Kazuyoshi Miura

Kazuyoshi Miura (三浦 知良, Miura Kazuyoshi, born 26 February 1967), often known simply as Kazu (nicknamed "King Kazu"[2]), is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a forward for Yokohama FC in the J1 League.[3] He played for the Japan national team from 1990 to 2000, and was the first Japanese recipient of the Asian Footballer of the Year award.[4][5][6] Miura, whose rise to fame in Japan coincided with the launch of the J.League in 1993, was arguably Japan's first superstar in football. He is also known for his trademark "Kazu Feint" and his famous "Kazu dance", when he scores great goals or produces great plays.

Kazuyoshi Miura
三浦 知良

Miura in 2012
Personal information
Full name	Kazuyoshi Miura
Date of birth	26 February 1967[1]
Place of birth	Shizuoka, Japan
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 9 ^1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Forward
Club information
Current team	Yokohama FC
Number	11
Youth career
1982	Shizuoka Gakuen High School
1982–1986	Juventus-SP
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1986	Santos	2	(0)
1986	Palmeiras	25	(2)
1986	Matsubara	5	(1)
1987	CRB	4	(0)
1987–1988	XV de Jaú	25	(2)
1988–1989	Coritiba	21	(2)
1990	Santos	11	(3)
1990–1998	Verdy Kawasaki	192	(100)
1994–1995	→ Genoa (loan)	21	(1)
1999	Dinamo Zagreb	12	(0)
1999–2000	Kyoto Purple Sanga	41	(21)
2001–2005	Vissel Kobe	103	(24)
2005–	Yokohama FC	277	(27)
2005	→ Sydney FC (loan)	4	(2)
National team
1990–2000	Japan	89	(55)
2012	Japan Futsal	6	(1)
Honours Verdy Kawasaki Winner Japan Soccer League 1990–91 Winner Japan Soccer League 1991–92 Winner J1 League 1993 Winner J1 League 1994 Runner-up J1 League 1995 Winner JSL Cup 1991 Winner J.League Cup 1992 Winner J.League Cup 1993 Winner J.League Cup 1994 Runner-up J.League Cup 1996 Winner Emperor's Cup 1996 Runner-up Emperor's Cup 1991 Runner-up Emperor's Cup 1992 Representing  Japan AFC Asian Cup 1992 Japan
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 03:31, 19 December 2020 (UTC)

Miura holds the records for being the oldest footballer and oldest goalscorer in worldwide professional leagues at the age of 50[7] and, as of 2020, is the oldest active professional footballer in the world at 53.[8] He also holds the possibly unique distinction of having played professional football in five separate decades (1980s-2020s).[9] His elder brother Yasutoshi was also a professional footballer.[10]

Club career

In 1982, Miura left the Shizuoka Gakuen High School after less than a year, and travelled alone to Brazil at the age of fifteen to become a professional footballer there.[4] He signed with Clube Atlético Juventus, a youth club in São Paulo, and in 1986, Miura signed his first professional contract with Santos. He played for several other Brazilian clubs including Palmeiras and Coritiba, until his return to Japan in 1990.[4]

His time in Brazil elevated him to star status and on his return to Japan, he joined the Japan Soccer League (JSL) side Yomiuri SC, which later spun off from its parent company Yomiuri Shinbun and became Verdy Kawasaki with the launch of the J1 League in 1993.[1][11] With Yomiuri/Kawasaki, Miura won four consecutive league titles playing alongside fellow Japanese national team regulars Ruy Ramos and Tsuyoshi Kitazawa. Yomiuri won the last two JSL titles in 1991 and 1992, and Verdy Kawasaki won the first two J1 League titles in 1993 and 1994. He was named the first J.League Most Valuable Player in 1993.[4]

Miura then became the first Japanese footballer to play in Italy, joining Genoa in the 1994–95 Serie A season.[4] In his Italian stint, he played 21 times and scored one goal, during the Genoa derby against Sampdoria.[12] On 15 January 1994, Miura assisted Antonio Manicone's match-winning goal against Padova.[13] He returned to Verdy Kawasaki for the 1995 season and played with them until the end of the 1998 season.[4] Miura made another attempt at playing in Europe with Croatia Zagreb in 1999. He returned to Japan, however, following a brief trial with Bournemouth, in the same year, and played with Kyoto Purple Sanga and Vissel Kobe, before eventually signing for Yokohama FC in 2005.

