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Kazuyoshi Miura
三浦 知良
Kazu Miura at Matsuda tribute match 20120122 (edited).jpg
Miura in 2012
Personal information
Date of birth (1967-02-26) 26 February 1967 (age 57)
Place of birth Shizuoka, Japan
Height 1.77 m
Playing position Forward
Club information
Current club U.D. Oliveirense
(on loan from 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)
1989–1990 Santos 11 (3)
1990–1998 Verdy Kawasaki 192 (117)
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 278 (27)
2005 Sydney FC (loan) 4 (2)
2022 → Suzuka Point Getters (loan) 18 (2)
2023– → Oliveirense (loan) 5 (0)
National team
1990–2000 Japan 89 (55)
2012 Japan (futsal) 6 (1)
Honours
Men's football
Representing  Japan
AFC Asian Cup
Gold 1992 Japan
  • Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22:00, 20 August 2023 (UTC).
† Appearances (Goals).

Kazuyoshi Miura (三浦 知良, Miura Kazuyoshi, born 26 February 1967), often known simply as Kazu (nicknamed "King Kazu"), is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a forward for Liga Portugal 2 club Oliveirense, on loan from J1 League club Yokohama FC. He is regarded as the oldest professional footballer in history and the oldest player to score in a professional match.

He played for the Japan national team from 1990 to 2000, and was the first Japanese recipient of the IFFHS Asia's Footballer of the Year award. 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 notable goals or produces such plays.

Miura holds the records for being the oldest goalscorer in the J-League, the footballer with the world's longest professional career, and, as of 2023, is the oldest professional footballer in the world at 56. He also holds the unique distinction of having played professional football in five separate decades (1980s–2020s). His elder brother Yasutoshi is a former professional footballer.

Club career

Early 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. He signed with the youth squad of São Paulo side Juventus, 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.

Verdy Kawasaki

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 Shimbun and became Verdy Kawasaki with the launch of the J1 League in 1993. 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.

Loan to Genoa

Miura became the first East Asian footballer to play in Serie A, joining the Italian club Genoa in the 1994–95 Serie A season. In his Italian stint, he made 21 appearances for the club and scored one goal, during the Genoa derby against Sampdoria. On 15 January 1994, Miura assisted Antonio Manicone's match-winning goal against Padova.

Return to Verdy Kawasaki

He returned to Verdy Kawasaki for the 1995 season and played with them until the end of the 1998 season.

Dinamo Zagreb

Miura made another attempt at playing in Europe with Croatia Zagreb in 1999.

Return to Japan

He returned to Japan, however, following a brief trial with AFC Bournemouth, in the same year, and played with Kyoto Purple Sanga and Vissel Kobe.

Yokohama FC

In 2005, Miura signed for Yokohama FC in 2005. They would be promoted to the J1 League two years later. In 2007, Miura was selected for the 2007 J.League All-Star Soccer for J-East and played exceptionally well.

Kazu Miura, Roberto Baggio and Tsuyoshi Kitazawa
Miura (left) with Roberto Baggio and Tsuyoshi Kitazawa in 2013

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

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. 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.

In January 2018, he signed a new contract, and renewed it again in January 2019, January 2020, and January 2021.

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.

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.

In January 2021 he agreed to extend his contract at the age of 53 for his 36th season.

Suzuka Point Getters

On 30 December 2021, it was reported that Miura had reached an agreement to join the Suzuka Point Getters in the Japan Football League (JFL), the fourth tier of Japanese football. On 13 March 2022, Miura, at the age of 55, made his debut for the Point Getters in the first round of the Japan Football League with 4,620 spectators watching his debut, which is the highest attendance at a Suzuka home match, breaking their previous record of 1,308 spectators in 2019. His debut also meant that he broke the record of the oldest player to have ever featured in a JFL match at 55 years old, with a 12-year gap to the previous record holder. His presence at the club brought many curious spectators to see him in action, leading to the Point Getters having featured in nine of the ten matches with the highest attendance numbers throughout the 2022 season. This includes a 1–0 win against Criacao Shinjuku on 9 October 2022, which gathered a crowd of 16,218 spectators at the Japan National Stadium, becoming the highest-attended JFL match of all time. On 30 October 2022, Miura became the oldest player to score in the JFL, having converted from the penalty spot in the 85th minute of the match to seal Suzuka's 3–1 win against Tiamo Hirakata. He scored again from open play on 12 November 2022 at 55 years and 259 days old, breaking two more records. In total, from 30 October to 12 November, he played three matches and scored two goals.

Return to Europe

On 26 January 2023, Portuguese club Oliveirense announced that Miura would be playing for the Liga Portugal 2 club on loan for the rest of the season. Back in November 2022, the owner of Yokohama, Onodera Group, had become a majority shareholder (ownership of 52.5% of the stock) of U.D. Oliveirense. Oliveirense announced that Miura passed the medical tests with flying colors, and launched an official presentation video of him featuring typical Japanese manga aesthetics and style.

