Kazuyoshi Miura: Japanese soccer player, 57, set for 40th season as a professional

Japanese forward Kazuyoshi Miura plans to extend his professional soccer career into his 40th season.

Miura, 57 plays for Atletico Suzuka in the Japan Football League (JFL) — the fourth tier of Japanese football — 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 earlier and says he plans to keep playing for them in the 2025 season. “I had a one-and-a-half-year contract (since the summer of 2024). I think it was a natural progression,” he said, via the Kyodo News press agency.

The Japanese soccer calendar runs from March to November and Miura will be 58 when the new season begins next year.

Known as ‘King Kazu’, Miura’s professional career began in 1986 with Brazilian club Santos and his lengthy career has included spells with Palmeiras, Coritiba, Genoa, Dinamo Zagreb, Vissel Kobe and Sydney FC. He previously spent time on loan with Suzuka in 2022 before joining Portuguese second-tier side Oliveirense in a temporary move in January 2023.

Miura was one of the first Japanese star footballers, being crowned Asian Football of the Year in 1992 and scoring 55 goals in 89 international appearances between 1990 and 2000, winning the Asian Cup in 1992 and the old Afro-Asian Cup of Nations the following year.

Miura has won 18 trophies across his career including four Japanese league titles with Tokyo Verdy and the top-flight of Croatian football with Dinamo Zagreb.

(Gualter Fatia/Getty Images)