In 2007, Miura was selected for the 2007 J.League All-Star Soccer for J-East and played exceptionally well.[14]

In November 2015, Miura signed a new one-year contract with Yokohama FC at the age of 48.[15] In January 2017, Miura signed another new one-year contract with Yokohama, taking his professional career into his fifties.[16][17]

On 5 March 2017, Miura became the oldest ever player to feature in a professional match when he started in Yokohama's 1–1 draw against V-Varen Nagasaki. With 50 years and seven days, he surpassed the previous record held by Stanley Matthews from 1965 by two days.[18] Seven days later, he broke Matthews' record for oldest goalscorer in professional football when he struck the only goal of a 1–0 win over Thespakusatsu Gunma.[19][20]

In January 2018, he signed a new contract,[21] and renewed it again in January 2019,[22] January 2020,[23] and January 2021.[24]

On 5 August 2020, he started in a J.League Cup match against Sagan Tosu, becoming the oldest player to take to the pitch in Japan's league cup competition, at the age of 53 years, 5 months and 10 days. By doing so, he surpassed the previous record of 42 years, 10 months set in 2017 by Yukio Tsuchiya.[25]

On 23 September 2020, he started in the J1 League match against Kawasaki Frontale and in doing so became the oldest player to take to the pitch in a J1 League match and the oldest player ever in a football match in the highest national division worldwide. Miura played 57 minutes in this match.

National team career

Football

In September 1990, Miura was named as part of the Japan squad for the 1990 Asian Games. At this competition, on September 26, he debuted against Bangladesh. After his debut, he played as a forward until 1997. In 1992, he played at the 1992 Asian Cup, which Japan went on to win. In 1993, in the 1994 World Cup qualification, he played thirteen games and scored thirteen goals. However, Japan failed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup. He also played at the 1994 Asian Games, the 1995 King Fahd Cup and the 1996 Asian Cup.

In 1997, Miura scored fourteen times for Japan during qualification for the 1998 World Cup, leading the Samurai Blue to their first ever World Cup finals.[26] Despite this, Miura was controversially left out of the squad.

In February 2000, Miura played for Japan for the first time in two years. He played his last national team match later that year, and finished with the second-most career goals in Japanese national team history with 55 goals in 89 matches.[27]

Futsal

In 2012, and at the age of 45, Miura made his debut for the Japan futsal team in a 3–3 draw against Brazil. He came off the bench and was involved in the build up for the second goal scored by Nobuya Osodo.[28] In his second appearance with the futsal team, he scored the third goal in a 3–1 win over Ukraine.[29] In the 2012 Futsal World Cup, Miura appeared in all four matches for Japan, but failed to score as the Japanese were knocked out by Ukraine in the round of 16.

Career statistics

Club

As of 9 November 2020[30][31][32]

