, often known simply as Kazu (nicknamed "King Kazu"), is a Japanese professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

Japan Football League The also known as simply the JFL is the 4th tier of the Japanese association football league system, positioned beneath the three divisions of the J.League. The league features fully professional teams that hold J.League associate membership am ...

club

Suzuka Point Getters is a Japanese professional football club based in Suzuka, Mie Prefecture. They play in the Japan Football League. History The club was originally established in Nabari, Mie in 1980 under the name Mie Club, and it became a member of Mie ...

on loan from

Yokohama FC is a Japanese professional football club based in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The club currently plays in the J1 League, which is the first tier of football in the country. The club was formed by fans of Yokoh ...

. 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 Feint is a French term that entered English via the discipline of swordsmanship and fencing. Feints are maneuvers designed to distract or mislead, done by giving the impression that a certain maneuver will take place, while in fact another, or e ...

" and his famous "Kazu dance", when he scores great goals or produces great plays. Miura holds the

records A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

for being the oldest goalscorer in the J-League, the footballer with the world's longest professional career, and, as of 2022, is the oldest professional footballer in the world at 55. He also holds the unique distinction of having played professional football in five separate decades (1980s–2020s). His elder brother Yasutoshi is also a former professional footballer.

Club career

Early career

In 1982, Miura left the

Shizuoka Gakuen High School is a private coeducational junior and senior high school located in Suruga-ku, Shizuoka, Japan. Shizuoka Gakuen was founded by Makino Kenichi in 1966. The junior high school and high school are part of a larger school organization which include ...

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 São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

side

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

, and in 1986, Miura signed his first professional contract with Santos. He played for several other Brazilian clubs, including

Palmeiras Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras (), commonly known as Palmeiras, is a Brazilian professional football club based in the city of São Paulo, in the district of Perdizes. Palmeiras is one of the most popular clubs in South America, with around ...

and

Coritiba Coritiba Foot Ball Club, commonly known as Coritiba and colloquially referred to as "Coxa-Branca" or "Coxa", is a Brazilian football club from Curitiba, capital city of the Brazilian state of Paraná. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest f ...

, 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 , or JSL, was the top flight association football league in Japan between 1965 and 1992, and was the precursor to the current professional league, the J.League. JSL was the second national league of a team sport in Japan after the professional ...

(JSL) side Yomiuri SC, which later spun off from its parent company

Yomiuri Shinbun The (lit. ''Reading-selling Newspaper'' or ''Selling by Reading Newspaper'') is a Japanese newspaper published in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, and other major Japanese cities. It is one of the five major newspapers in Japan; the other four are t ...

and became

Verdy Kawasaki is a Japanese professional football club based in Inagi, Tokyo. The club plays in the J2 League, the second tier of football in the country. Founded as Yomiuri F.C. in 1969, Tokyo Verdy is one of the most decorated clubs in the J.League, wit ...

with the launch of the

J1 League The , known as the for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the system. Founded in 1992, it is one of the most successful leagues in Asian club football. Contested by 18 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the J ...

in 1993. With Yomiuri/Kawasaki, Miura won four consecutive league titles playing alongside fellow Japanese national team regulars

Ruy Ramos is a former football player and manager, originally from Brazil, who spent his career in Japan and played for the Japan national team. Ramos is currently active as a television personality and ''tarento'', represented with Irving. Club car ...

and

Tsuyoshi Kitazawa is a former Japanese football player. He played for Japan national team. He is currently working on television as a football commentator. Club career When Kitazawa was a junior high student, he played for Yomiuri Junior Youth. After being re ...

. 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 then became the first Japanese footballer to play in Italy, joining

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

in the 1994–95

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

season. In his Italian stint, he played 21 times and scored one goal, during the Genoa derby against

Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, ...

. On 15 January 1994, Miura assisted Antonio Manicone's match-winning goal against

Padova Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

Return to Verdy Kawasaki

He returned to

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 AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as B ...

, in the same year, and played with

Kyoto Purple Sanga is a Japanese professional association football, football club based in Kyoto. "Sanga" comes from the Sanskrit word ''sangha'', a term meaning "group" or "club" and often used to denote the Buddhist priesthood, associating the club with Kyoto ...

and

Vissel Kobe is a Japanese professional football club based in Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. The team's home stadium is Noevir Stadium Kobe, in Hyōgo-ku, though some home matc ...

Yokohama FC

In 2005, Miura signed for

in 2005. 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

Kazu Miura, Roberto Baggio and Tsuyoshi Kitazawa

In November 2015, Miura signed a new one-year contract with

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 is a Japanese J2 League football club based in Nagasaki. The club was established in 1985 as Ariake SC till they merged with Kunimi FC in 2004 and adopted the present name in 2005. The club gained promotion into the J. League Division 2 in ...

. With 50 years and seven days, he surpassed the previous record held by

Stanley Matthews Sir Stanley Matthews, CBE (1 February 1915 – 23 February 2000) was an English footballer who played as an outside right. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the British game, he is the only player to have been knighted while stil ...

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 is a professional football (soccer) club based in Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture in Japan. The club plays in the J2 League, the second division of professional football in Japan. History The club was founded in 1995 in Kusatsu, one of the most ...

