) — the third-year core.
IKEDA Ayumu (midfielder, second year, no. 23) — three goals, often from the bench.

Notes

Full profile in Japanese, with the current squad list and every result: 名古屋グランパスU-18.

Where a player has no official English spelling published by the JFA or the J.League, the name is shown in Japanese.