High school athletes who have represented Japan at the national or age-group level are often the driving force in their respective sports. As these elite players move on to the next stage of their careers, the universities they choose become a key indicator of where future talent is heading. This report examines the college choices of high school graduates from spring 2026 in seven major sports: baseball, soccer, rugby, men’s and women’s basketball, and men’s and women’s volleyball. The data, current as of May 11, 2026, tracks the number of players enrolled at each university to create a ranking of preferred destinations.
The chart below shows Daizen Kawamoto (left), a soccer player who helped Japan reach the quarterfinals of last year’s U-17 World Cup and now attends Meiji University, and Yota Abe (right), a baseball player who captained the U-18 Samurai Japan team and enrolled at Waseda University.
The following groups of players were included in the analysis, limited to those who graduated high school this spring and entered university:
– Baseball: Members of the 2025 U-18 World Cup team
– Soccer: Players called up to the U-18 and U-17 national teams in 2025
– Rugby: Members of the 2025 high school national team
– Men’s Basketball: Members of the 2024 and 2025 U-18 national teams
– Women’s Basketball: Members of the 2024 U-17 World Cup team and the 2025 U-18 national team
– Men’s Volleyball: Members of the 2025 U-19 Men’s World Championship team and participants in the 2025 National High School Selection Overseas Tour
– Women’s Volleyball: Members of the 2025 U-19 Women’s World Championship team and participants in the 2025 National High School Selection Overseas Tour
Among these sports, rugby is the only one where all players selected for the high school national team (which toured England in March) have moved on to university. Of the 26 members, Teikyo University welcomed the most—seven players—including center Tsunehide Fukuda (from Kokugakuin Tochigi), who served as vice-captain of the national team. Teikyo remains the powerhouse of college rugby, despite losing its five-year championship streak last season. Meiji University, which won the 2025 National University Championship, followed with five new recruits.
Soccer joins rugby as the only sport where more than five players from a single university were enrolled. The University of Tsukuba, winner of last year’s intercollegiate championship, attracted five promising talents to its soccer club. Among them were forward Shuto Oishi (from Kagoshima Josei), who drew strong interest from multiple J.League clubs, dribbler Haruto Nakano (from Numazu U-18), who even played in J3 last season, and defender Masahide Sasaki (from FC Tokyo U-18).
Data for other sports, including baseball, basketball, and volleyball, will be covered in future rankings, as the full breakdown of university destinations continues to emerge.