Club	Season	League	League		Cup		League Cup		Other^*		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Yomiuri	1990–91	Japan Soccer League	18	3			1	0	7	3	26	6
	1991–92		21	6			5	2	4	1	30	9
	Total		39	9			6	2	11	4	56	15
Verdy Kawasaki	1992	J.League	—		2	1	10	10	2	1	14	12
	1993		36	20	3	3	1	0	2	2	42	25
	1994		22	16	0	0	0	0	2	0	24	16
	Total		58	36	5	4	11	10	6	3	80	53
Genoa	1994–95	Serie A	21	1	—		1	0	1	0	23	1
Verdy Kawasaki	1995	J.League	26	23	2	0	—		2	0	30	23
	1996		27	23	5	4	6	2	1	1	39	30
	1997		14	4	2	1	0	0	1	0	17	5
	1998		28	5	3	2	0	0	—		31	7
	Total		95	55	12	7	6	2	4	1	117	65
Croatia Zagreb	1998–99	Prva HNL	12	0	—		—		—		12	0
Kyoto Purple Sanga	1999	J1 League	11	4	2	1	0	0	—		13	5
	2000		30	17	1	0	7	2	—		38	19
	Total		41	21	3	1	7	2	0	0	51	24
Vissel Kobe	2001	J1 League	29	11	2	0	3	2	—		34	13
	2002		17	3	0	0	1	0	—		18	3
	2003		24	4	3	2	4	0	—		31	6
	2004		21	4	0	0	5	0	—		26	4
	2005		12	2	0	0	6	1	—		18	3
	Total		103	24	5	2	19	3	0	0	127	29
Yokohama FC	2005	J2 League	16	4	1	0	—		—		17	4
Sydney FC (loan)	2005–06	A-League	4	2	—		—		2	0	6	2
Yokohama FC	2006	J2 League	39	6	0	0	—		—		39	6
	2007	J1 League	24	3	2	0	4	0	—		30	3
	2008	J2 League	30	1	2	0	—		—		32	1
	2009		30	1	0	0	—		—		30	1
	2010		10	3	0	0	—		—		10	3
	2011		30	0	1	0	—		—		31	0
	2012		14	1	0	0	—		—		14	1
	2013		18	2	0	0	—		—		18	2
	2014		2	0	0	0	—		—		2	0
	2015		16	3	0	0	—		—		16	3
	2016		20	2	0	0	—		—		20	2
	2017		12	1	0	0	—		—		12	1
	2018		9	0	0	0	—		—		9	0
	2019		3	0	0	0	—		—		3	0
	2020	J1 League	4	0	0	0	2	0	—		6	0
Total			261	23	6	0	6	0	2	0	275	23
Career total			649	175	32	14	56	19	26	8	763	221

^*Includes other competitive competitions, including the J.League Championship, Japanese Super Cup, Xerox Champions Cup, Serie A Play-off, Konica Cup, Sanwa Bank Cup and FIFA Club World Cup.

International

[27] [33]

Japan
Year	Apps	Goals
1990	3	0
1991	2	0
1992	11	2
1993	16	16
1994	8	5
1995	12	6
1996	12	6
1997	19	18
1998	1	0
1999	0	0
2000	5	2
Total	89	55
Japan Futsal
2012	6	1
Total	6	1