. 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 The is a Japanese football (soccer) competition organized by J.League. It has been sponsored by Yamazaki Biscuits (YBC) of Yamazaki Baking (formerly Yamazaki Nabisco) since its inception in 1992. It is also known as the or (Levain is one of Y ...

match against

Sagan Tosu is a Japanese professional football club, currently playing in the J1 League. The team is located in Tosu, Saga Prefecture. ''Sagan'' is a coined word with a couple of meanings behind it. One of its homophones is in Japanese. This symbolises ...

, 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 is a Japanese professional football club based in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Their home stadium is Kawasaki Todoroki Stadium, in Nakahara ...

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.

Suzuka Point Getters

On 30 December 2021, it was reported that Miura had reached an agreement to join

in the

(JFL), the fourth tier of Japanese football. On 13 March 2022, Kazua, at the age of 55, made his debut for Suzuka Point Getters, in the first round of the Japan Football League, which led to 4,620 spectators to watch 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 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 Suzuka Point Getters having featured in nine of the ten matches with the highest attendance numbers throughout the 2022 season. This includes the match between Suzuka Point Getters and Criacao Shinjuku, that gathered a crowd of 16,218 people watching the match at the

Japan National Stadium The Japan National Stadium, officially named and formerly known as or , is a multi-purpose stadium used mostly for association football in Kasumigaoka, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. The facility served as the main stadium for the opening and ...

, where he featured in a 1–0 win for Suzuka on 9 October 2022. It broke the record of the biggest attendance on a single JFL match. On 30 October 2022, Kazu became the oldest player to score at the JFL having converted from the penalty spot at the 85th minute of the match, to seal Suzuka's 3–1 win against Tiamo Hirakata. He broke the record two weeks after, on 12 November 2022, becoming the oldest player to score at the JFL at 55 years and 259 days old. With this goal, he also became the oldest to score at the competition from an open play situation. From 30 October to 12 November of 2022, then, he played three times and scored two goals, making it the first time he scored two goals in a single season since 2016, while at Yokohama FC.

International 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 Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

. After his debut, he played as a forward until 1997. In 1992, he played at the

1992 Asian Cup The 1992 AFC Asian Cup was the 10th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan between 29 Octob ...

, 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 The 1996 AFC Asian Cup was the 11th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in the United Arab Emirates between 4 and 21 Decem ...

. In 1997, Miura scored fourteen times for Japan during

qualification Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

for the 1998 World Cup, leading the ''Samurai Blue'' to their first ever

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

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.

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 Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. He came off the bench and was involved in the build up for the second goal scored by

Nobuya Osodo Nobuya Osodo (born 28 June 1983), is a Japanese futsal player who plays for Shriker Osaka and the Japanese national futsal team. Title ; Club * F.League (1) : 2016-17 * All Japan Futsal Championship (1) : 2017 ; Individual * F.League Special ...

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

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. 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

International

:''Scores and results list Japan's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Miura goal.''

Honours

Matsubara * Torneio Brasil Sul:

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

CRB *

Campeonato Alagoano The Campeonato Alagoano is the football league of the state of Alagoas, Brazil. Format 2020 First Division The Campeonato Alagoano is divided into three stages. *First stage: simple round-robin, in which all eight teams play each other once ...

: 1987 (in Portuguese) Coritiba *

Campeonato Paranaense Campeonato Paranaense, which has been contested since 1915, is the top-flight football league of the state of Paraná, Brazil. Format The format has changed in 2014. 12 teams are together in a single group. They play against each other once, ...

: 1989 (in Portuguese) Tokyo Verdy *

: 1990–91, 1991–92, *

: 1993,

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

Emperor's Cup , commonly known as or also Japan FA Cup is a Japanese football competition. It has the longest tradition of any football match in Japan, dating back to 1921, before the formation of the J.League, Japan Football League and their predecessor, J ...

: 1996 *

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

, 1993,

* Japan Soccer League Cup:

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

Xerox Super Cup The , known as the for sponsorship reasons, is an annual one-match association football competition in Japan organised by J. League and the Japan Football Association (JFA). This competition serves as the season opener and is played between the r ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

Croatia Zagreb * Prva HNL 1998–99 Yokohama *

J2 League The or simply J2 is the second division of the and the second level of the Japanese association football league system. The top tier is represented by the J1 League. It (along with the rest of the J.League) is currently sponsored by Meiji Yas ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

; runners-up: 2019 Japan * AFC Asian Cup:

Afro-Asian Cup of Nations The Afro-Asian Cup of Nations, also called the AFC Asia/Africa Challenge Cup, was an intercontinental football competition endorsed by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), contested between repr ...

: 1993 Individual * Asian Footballer of the Year:

J.League MVP Award The J.League Player of the Year (formerly known as the "J.League Most Valuable Player Award" from 1993 to 2020) is awarded by the J.League to the most valuable player of the season. J1 League Winners Wins by club J2 League Winners J3 League ...

: 1993 *

J.League Best XI The J.League Best XI is an acknowledgement of the best eleven players in J.League. J1 League (1993–present) Multiple appearances Appearances by club Appearances by country * Only in two occasions there was a full-Japanese Best XI (20 ...