Episode 001

Let's Play Soccer! (サッカーやろうぜ！, Sakkā yarou ze!) is the first episode of the Inazuma Eleven anime.

Summary
Endou Mamoru is the captain of the Raimon Junior High's long-neglected soccer club, is suddenly hit with a request to play a match against the legendary Teikoku Academy! But there's a catch; if Endou does not succeed in getting 11 members for the club to play against Teikoku, the club is going to be disbanded!!

Plot
The episode begins by showing a destructive hissatsu and Kageyama Reiji disbanding an unknown school's soccer club and destroying the school. At Raimon Junior High, Endou Mamoru is trying to convince the other 6 members of the soccer club (Someoka Ryuugo, Kabeyama Heigorou, Kurimatsu Teppei, Handa Shinichi, Shourinji Ayumu, Shishido Sakichi) to practice, but no one is interested.

In the afternoon, Endou practices at the riverbank with some children when two punks walk by and one of them is accidentally hit with the soccer ball. Endou apologises and asks the boy to give back the ball, but the boy kicks Endou's stomach instead and kicks the ball which heads straight for a small girl. Suddenly, a mysterious boy runs in and kicks the soccer ball back at the punk's face. Endou asks the boy to join the Raimon Soccer team but the boy ignores him and leaves. The next day, the mysterious boy is enrolled in Raimon Jr. High and is introduced as Gouenji Shuuya.

Endou is called to the principal's office where he is told by the principal and Raimon Natsumi that Teikoku Academy wants to have a friendly match with Raimon but the soccer team needs to get 11 players in order for them to play in the match. If they fail, the soccer club must disband. Endou goes around the school to try and recruit new members. He is able to get Kazemaru Ichirouta, Matsuno Kuusuke, Kageno Jin, and Megane Kakeru to join, even though Megane has no athletic talents whatsoever and demands to be the ace striker. He also asks Gouenji, but Gouenji refuses on the grounds that he has stopped playing soccer.

Debuts

 * Endou Mamoru
 * Kageyama Reiji
 * Someoka Ryuugo
 * Kabeyama Heigorou
 * Kurimatsu Teppei
 * Handa Shinichi
 * Shourinji Ayumu
 * Shishido Sakichi
 * Gouenji Shuuya
 * Kazemaru Ichirouta
 * Raimon Natsumi
 * Matsuno Kuusuke
 * Kageno Jin
 * Megane Kakeru
 * Kidou Yuuto
 * Teikoku
 * Raimon

Proverb
[Endou Mamoru] Don't give up without even trying!

Trivia

 * This is one of the few episodes where no Hissatsus are debuted.