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Facts about Kazuyoshi Miura, the oldest active player in football

Tue 29 September 2020 | 16:30

Some might think playing football in your thirties is amazing. Then let us introduce to you Kazuyoshi Miura, the oldest active player in football at the age of 53!!

You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain. This is the belief that has kept many people from going too far and trying too hard near the end. Many players, and many legends among them, have hung their boots after hitting 30 or 35 years of age, leaving their professional playing days behind them.

Of course there are many players such as

Zlatan Ibrahimovic

who has been at his best even at the age of 38. But no one has managed to play at a professional level in their 50s. No one but Kazuyoshi Miura, the

oldest active player in football

who has travelled quite a lot during his career as he’s played for many clubs in different countries around the world.

Kazuyoshi Miura is a Japanese football player who plays as a forward for the J1 League side

Yokohama FC

wearing the number 11 shirt. As the oldest active player in football, it is logical to assume that he might have interesting stories to tell and unique awards in his individual and team trophy cabinets, which could include various colorful trophies from all around the world.

Top facts about Kazuyoshi Miura, the oldest active football player

Let us see who the

oldest active player in football

actually is to better appreciate the legend that he is.

Kazuyoshi Miura age

Of course the very first thing you wonder about when you see the title “The oldest active player in football”, is how old this person is. That’s why

Kazuyoshi Miura age

has been on the minds of everyone. You could guess Kazuyoshi Miura’s age as we already mentioned that he is in his 50s. He was born on 26 February 1967 and he is currently 53 years “young” as he is still fit and energetic enough to play football at a professional level.

Kazuyoshi Miura height

There are a number of different types of strikers, each of which suits a certain type of formation, gameplay and tactics. Each of these types of strikers have their own abilities and physical stats and their unique figures, and to know which type the

oldest active player in football

is, we should take a look at

Kazuyoshi Miura height

to see if he is tall and strong or shorter but faster.

If you were wondering about Kazuyoshi Miura’s height, then you should know that he is 1.77m (5 ft 9 1⁄2 in) tall which is quite an average height that can give him both a fine pace and enough physical strength to hold his stature in the air to head the crosses into the net.

Kazuyoshi Miura teams

You’re either a 1-club man or you’re not, and the oldest active player in football is certainly not a 1-club man as he has travelled around the world playing for various clubs in different leagues to prove his worth in every country that he has travelled to. The Japanese legend has played in many countries including


, Australia, Japan, Italy and Croatia.

But the countries do not sum up the number of clubs he has played for throughout his career as he has changed quite a number of shirts until now that he is playing for Yokohama FC. Since Miura has played for quite a handful of clubs, we will be dividing the clubs he has played for based on the year he moved to the club.


The oldest active player in football began his long career back in 1986 in Brazil with

Santos FC.

It is mind-blowing as many of today’s footballers weren’t even going to be born for at least another 10 years when Miura first started his career.  

Of course his career at Santos didn’t take long as he only made 2 appearances before moving to Palmeiras in the same year, where he had 25 appearances and managed to score a total of 2 goals in those games. You might be surprised to know that the

oldest active football player

in the world moved to yet another club, Matsubara, in his first season in 1986.

You might think that the oldest active player in football might have moved enough in his career after signing for three different clubs in the same year, but he was only getting started as he then moved to Clube de Regatas Brasil in 1987 to only play 4 games for the club. Afterwards, Miura moved to XV de Jau again in 1987 to play 25 games and score 2 goals for the club. However, XV de Jau wasn’t the last club he played for in the 80s as he moved to


in 1988 and played a total of 21 games and bagged 2 goals for himself.


The now oldest active football player went back to his former club Santos FC in the year 1990 for a couple of weeks to score 3 goals in 11 games for the club. However, the 90s was a turning point for the Japanese striker as he moved to

Verdy Kawasaki

(Tokyo Verdy) in the same year to start a 10-year long career with one of the most famous and most decorated clubs in Japan. The club were planning on building a star-studded squad by bringing Japan internationals including Ruy Ramos, Tsuyoshi Kitazawa and of course Kazuyoshi Miura himself.

The oldest active football player in the world spent almost a decade of his life playing for the Japanese side Verdy Kawasaki. He also moved on loan to the Italian side Genoa back in 1994 and the Croatian club Dinamo Zagreb in 1999, but it was at Verdy Kawasaki that he managed to make a name for himself. He went on to make a total of 177 appearances at his club, while scoring 106 goals in the process which was an impressive record for the Japan international.

