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Captain Tsubasa 2: World Fighters Soccer Game Launches on August 28
posted on by Anita Tai
Bandai Namco Entertainment announced in a new trailer on Tuesday that Captain Tsubasa 2: World Fighters, a new soccer game based on Yōichi Takahashi's Captain Tsubasa manga, will launch on August 28 for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam.
Update: Bandai Namco Entertainment America also posted a video interview with Takahashi about the game:
Pre-orders for the game will include a bonus 2026 Japan National Team Jersey cosmetic, the World Youth Jersey cosmetic, and the Early Unlock Pack.
The Ultimate Edition will include five uniforms, two exclusive main menu themes, three ball customizations, the season pass, and more.
The game will feature 22 national teams, and over 110 playable characters.
Takahashi's original 37-volume Captain Tsubasa manga ran in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine from 1981 to 1988, and it inspired four television anime series, four anime films, several original video anime (OVA) projects, and a stage play. The manga is available in about 20 countries.
The Captain Tsubasa: Rising Sun manga revolves around Tsubasa as he aims to participate in the Olympics as a representative from Japan. Takahashi launched the manga in Shueisha's Grand Jump magazine in December 2013. The manga then moved to Captain Tsubasa Magazine, Grand Jump's spinoff magazine that focuses on the franchise, when it launched in April 2020.
Captain Tsubasa: Rising Sun The Final, the "final saga" of the overall Captain Tsubasa series, launched in Captain Tsubasa Magazine in April 2023. The manga ended in April 2024 alongside an announcement that Takahashi would retire from serializing manga. A new Captain Tsubasa: Rising Sun Finals manga continues the story in storyboard form on the franchise's website.
Shueisha's MANGA Plus service added all chapters of Takahashi's original Captain Tsubasa manga in English in April 2025. This is the first time the manga got a solo English release. A bilingual edition in Japanese and English was released for the "eOneBook" reader device in September 2020.
Source: Press release
Disclosure: Bandai Namco Filmworks Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings Inc., is a non-controlling, minority shareholder in Anime News Network Inc.
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