Kazuyoshi Miura

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.^[9] 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.^[9]

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.^[1][17] 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.^[9]

Dinamo Zagreb

Miura made another attempt at playing in Europe with Croatia Zagreb in 1999.^{[citation needed]}

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.^[20]

Yokohama FC

In 2005, Miura signed for Yokohama FC. 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.^[21] In November 2015, Miura signed a new one-year contract with Yokohama FC at the age of 48.^[22] In January 2017, Miura signed another new one-year contract with Yokohama, taking his professional career into his fifties.^[23][24] 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.^[25] 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.^[26][27] In January 2018, he signed a new contract,^[28] and renewed it again in January 2019,^[29] January 2020,^[30] and January 2021.^[13] 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.^[31]

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.^[32]

In January 2021 he agreed to extend his contract at the age of 53 for his 36th season.^[33]

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, in which he scored the winner in a group stage 1-0 win against Iran. Japan went on to win the tournament, Miura being named the tournament's Most Valuable Player. 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, and the 1995 King Fahd Cup.Miura also played in the 1996 Asian Cup, and he scored one goal, the second goal in a group stage 4-0 win against Uzbekistan.

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 appearance.^[55] 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.^[56]

He is one of only three men for Japan to score more than 50 goals for the teams, along with Kunishige Kamamoto and Shinji Okazaki.^[57]

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 buildup for the second goal scored by Nobuya Osodo.^[58] In his second appearance with the futsal team, he scored the third goal in a 3–1 win over Ukraine.^[59] 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.

Club

As of match played 18 October 2025^{[62][63][64][65]}

Total appearances including known games in Brazil: 1,046+ (as of 15 February 2024)

International

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

More information No., Date ...

List of international goals scored by Kazuyoshi Miura^[56]

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
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
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
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
28	24 October 1995	Tokyo, Japan	Saudi Arabia	2–0	2–1
29	28 October 1995	Matsuyama, Japan	Saudi Arabia	1–1	2–1
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
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
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

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