Manaka Matsukubo Named to Japan’s 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup Squad

Manaka Matsukubo, forward for the North Carolina Courage, has been named to Japan’s national squad for the 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup, a milestone that reflects both her individual rise and the expanding global influence of women’s football.

Matsukubo, widely regarded as one of Japan’s emerging attacking talents, has steadily built her reputation through technical precision, tactical intelligence, and composure under pressure. Her selection to represent Japan at one of Asia’s most prestigious international tournaments signals confidence from national selectors and underscores the deepening pipeline between club-level excellence and global competition.

The AFC Women’s Asian Cup remains a critical platform for showcasing elite talent across the region, often serving as a qualifier pathway for global tournaments. For players like Matsukubo, participation offers not only national pride but heightened international visibility in a rapidly professionalizing sport.

Women’s football has experienced significant growth in investment, media coverage, and youth participation over the past decade. Clubs across the United States, Europe, and Asia are increasingly interconnected, creating global career pathways that were limited just a generation ago.

Matsukubo’s inclusion is also emblematic of a broader shift: women athletes are no longer fighting for legitimacy — they are shaping the commercial and cultural future of international sport.

At Global Women Magazine, we see this selection as more than a roster announcement. It is structural evidence of momentum.

Sport has always been a mirror of power; who is funded, who is televised, who is celebrated.

The rising visibility of women’s football signals a recalibration of that power dynamic.

When athletes like Matsukubo move seamlessly between international leagues and national representation, they embody globalization in its most constructive form: talent transcending borders, opportunity expanding through performance, and influence growing through excellence.

Representation in sport does not stop at participation. It extends into media rights, sponsorship equity, youth inspiration, and economic opportunity. Each international call-up strengthens the infrastructure supporting future generations of girls who now see elite sport not as aspiration, but as attainable reality.

The 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup will be a stage. But the deeper story is the system evolving behind it, and women leading within it.