Tsubasa Oozora is an 11-year-old elementary school student who is deeply in love with football and dreams of one day winning the FIFA World Cup for Japan.

At a very young age, Tsubasa already had amazing speed, stamina, dribbling skills and shooting power – he astounded anyone who saw him play.

At the beginning of the story, Tsubasa and his mom both move to the city of Nankatsu, a fictional town in Shizuoka Prefecture well known for their talented elementary school football teams and where Tsubasa meets Ryo Ishizaki, a football-loving young student who often sneaks out from his mother's public bath houses and chores to play football.

Soon Tsubasa and his Nankatsu team start taking on the best of elementary school football, meeting such talented players as Kojiro Hyuga, Ken Wakashimazu, Jun Misugi, Hikaru Matsuyama and many others.

Brancos in the anime),[2] in Brazil's premier professional league, Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, winning the final against Flamengo (F.C.

Shingo realizes that he is swindled and tries hard to get his money back, doing such jobs as shoe-shining, until his enthusiastic attitude catches the eye of one of the coaches of Inter Milan (Intina in the anime), who sign him to play for their squad as an attacking midfielder.

Wakabayashi makes many great saves, impressing players and coaches from both teams, but in an attempt to win at the final moment despite the coach's decision to aim for a draw, Wakabayashi left the goal area to take a free kick shot that was stopped at the last second, which gave Bayern a chance to counterattack on an undefended goal, allowing them to win 2–1.

In Spain, the Liga begins and the match between Barcelona (led by Rivaul) and Valencia CF (San Jose in the anime) (who have just bought Tsubasa's old rival Carlos Santana) ends 2–2.

Meanwhile, the Japan U-20 side led by Takeshi Sawada win the AFC Youth Championship, defeating South Korea 6–5 on penalty kicks in the final.

A lot of teams were interested in signing Wakabayashi such as ACF Fiorentina, A.S. Roma, Bayern Munich and SV Werder Bremen.

Meanwhile, Minato Gamo wants to convince Igawa, a player who can play in all the roles (goalkeeper, defender, midfielder and forward), to join the national team.

Also in Spain, Barcelona plays a league match against Real Betis and Tsubasa scores two goals and makes an assist for Rikaar.

This one-shot tells the Serie C1 final season match between Reggiana and Albese, with both teams directly vying for promotion.

Hyuga eventually scores the victory goal in the last minute, allowing his team to be promoted into Serie B. Albese is disappointed for its defeat because they wrongly think that U.C.

When asked why Tsubasa's teams always win, Takahashi stated it was because he aims the manga to be long and thus a defeat would reduce its length.

[8] While the series was initially aimed at children, Takahashi was surprised at how, across the years, it has also attracted adults, as well as at the impact it had on Japan's football.

[8] As Takahashi liked European football due to its competitive level, he decided to make Tsubasa leave São Paulo and join Spain's F.C.

Nevertheless, Takahashi asserted it was a decision taken at random and joked that Tsubasa would have joined the Real Madrid if he had visited Santiago Bernabéu.

[11] By 2017, several volumes were available in an official Arabic translation and a third of the first print run of these were donated to Syrian refugee children by the publisher, Kinokuniya.

The series was followed soon after into a second adaptation, entitled Captain Tsubasa J, which was produced by NAS and Fuji TV and animated by Studio Comet.

It aired for 47 episodes on Fuji TV between October 21, 1994, and December 22, 1995, and was followed by an original video animation, Captain Tsubasa: Holland Youth, which was released in 1994.

[97][98] In 2006, TV Asahi conducted another online poll for the top one hundred anime and Captain Tsubasa placed 16th on "The Celebrity List".

[109] In 2004, when the JSDF provided humanitarian assistance in Samawah, Iraq, stickers of characters from the manga were posted on "twenty-six water wagons" which became known by the children.

In a match from Japan for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the Japanese fans held a tifo featuring an illustration from the manga with multiple messages that supported the team.

[113] Nippon.com (of the Nippon Communications Foundation) also made an article where they noted how Tsubasa became one of the most likeable fictional characters due to his dream and career in the series which at the same time influenced others.

[114] Espin Of noted one of the series' most notable features was how Tsubasa's skills allowed him to perform goals while his training with his teammates also generated appeal to the viewers.

Additionally, he found Kojiro Hyuga's actions and his trainer's drinking problems might leave negative impressions on viewers.

Additionally, the manga was noted not for only bringing style to football, but also likeable characters which were rightfully adapted in the anime series.

Similarly, Miho Koishihara referred to these two manga as responsible for increasing the popularity of their respective sports with the writer noting that Captain Tsubasa focused on realistic growth in comparison to previous works.

At the same time, the Japan Foundation provided an Arabic-dubbed season of Captain Tsubasa to the largest television station for free.