Blue Lock got an unplanned real-world endorsement this year. Japan's 4-0 win over Tunisia at the 2026 World Cup — the most goals an Asian team has ever scored at the tournament — included a standout strike from forward Kiyotaka Ueda that had international fans online joking that "Blue Lock is real."

The manga's own story is mid-arc on a fictional U-20 World Cup right now, with its Japan squad facing off against France, which made the timing feel almost too on the nose.

Niko Ikki, one of the series' more colorful strikers, gets his own acrylic figure here, sold out direct at CDJapan and reachable now through their Proxy Shopping Service.