Kazuyoshi Miura: Japanese footballer, 57, ready for 40th season as a professional
Japanese forward Kazuyoshi Miura plans to extend his professional football career until his 40th season.
Miura, 57, plays for Atletico Suzuka in the Japan Football League (JFL) – the fourth tier of Japanese football – and is on loan from second division side Yokohama FC. When he made his debut for Suzuka in July, he became the oldest player to play in the JFL.
Miura joined Suzuka a month early and says he plans to continue playing for them into the 2025 season. “I had a contract for a year and a half (since the summer of 2024). I think it was a natural progression,” he said via the Kyodo News news agency.
The Japanese football calendar runs from March to November and Miura will be 58 when the new season starts next year.
Known as ‘King Kazu’, Miura’s professional career began in 1986 with Brazilian club Santos and his long career included spells at Palmeiras, Coritiba, Genoa, Dinamo Zagreb, Vissel Kobe and Sydney FC. He was previously loaned out to Suzuka in 2022, before joining Portuguese second division club Oliveirense on a temporary basis in January 2023.
Miura was one of the first Japanese star football players. He was crowned Asian Football of the Year in 1992 and scored 55 goals in 89 international appearances between 1990 and 2000. In 1992 he won the Asian Cup and the following year the old Afro-Asian Cup of Nations. .
Miura has won 18 trophies in his career, including four Japanese league titles with Tokyo Verdy and the top tier of Croatian football with Dinamo Zagreb.
GO DEEPER
‘He wants to die on the field’ – audience with King Kazu, 52, world’s oldest professional footballer
(Gualter Fatia/Getty Images)
