This article provides an overview of Japanese football in the year 1961. In 1961, the Japan national football team went 2-5 in international play.
See main article: 1961 Emperor's Cup.
| Player | -1960 | 05.28 | 06.11 | 08.02 | 08.06 | 08.10 | 08.15 | 11.28 | 1961 | Total | |
| Ryuzo Hiraki | 25(1) | O | O | - | - | - | - | - | 2(0) | 27(1) | |
| Yasuo Takamori | 23(0) | - | - | - | - | - | O | O | 2(0) | 25(0) | |
| Michihiro Ozawa | 17(0) | O | O | O | O | O | - | O | 6(0) | 23(0) | |
| Yoshio Furukawa | 16(0) | - | - | - | - | - | O | - | 1(0) | 17(0) | |
| Masao Uchino | 13(3) | - | O | - | - | - | - | O | 2(0) | 15(3) | |
| Saburo Kawabuchi | 12(5) | O(1) | - | O | O | O | O | O | 6(1) | 18(6) | |
| Mitsuo Kamata | 12(0) | O | O | O | O | O(1) | O | O | 7(1) | 19(1) | |
| Hiroshi Ninomiya | 11(9) | O | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1(0) | 12(9) | |
| Masashi Watanabe | 11(5) | O | - | O | O(1) | O | O | O | 6(1) | 17(6) | |
| Koji Sasaki | 11(1) | - | - | O | O | O | - | - | 3(0) | 14(1) | |
| Shigeo Yaegashi | 11(0) | O | O | O(1) | O | O(1) | O | O | 7(2) | 18(2) | |
| Masakatsu Miyamoto | 10(0) | O | O | O | O | O | - | O | 6(0) | 16(0) | |
| Ken Naganuma | 3(1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | O | 1(0) | 4(1) | |
| Takehiko Kawanishi | 2(0) | - | - | O | O | O | O | O | 5(0) | 7(0) | |
| Hiroshi Saeki | 2(0) | - | O | - | - | - | O | - | 2(0) | 4(0) | |
| Tsukasa Hosaka | 1(0) | O | O | O | O | O | - | O | 6(0) | 7(0) | |
| Teruki Miyamoto | 0(0) | - | O | O(1) | O(2) | O | - | O | 5(3) | 5(3) | |
| Hiroshi Katayama | 0(0) | - | - | O | O | O | O | - | 4(0) | 4(0) | |
| Ryuichi Sugiyama | 0(0) | O | O | - | - | - | O | - | 3(0) | 3(0) | |
| Takayuki Kuwata | 0(0) | O(1) | - | - | - | - | O | - | 2(1) | 2(1) | |
| Kenji Tochio | 0(0) | O | O | - | - | - | - | - | 2(0) | 2(0) | |
| Shozo Tsugitani | 0(0) | - | - | - | - | - | O | O | 2(0) | 2(0) | |
| Tatsuya Shiji | 0(0) | O(1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1(1) | 1(1) | |
| Ryozo Suzuki | 0(0) | - | - | - | - | - | O | - | 1(0) | 1(0) |