Blue Lock Project

The **Blue Lock Project** (青い監獄 (ブルーロック) プロジェクト, *Burū Rokku Purojekuto*?), or **Player Improvement Project**, is a special soccer project created by Jinpachi Ego and funded by the Japan Football Union with the intention of developing not only the best striker in the world, but a solitary hero for Japan that would lead the nation into finally winning the World Cup using Ego's extreme training regimens and coaching. Additionally, anyone who loses at Blue Lock would forever lose the right to play for Japan.

The project began on November 20, 2018.

## Phase One Selections

### Dormitory Test: Oni Pretend (入寮テスト「オニごっこ」)

- The entrance exam to Blue Lock wherein the 300 participants are divided into 25 groups of 12 people and every 12 people are held in a large room and the last person who is hit with the football by the end of 136 seconds in a game of tag is disqualified. Once that person is eliminated the remaining 11 people form a "team" and proceed to the next selection.

### First Selection: Round-robin Group League Match (一次選考「総当たりグループリーグマッチ」)

- Twenty-five teams are divided into five team groups to perform a round-robin tournament, the top two teams of each group will survive and move on, and the remaining three teams of the group are disqualified and forced out. However, the top strikers of each of the three teams disqualified get to survive as well.

### Second Selection: Rivalry Battle (二次選考「奪敵決戦 (ライバルリー・バトル) 」)

- A player battle selection broken into 5 stages:

* 1st Stage: The artificial intelligence hologram GK [BLUE LOCK MAN system] is introduced, and it is necessary for players to achieve 100 goals in 90 minutes alone against the hologram goalkeeper. The difficulty of this stage adjusts as increases as the number of goals scored increases, and there are stages from "Lv.1," "Lv.2," to "Lv.MAX." Only those who have cleared this stage can proceed to the 2nd stage.
* 2nd Stage: Those who have cleared the first stage, now must divide into teams of three and battle other teams in 3v3 game to 5 in the 3rd Stage. Teams that lose in the 3rd Stage come back to the 2nd stage to face off in a 2v2 game where one person is eliminated from Blue Lock. The rankings are now based on the order of the participants in clearing the first stage.
* 3rd Stage: Those who have cleared the second stage, must now face off against each other in a 3v3 game to 5. The winners get to steal a player from the losing team and move on to the 4th stage.
* 4th Stage: Those who have cleared the the third stage, must now face off against each other in a 4v4 game to 5. The winners get to steal a player from the losing team and they clear the Second Selection by having 5 players.
* 5th Stage: Once the team of 5 is assembled they become a Clear Team and move on the Third Selection.

### Third Selection: Tryout (サードセレクション「トライアウト」)

- To start the selection a 5v5 game against 5 of the world's best soccer players. Winning is not a necessity, only participation for the game only acts as a rating of the last string of players and teaches them a lesson, the difference between them and the world. After all the teams possible have cleared the Second Selection they gather together and the best 6 players are identified and separated. They are divided into three teams A, B, and C and the remaining 29 players are given the option of playing with one of those teams in order to prove themself worthy of being in the starting lineup of a game against their generation's best.

### Wild Card: Second Chance (ワイルドカード「セカンドチャンス」)

- Each and every one of the "Locked-off" players would be offered a second and final chance at Blue Lock by participating in the secret Wild Card challenge. The details to the challenge remains unknown, but ultimately, only one player would remain standing at the end and would then continue on into the Phase Two selections.

## Phase Two Selections

### Final Selection: Neo Egoist League (ネオエゴイストリーグ)

- On February 18, 2019, each and every Blue Lock player who made it to the Third Selection as well as the only Wild Card survivor, along with the regulars from the old Japan U-20 are made to decide on a country to train in. The players must decide on a country to train in based on preference and what they wish to gain out of the training. When the players pick their country they will be separated into stratums based on that country and will get to train with the U-20 level players of the best club team in those respective countries and the master striker that reigns over that team and country. After initial training, a team of 11 made up of whoever gets picked as a regular by the master striker from the club team or Blue Lock will play in a Round Robin tournament that will pit Blue Lock rivals and world class players against each other in short but highly dynamic games. After the tourney is over, only the top Blue Lock players of the remaining 23 players will be picked as regulars for the reconstructed Japan U-20 team in the upcoming U-20 World Cup.

## Faculty Members

 **Jinpachi Ego**

 **Anri Teieri**

## Former ("Locked-Off") Participants

* Eliminated in Second Selection: Rivalry Battle
* Eliminated in First Selection: Round-robin Group League Match
* Eliminated in Dormitory Test: Oni Pretend

 **Wataru Kuon**

 **Asahi Naruhaya**

 **Yudai Imamura**

 **Okuhito Iemon**

 **Kisaburo Hijikata**

 **Retsu Nerima**

 **Sota Nemoto**

 **Rikiya Hohai**

 **Hirakazu Midorikawa**

 **Masumi Atatame**

 **Shuhei Ebina**

 **Kanji Torikai**

 **Ryosuke Kira**

 **Ryo Nameoka**

## References

1. ↑ November 20 confirmed to be Blue Lock Move-In Day on Official Account.
2. ↑  In 2019, the U-20 World Cup began in May 29, so the final selection began a hundred days prior in February 18.