Incredible Miura: on the pitch at 58, 40 seasons among the pros

At this point, even with all the improvements in sports medicine and physical training that are extending the careers of many champions in all sports, it becomes difficult to think that anyone can beat the record just touched by Kazu Miura, a Japanese striker seen in Italy with the Genoa jersey in the mid-nineties. Kazuyoshi Miura in fact celebrated his fortieth (40!) season as a professional footballer, starting and playing the first half of the match in the fourth Japanese division with the jersey of his Atletico Suzuka, where he plays on loan from Yokohama. The opponent was Veertien Mie and the match had been chosen by the management of the Japanese club to properly celebrate the milestone of the striker, who in truth had already played 8 minutes against YSCC Yokohama in mid-June.

Atletico Suzuka wanted to celebrate the milestone by fielding him as a starter at 58 years and 130 days). “I know it’s rare for a professional athlete to celebrate his 40th season, and I feel really lucky and grateful,” Miura said. “I believe I can continue playing, and before today’s game I told my teammates that I feel I can do it thanks to their support. My motivation is to work hard and give my all to be able to play like I did today together with my teammates. Continuing to train daily and maintaining the desire to improve at my age is difficult, but that’s what motivates me.”

Miura already had the record of the oldest professional player, which is added to a series of other records: he was the first Asian to play in Serie A, in the 1994-95 season, with Genoa. He also played for Dinamo Zagreb, Sydney FC, Kyoto Sanga, Vissel Kobe and Yokohama FC, then at 55 he also played in Portugal in the second Lusitanian division with the Oliveirense jersey.

The record has been held by Miura since 2018, when he surpassed the previous one held by Kevin Poole. Miura is also the only player to have scored at least one goal in tournaments on four different continents (Asia, South America, Europe and Oceania) and is part of the select group of players who have played at least 1000 games in their career.