Seiritsu Gakuen High School

Seiritsu Gakuen High School (成立学園) is a private school in Kita Ward, in the north of Tokyo, with an attached junior high school. The school itself dates back to 1925. Its football club became nationally known in the early 2000s: it reached the last 16 of the winter All Japan High School Soccer Tournament in 2003–04 and the semi-finals of the summer Inter-High in 2004. Its best-known former players are OTSU Yuki, who scored the winning goal against Spain at the 2012 London Olympics, and the Australian left-back Jason Davidson, who played at the 2014 World Cup after three years at the school. In 2026 Seiritsu plays in the Tokyo Division 2 league (T2). In June it won the Tokyo Inter-High qualifying tournament for the first time in 12 editions, and at the national finals it won one match before going out in the second round.

Tokyo

Playing style

Seiritsu has a reputation in Tokyo as a technical, possession-minded side, and the 2026 team added a hard defensive edge to that. Its run through the Tokyo Inter-High qualifiers was built on clean sheets. It beat Teikyo, one of the capital's most famous schools, 2-0 in the knockout stage, then beat Jissen Gakuen 2-0 after extra time in the match that decided the qualifying places. With a national place secured, it beat Kokushikan 2-0 in the final on 14 June to become Tokyo champions for the first time in 12 editions of the tournament. At the national finals, held in late July, Seiritsu beat Imabari Higashi Secondary School from Ehime 1-0 in the first round. It then lost 0-2 to Ohzu High School from Kumamoto in the second round, the last 32. From the quarter-final against Teikyo onwards, the team conceded only two goals in five matches, both of them against Ohzu.

Honours

Competition	Year	Notes
Inter-High (All Japan High School Championships)	2004	Semi-finalists (third place) at the tournament in Shimane, alongside Maebashi Ikuei; five appearances in all, the fifth in 2026
Inter-High	2026	Second round (last 32), after a 1-0 win over Imabari Higashi Secondary School
All Japan High School Soccer Tournament (winter)	2003–04	Last 16 in the 82nd edition, the club's first appearance; three appearances in all
All Japan High School Soccer Tournament	2022–23	Played and won the opening match of the 101st edition at the National Stadium, beating Tsu Technical 3-2; beaten 0-1 by Nihon Bunri in the second round
Tokyo Inter-High qualifying tournament	2026	Champions, beating Kokushikan 2-0 in the final; the club's first Tokyo title in 12 editions

History

1925 — The school is founded in Tokyo. The football club's own founding year is not given by the school, so it is not stated here.
2003–04 — Seiritsu qualifies for the winter championship for the first time, at the 82nd edition, and reaches the last 16.
2004 — The club's best national result so far: a place in the semi-finals of the Inter-High in Shimane. Kunimi win the title, beating Ichiritsu Funabashi in the final.
2005–06 — A second winter championship appearance, at the 84th edition, ending in the first match. Among the players at the school in these years are OTSU Yuki, who joins Kashiwa Reysol in 2008, and Jason Davidson, who came from Australia to study in Japan, the home country of his grandmother.
2022–23 — After a 17-year gap, Seiritsu wins its block of the Tokyo qualifiers by beating Kokushikan 2-1 in the final and returns to the winter championship. It is chosen to play the tournament's opening match at the National Stadium on 28 December and beats Tsu Technical from Mie 3-2, before losing 0-1 to Nihon Bunri from Niigata in the second round.
2023 — A fourth Inter-High appearance.
2026 — Playing in Tokyo's T2 league, Seiritsu wins the Tokyo Inter-High qualifiers, beating Teikyo, Jissen Gakuen and Kokushikan without conceding. At the national finals it is knocked out by Ohzu in the second round. In the summer, former player TERUYAMA Hayato joins Tochigi City on loan from V-Varen Nagasaki.

Development pathway

For readers new to Japanese youth football: high-school teams and J.League academies play in the same national league pyramid. At the top are the U-18 Premier League (EAST and WEST), then nine regional Prince Leagues, then the prefectural leagues. Two high-school tournaments carry even more prestige than the league: the summer Inter-High and the winter championship, which is televised nationally and ends at the National Stadium in January. The Japanese school year starts in April, which is why the winter championship is usually written as a pair of years, such as 2022–23.

Life in the Tokyo league. Tokyo runs its own league ladder under the regional Prince League Kanto: T1 at the top, then T2. Seiritsu plays in T2 in 2026, and Tokyo's strongest clubs also enter reserve teams in these divisions, so its greatest tests come in the knockout tournaments. Tokyo has two places at the Inter-High and two at the winter championship, and the competition for them is among the hardest in the country.
A school that keeps a top-level reputation without a top-level league place. Seiritsu's 2026 run shows how this works in Japan: a school outside the Prince League can still beat higher-league opponents such as Teikyo in the knockout tournaments and reach the national stage.
Junior-high links. The school has an attached junior high school, and several members of the 2026 Inter-High squad came through Seiritsu Zebra, a junior club that carries the school's name. Other players arrived from junior clubs across Tokyo and the neighbouring prefectures.
A home for overseas students. Jason Davidson's three years at the school, from 2005 to 2008, made Seiritsu the Japanese high school of an Australia World Cup player.
Producing players by two routes. Former players have gone straight from the school to J.League clubs (OTSU Yuki, TERUYAMA Hayato, KUBOTA Ryo) and via university (SAITO Ryuji).

Former players

OTSU Yuki (forward/midfielder, retired) — at the school from 2005 to 2008, then joined Kashiwa Reysol. He played for Borussia Mönchengladbach in Germany and VVV-Venlo in the Netherlands, returned to Kashiwa, and later played for Yokohama F. Marinos and Júbilo Iwata. At the 2012 London Olympics he scored the winning goal in Japan's 1-0 win over Spain and went on to score in the quarter-final and semi-final. He won two caps for Japan in 2013 and retired at the end of 2023.
Jason Davidson (left-back) — an Australian who moved to Japan in 2005 and played for the school's football club until 2008. He went on to play in Portugal, the Netherlands, England, Croatia, South Korea and Australia, and he played in all three of Australia's group matches at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
TERUYAMA Hayato (defender, Tochigi City) — came to the school from Kashiwa Reysol's under-15 team and joined Vegalta Sendai straight from Seiritsu. He has also played for Azul Claro Numazu, FC Imabari and Iwaki FC, and he is a V-Varen Nagasaki player. In June 2026 he joined Tochigi City on loan until 30 June 2027.
KUBOTA Ryo (midfielder, Yokohama FC) — joined Zweigen Kanazawa from the school and made his J.League debut in 2019. He then played for FC Gifu and Ehime FC, and he moved to Yokohama FC on a permanent transfer in July 2025.
SAITO Ryuji (defender, Blaublitz Akita) — went from the school to Tokyo International University, then turned professional with FC Ryukyu in 2015. He has since played for Kataller Toyama and SC Sagamihara, and he has been at Blaublitz Akita since 2021.

The 2026 squad is not listed here. None of the current players has an English spelling published by the JFA, the J.League or a club, so their names are not romanised on this page.

Notes

Full profile in Japanese, with the current squad list and every result: 成立学園高校.

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