The FIFA World Cup 2026 quarter-finals start tomorrow — and whether you’re a Samurai Blue loyalist, a casual neutral riding the bracket drama, or someone who just can’t stop refreshing the highlights, Crunchyroll’s sports anime library is the perfect company between whistles. Some of these series feel more relevant right now than ever before.
Blue Lock — The One Every Football Fan Needs to See Right Now
Japan made it through the Round of 32 in 2026, and with every advance, the phrase “Blue Lock is real” has been trending all over Singapore social feeds. The show’s premise — 300 high school strikers locked in a cutthroat tournament to forge Japan’s best World Cup scorer — is almost uncomfortably prophetic of the tournament’s knockout intensity. Season 3 launched in 2026, so if you’ve been meaning to start, there’s now a frankly irresponsible amount to binge before the semis.
Watch Blue Lock on Crunchyroll
Haikyu!! — The Gold Standard You’ll Thank Yourself For Starting
The World Cup knockout stage turns every match into an all-or-nothing situation — and Haikyu!! lives in exactly that space. Shoyo Hinata is too short and too green, his rival Tobio Kageyama is too arrogant to be a real teammate, and their high school volleyball team has no business competing with the best in Japan. It’s a deeply familiar sporting underdog formula, executed at the highest possible level. Crunchyroll has the complete series run plus the final film The Dumpster Battle.
More Sports Anime Worth Your Queue
Shoot! Goal to the Future
A football anime that approaches the game from the coaching side. Former champion Atsushi Kamiya returns to guide a struggling team and reignite a player who has completely checked out. If Blue Lock is the ego-maximisation approach to football, Shoot! is about rediscovering the joy of it. Good for the post-match wind-down. Watch on Crunchyroll.
Kuroko’s Basketball
Basketball, not football — but the knockout tension maps directly onto the World Cup bracket. Tetsuya Kuroko is so unremarkable that opponents literally forget he’s on the pitch, turning his invisibility into the deadliest assist weapon in the game. The Generation of Miracles rivals each carry a different kind of overwhelm, and the tournament arc pacing is exactly what you want during the round of eight. Watch on Crunchyroll.
Eyeshield 21
The 2026 World Cup is co-hosted across the USA, Canada, and Mexico, which gives Eyeshield 21’s American football premise a slightly fitting energy right now. Sena Kobayakawa has spent his whole life running errands for bullies — which made him, without realising it, the fastest schoolboy in Japan. The Deimon Devil Bats’ scrappy, improvised path through competition is among the most entertaining underdog narratives in the genre. Watch on Crunchyroll.
Yuri!!! on ICE
Different sport, same emotional architecture. Yuri Katsuki crashed out of the Grand Prix Final and was ready to retire entirely — then his idol Victor Nikiforov showed up as his coach. If the World Cup pressure games are triggering your performance anxiety by proxy, Yuri’s comeback from utter humiliation to the world stage is one of the most cathartic sporting arcs you’ll find on the platform. Watch on Crunchyroll.
MF GHOST
No ball, no pitch — just petrol and asphalt. MF Ghost, the spiritual sequel to Initial D by the same creator, follows driver Kanata Rivington competing on the MFG circuit across Japanese motorways after most gas engines have been outlawed. It’s competitive sport at 300 km/h, and it scratches exactly the same speed-of-decision-making itch that makes the World Cup’s high-pressure moments so watchable. Watch on Crunchyroll.
All seven series are streaming on Crunchyroll in Singapore. For more anime coverage including seasonal picks and streaming guides, check the rest of our anime section.