Hikaru Matsuyama

16 years old

Name: Hikaru Matsuyama / Armand Callahan

Nickname: The Hokkaido Eagle

Date of birth: July 18

Nationality: Japanese

Blood type O

Height: 176 cm

I weigh 66kg.

Occupation: Professional Footballer (Defender; Midfielder)

Story of Captain Tsubasa
In the Kids' Dream arc, during the junior championship, Matsuyama stood out for his captaincy and teamwork. In the semi-finals between Furano and Meiwa, Tsubasa commented on Matsuyama's ball control, similar to Misugi's. His dedication, effort and understanding of teamwork make him a promising player of his generation. In the Boys' Brawl arc, like many Japanese school teams, Matsuyama's goal was to defeat Tsubasa and Nankatsu. Matsuyama is considered an even better captain than Tsubasa himself, as despite not being a football genius, the Furano captain developed a long shot, the Eagle Shot, to match up with strong opponents like Hyuga and Tsubasa. Since they only faced each other twice, Hyuga and Matsuyama have a special respect for each other, even if they did not face each other during the tournament.

Kojiro learned this after watching Matsuyama's match against Tsubasa, where he showed himself to be a true sportsman and an undisputed leader even in defeat. On the other hand, it was the crowd's cheers for Matsuyama that drove Hyuga to regain confidence and courage, and he matched Nankatsu with his Overhead Tiger.

In the J Boys Challenge arc, Matsuyama was elected captain when Hyuga resigned from his position after the match against Hamburger SV Jr. and subsequently relinquished the title to Tsubasa. He was key in defense, while Tsubasa was the key player in midfield.

Matsuyama attends Furano High School along with Oda and Coach Fujisawa . In the quarterfinals of his last National High School Tournament, his team lost to Hyuga's Toho Academy . Immediately after the tournament, he was scouted for Japan Youth's J-Village, as preparation for the World Junior Tournament. At the World Junior Series, Matsuyama was chosen as a regular member. Unlike Hyuga, Misaki, Nitta, Soda, Jito, and the Tachibana twins, he was not ruled out by Gamo. Being the only one who discovered the truth about the RJ7, he even forced Hyuga to quit the team in order to advance. Matsuyama tried his best to convince a depressed Japan Youth not to count out the RJ7 for the preliminaries.

Gamo considered Matsuyama to be the team's biggest contributor, using his captaincy to keep the team from falling apart during Gamo's tough training while Tsubasa and Hyuga were away, and also gained his trust. He also considered Matsuyama the team's indispensable captain during training camp, so he revealed the RJ7's true purpose to him. Even Tsubasa thought that Matsuyama should carry the captain's brand. Matsuyama was absent for most of the time in the quarterfinals against Stefan Levin's Sweden Juniors, as Yoshiko was involved in a traffic accident, and Matsuyama had put his love for Yoshiko above all else. However, he returned for extra time, giving Japan the key to victory.

On the road to 2002, Matsuyama turned professional by joining Consadole Sapporo. In a match against Jun Misugi's FC Tokyo, Matsuyama admitted that Misugi was a genius. The match ended in a 1-1 draw, albeit due to Consadole Sapporo's home advantage. At Golden 23, Matsuyama was selected as the captain of the Japanese Olympic team. Coach Kira placed a lot of trust in him, Misaki and Misugi, known as the "3M" (3 Shooting Stars) of Japan U22, allowing them to manage the team's balance. He believed that Matsuyama's leadership would be important during the Asian qualifying tournament.

Arch of the Rising Sun
Yoshiko confided in Yayoi that Matsuyama planned to marry her after graduating from college.