National team goals

Miura – goals for Japan[27]
#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	26 August 1992	Beijing, China	North Korea	4–1	4-1	1992 Dynasty Cup
2	3 November 1992	Hiroshima, Japan	Iran	1–0	1-0	1992 AFC Asian Cup group stage
3	14 March 1993	Tokyo, Japan	United States	1–1	3-1	Friendly
4				3–1
5	8 April 1993	Kobe, Japan	Thailand	1–0	1-0	1994 FIFA World Cup qualification
6	11 April 1993	Tokyo, Japan	Bangladesh	1–0	8-0
7				3–0
8				4–0
9				5–0
10	15 April 1993	Tokyo, Japan	Sri Lanka	3–0	5-0
11				5–0
12	30 April 1993	Dubai, UAE	Bangladesh	2–1	4-1
13	5 May 1993	Dubai, UAE	Sri Lanka	5–0	6-0
14	4 October 1993	Tokyo, Japan	Ivory Coast	1–0	1-0	Afro-Asian Cup of Nations
15	21 October 1993	Doha, Qatar	North Korea	1–0	3-0	1994 FIFA World Cup qualification
16				3–0
17	25 October 1993	Doha, Qatar	South Korea	1–0	1-0
18	28 October 1993	Doha, Qatar	Iraq	1-0	2–2
19	8 July 1994	Nagoya, Japan	Ghana	1–1	3–2	Friendly
20				2–1
21	14 July 1994	Kobe, Japan	Ghana	2–0	2–1	Friendly
22	3 October 1994	Hiroshima, Japan	United Arab Emirates	1–1	1–1	1994 Asian Games group stage
23	11 October 1994	Hiroshima, Japan	South Korea	1–0	2–3	1994 Asian Games quarter-finals
24	8 January 1995	Riyadh, Saudi Arabia	Argentina	1–4	1–5	1995 King Fahd Cup group stage
25	28 May 1995	Tokyo, Japan	Ecuador	2–0	3–0	Friendly
26				3–0
27	20 September 1995	Tokyo, Japan	Paraguay	1–0	1–2	Friendly
28	24 October 1995	Tokyo, Japan	Saudi Arabia	2–0	2–1	Friendly
29	24 October 1995	Matsuyama, Japan	Saudi Arabia	1–1	2–1	Friendly
30	19 February 1996	Hong Kong, China	Poland	4–0	5–0	Friendly
31	26 May 1996	Tokyo, Japan	FR Yugoslavia	1–0	1–0	Friendly
32	29 May 1996	Fukuoka, Japan	Mexico	2–2	3–2	Friendly
33	25 August 1996	Osaka, Japan	Uruguay	2–1	5–3	Friendly
34				4–1
35	9 December 1996	Al Ain, UAE	Uzbekistan	2–0	4–0	1996 AFC Asian Cup group stage
36	15 March 1997	Bangkok, Thailand	Thailand	1–1	1–3	Friendly
37	15 March 1997	Muscat, Oman	Macau	4–0	10–0	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
38				9–0
39	21 May 1997	Tokyo, Japan	South Korea	1–1	1–1	Friendly
40	8 June 1997	Tokyo, Japan	Croatia	2–0	4–3	Friendly
41				3–0
42	22 June 1997	Tokyo, Japan	Macau	3–0	10–0	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
43				4–0
44				6–0
45				7–0
46				9–0
47				10–0
48	25 June 1997	Tokyo, Japan	Nepal	2–0	3–0
49				3–0
50	7 September 1997	Tokyo, Japan	Uzbekistan	1–0	6–3
51				2–0
52				5–1
53				6–3
54	16 February 2000	Macau, China	Brunei	4–0	9–0	2000 AFC Asian Cup qualification
55	6 June 2000	Casablanca, Morocco	Jamaica	4–0	4–0	2000 King Hassan II International Cup Tournament

Honours

Club

CRB[34]

• Campeonato Alagoano: 1987

Coritiba[34]

• Campeonato Paranaense: 1989

Tokyo Verdy[34]

• Japan Soccer League: 1990–91, 1991–92,
• J1 League: 1993, 1994
• Japan Soccer League Cup: 1991
• J.League Cup: 1992, 1993, 1994
• Emperor's Cup: 1996
• Xerox Super Cup: 1994, 1995

Croatia Zagreb[34]

• Prva HNL 1998–99

Yokohama[34]

• J2 League: 2006

International

Japan[34]

• AFC Asian Cup: 1992

Individual

• IFFHS Asian Player of the Year: 1992[5]

