Kazuyoshi Miura

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 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.[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][12] 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.[13] On 15 January 1994, Miura assisted Antonio Manicone's match-winning goal against Padova.[14]

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 AFC Bournemouth, in the same year, and played with Kyoto Purple Sanga and Vissel Kobe.

In 2005, Miura signed 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.[15]

Kazu Miura, Roberto Baggio and Tsuyoshi Kitazawa

In November 2015, Miura signed a new one-year contract with Yokohama FC at the age of 48.[16] In January 2017, Miura signed another new one-year contract with Yokohama, taking his professional career into his fifties.[17][18]

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.[19] 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.[20][21]

In January 2018, he signed a new contract,[22] and renewed it again in January 2019,[23] January 2020,[24] and January 2021.[25]

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.[26]

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.

On 30 December 2021, it was reported that Miura had reached an agreement to join Suzuka Point Getters in the Japan Football League (JFL), the fourth tier of Japanese football.[27] 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, being it the higher attendance in a Suzuka home match, breaking their previous record of 1,308 spectators, recorded on 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. [28] 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, 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.[29] On 30 October 2022, Kazu became the oldest football player to score a goal at the JFL, at 55 years and 246 days old, having converted from the penalty spot at the 85th minute of the match, to seal Suzuka's 3–1 win against Tiamo Hirakata.[30][31]

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.[32] 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.[33]

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.[34] In his second appearance with the futsal team, he scored the third goal in a 3–1 win over Ukraine.[35] 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.

As of 30 October 2022 [38][39][40][41]

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[33]

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	FR 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