Jirou Sakuma

One of the members of the original Teikoku team and a close friend of Kidou.

After Kidou leaves Teikoku and joins Raimon’s team, he and Genda become part of Shin Teikoku with Fudou as the new captain. Sakuma is still angry at Kidou for leaving Teikoku and is willing to use the dangerous forbidden Emperor Penguin shot to defeat Raimon’s team, despite Kidou’s protests. After a heated battle which ends in a tie, Sakuma collapses from overusing Emperor Penguin No. 1 and is taken to the hospital. However, before that, he apologizes to Kidou for taking things too far and they make peace, promising to play soccer together again sometime.

After getting out of the hospital, Sakuma is invited to the FFI recruitment match and eventually goes to the islands with the rest of Raimon’s team to represent Japan. He, Kidou and Fudou are shocked to find Kageyama there, and investigate what their old coach is up to.