References

1. "Boa Sorte Kazu! – Museum – Profile – Personal Data". Archived from the original on 15 March 2008.
2. "'King Kazu' rewrites record". The Japan Times. 19 June 2016. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
3. Strack-Zimmermann, Benjamin. "Yokohama FC". National Football Teams. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
4. "Boa Sorte Kazu! – Museum – Profile – Biodata". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007.
5. "Asia's Footballer 1992". IFFHS. Archived from the original on 13 September 2008. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
6. Tamura, Owen Amos and Hideharu (6 September 2020). "How the 53-year-old pro footballer keeps going". BBC News. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
7. "Kazuyoshi Miura breaks oldest goalscorer record in J-League". BBC Sport. 13 March 2017. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
8. Grez, Matias (13 January 2020). "World's oldest professional footballer Kazuyoshi Miura, 52, signs new contract". CNN. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
9. "Quiz: Name 10 footballers playing into a fourth decade". BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
10. "Kobe offer for Kazu". The World Game. SBS. 25 December 2000.
11. "Mission". J.League. Archived from the original on 9 August 2007.
12. 『Dear Kazu 僕を育てた55通の手紙』（2011年、文藝春秋）ISBN 9784163747309 P.60-62
13. 週刊サッカーダイジェスト　1995．2.15　P.13
14. "Ｊリーグ公式サイト：2007 Jomo Allstar Soccer：フォトギャラリー". Archived from the original on 31 March 2008.
15. "Kazuyoshi Miura: Japan legend signs new Yokohama deal at 48". BBC Sport. 11 November 2015. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
16. "2017シーズン契約更新のお知らせ". Yokohama FC. 11 January 2017. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
17. "Kazuyoshi Miura: Yokohama striker signs contract to play into his 50s". BBC Sport. 11 January 2017. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
18. "Japan striker breaks Stan Matthews' record but pleads: Don't compare us!". Stoke Sentinel. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
19. "Kazuyoshi Miura scores at 50 to beat Sir Stanley Matthews' record". The Guardian. London. Associated Press. 13 March 2017.
20. "Kazuyoshi Miura: The Japan legend still going strong after 50". These Football Times. 30 January 2018.
21. "Kazuyoshi Miura: Japanese striker signs new deal at 50". BBC Sport. 11 January 2018.
22. "King Kazu has that #FridayFeeling – he's just signed another professional contract, aged 51". FIFA.com Twitter. 11 January 2019.
23. Varley, Ciaran (15 January 2020). "Kazuyoshi Miura: Japanese striker, 52, signs new Yokohama FC contract". BBC Sport.
24. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/jan/11/kazuyoshi-miura-signs-contract-to-play-past-54th-birthday-in-japan-top-flight
25. "Football: 53-year-old Kazuyoshi Miura sets league cup age record". Kyodo News. 5 August 2020.
26. "Kazuyoshi Miura, King of Asian Football". FIFA. 24 April 1998. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
27. Japan National Football Team Database
28. "Soccer: King Kazu Debuts For Japan Futsal Team In Draw With Brazil". Japan Bullet. 25 October 2012. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
29. "Kazu marks first futsal goal in win over Ukraine". Japan Bullet. 28 October 2012. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
30. Nippon Sports Kikaku Publishing inc./日本スポーツ企画出版社, "J1&J2&J3選手名鑑ハンディ版 2019 (NSK MOOK)", 9 February 2019, Japan, ISBN 978-4905411628 (p. 161 out of 289)
31. Nippon Sports Kikaku Publishing inc./日本スポーツ企画出版社, "J1&J2&J3選手名鑑ハンディ版 2018 (NSK MOOK)", 7 February 2018, Japan, ISBN 978-4905411529 (p. 191 out of 289)
32. Nippon Sports Kikaku Publishing inc./日本スポーツ企画出版社, "2016J1&J2&J3選手名鑑", 10 February 2016, Japan, ISBN 978-4905411338. p. 215
33. "Kazuyoshi "Kazu" Miura – Goals in International Matches". www.rsssf.com.
34. "Kazu Miura – Honours". thefinalball. Retrieved 27 February 2017.

External links

• Kazuyoshi Miura – FIFA competition record
• Kazuyoshi Miura at National-Football-Teams.com
• Japan National Football Team Database
• Kazuyoshi Miura at J.League (in Japanese)
• Profile at Yokohama FC
• BOA SORTE KAZU! (Official site)