At 55 years old, Miura became by a large margin the oldest professional player to ever sign a professional contract for any professional ball sports team in Portugal since volleyball player Miguel Maia renewed his contract with Sporting Clube de Portugal in 2018 at 47 years of age. On 25 March, Miura played his first match for Oliveirense in a friendly match against Liga 3 team Oliveira do Hospital. Two days later he visited the Embassy of Japan in Lisbon where he gifted a signed football shirt of his team to the embassy staff.

On 22 April, Miura made his debut in a Liga Portugal 2 match at the age of 56, when he came on in the 90th minute of a 4–1 win at Academico de Viseu's home ground. On 28 May, Miura was awarded the man of the match in the last league game of the season for his team, where Miura played the last 20 minutes of the match as a substitute and Oliveirense won 4–3 against Leixões. Tonel, football commentator of Sport TV, chose Miura for the award as a symbolic homage to his long career, a decision which caused some controversy. Vítor Martins, Leixões' manager, found it strange and said: "In a game that had seven goals I do not understand how they give the Man of the Match award to Miura. I think it is offensive to give him the award, this is not the way, otherwise this is turned into a circus".

In July 2023, his loan with Oliveirense was extended for an indefinite period.

International career

Football

In September 1990, Miura was named as part of the Japan squad for the 1990 Asian Games. At this competition, on 26 September, 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. 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.

He is one of only men for Japan to score more than 50 goals for the teams, along with Kunishige Kamamoto and Shinji Okazaki.

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. In his second appearance with the futsal team, he scored the third goal in a 3–1 win over Ukraine. 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.

Personal life

Since 1993, he has been married to former actress and model Risako Shitara. They have two children, Ryota Miura (born 1997) and Kota Miura.

Career statistics

Club

.

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League League National 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
Dinamo 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
2006 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
2021 1 0 0 0 3 0 4 0
Total 278 27 6 0 9 0 0 0 293 27
Sydney FC (loan) 2005–06 A-League 4 2 2 0 6 2
Suzuka Point Getters (loan) 2022 Japan Football League 18 2 0 0 18 2
Oliveirense (loan) 2022–23 Liga Portugal 2 4 0 4 0
2023–24 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 0
Total 5 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 6 0
Career total 672 177 31 14 60 19 24 8 789 218

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Japan 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
Scores and results list Japan's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Miura goal.
List of international goals scored by Kazuyoshi Miura
No. 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
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 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification
7 3–0
8 4–0
9 5–0
10 15 April 1993 Tokyo, Japan  Sri Lanka 3–0 5–0 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification
11 5–0
12 30 April 1993 Dubai, UAE  Bangladesh 2–1 4–1 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification
13 5 May 1993 Dubai, UAE  Sri Lanka 5–0 6–0 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification
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 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification
18 28 October 1993 Doha, Qatar  Iraq 1–0 2–2 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification
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
23 11 October 1994 Hiroshima, Japan  South Korea 1–0 2–3 1994 Asian Games
24 8 January 1995 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia  Argentina 1–4 1–5 1995 King Fahd Cup
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 28 October 1995 Matsuyama, Japan  Saudi Arabia 1–1 2–1 Friendly
30 19 February 1996 Hong Kong, China  Poland 4–0 5–0 1996 Lunar New Year Cup
31 26 May 1996 Tokyo, Japan  Yugoslavia 1–0 1–0 1996 Kirin Cup
32 29 May 1996 Fukuoka, Japan  Mexico 2–2 3–2 1996 Kirin Cup
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
36 15 March 1997 Bangkok, Thailand  Thailand 1–1 1–3 Friendly
37 25 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 1997 Kirin Cup
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 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
49 3–0
50 7 September 1997 Tokyo, Japan  Uzbekistan 1–0 6–3 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
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

Matsubara

  • Torneio Brasil Sul: 1986

CRB

  • Campeonato Alagoano: 1987 (in Portuguese)

Coritiba

  • Campeonato Paranaense: 1989 (in Portuguese)

Tokyo Verdy

Croatia Zagreb

Yokohama

Japan

Individual

  • Asian Footballer of the Year: 1992
  • J.League MVP Award: 1993
  • J.League Best XI: 1993, 1995, 1996
  • J.League 20th Anniversary Team: 2013
  • J.League 30th Anniversary Team: 2023
  • J.League Top Scorer: 1996
  • AFC Asian Cup Most Valuable Player: 1992
  • 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification Top scorer

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Kazuyoshi Miura para niños

  • List of men's footballers with 50 or more international goals
  • List of men's footballers with the most official appearances
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