One year before the end of the millennium, the

oldest active footballer

in the world Kazuyoshi Miura moved to Kyoto Purple Sanga where he played for a year and made 42 appearances. However, it wasn’t much of a success, either for the club or the player as they lost many games during that season which resulted in Miura finding another club to play at the very next year.


The Japanese legend moved to

Vissel Kobe

back in 2001, the club which the Spanish legend Andres Iniesta now plays for. You might be shocked to know that Iniesta hadn’t even made his senior club debut back in 2001, which could help us understand how old the oldest active footballer in the world is. He made a total of 125 appearances and only bagged 29 goals in the process, which is not good, but not bad either.

Of course this was after he had retired from international duty after playing a decade of his life for his country. While many believed that his career had come to an end, the oldest active footballer made another move to

Yokohama FC

back in 2005 to start his career anew.

This was the club at which Kazuyoshi Miura began to make his own special legacy as the oldest active player in football. He has played in more than 290 games for the Japanese side, scoring only 27 goals while making only 3 assists for the club, which is quite baffling to see a somewhat of a prolific striker become less and less deadly each year. Of course we should be giving him credit for still being able to run up and down the pitch for 90 minutes which is always a tough task.

Kazuyoshi Miura Futsal

The oldest active player in football tried his skills at futsal for a brief period as he played 6 times for the Japan national Futsal team and scored 1 goal for his country. Of course he used to be much better for his country’s national football team as he had 89 international caps, scoring 55 goals in the process to boost his country in various competitions.

Kazuyoshi Miura awards

You can’t be the oldest active player in football and not have any trophies or individual awards to your name. The very least would be a Guinness World Record or something similar for simply being the oldest active footballer in the world.

Miura has got himself quite a decorated trophy cabinet as he has won many trophies and individual awards throughout his career, most of which have come during his time at Verdy Kawasaki. Miura has won 2 Japanese Amateur Championships, 2 Japanese Super Cups, 3 Japanese League Cups, 1 Japanese Cup and 2 Japanese League titles with Verdy Kawasaki during his 10-year spell at the club, his golden era in football. He was also awarded the 1992 Player of the Year award at Verky Kawaski and the 1992 and 1993 Footballer of the Year awards in Japan.

Of course these are not the only trophies that he’s won as he won the 1. HNL (the Croatian First Football League) with

Dinamo Zagreb

during his loan spell at the club.  He’s also won 3 top scorer awards, two of which he received for his goals in the J1 League and the other he received in the J. League Cup competition. Here is a better list of trophies that the oldest active player in football has won:

  • Campeonato Alagoano: 1987

  • Campeonato Paranaense: 1989

  • Japan Soccer League: 1990–91, 1991–92

  • J1 League: 1993, 1994

  • Japan Soccer League Cup: 1991

  • J.League Cup: 1992, 1993, 1994

  • Emperor's Cup: 1996

  • Xerox Super Cup: 1994, 1995

  • Prva HNL 1998–99

  • J2 League: 2006

  • AFC Asian Cup: 1992

  • IFFHS Asian Player of the Year: 1992

Kazuyoshi Miura Nickname

As a legendary football player of a country with millions of football lovers, one would definitely ‘earn’ a nickname for themselves as they play through their career. The oldest active player in football could certainly be a nice title, but it’s not a nickname. Mirua is known to football fans as simply ‘Kazu’ or ‘King Kazu’ as he has earned quite a reputation in Japan, both for his age and his performances throughout the years. After all, he has played over 660 games in total, scoring 187 goals for his clubs which are surely fondly remembered by the fans.

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Kazuyoshi Miura transfermarket

Some might think that a 53-year-old man would even have to pay a certain amount of money to be able to play at a club as he is definitely well past his prime. Miura, however, has not only proven these people wrong by signing a professional contract with a professional Japanese team, but he has also doubled his market value since joining the club.

Kazuyoshi Miura transfermarket

value might not be as hefty as those players active in western leagues, he might not even have a high transfer market value in his country or even his own team. But the important thing is that Kazuyoshi Miura transfermarket value stands at €100,000, which is still a lot of money to pay for a 53-year-old player. What is quite amusing, is that he has been ranked as the number one with the highest transfer market value among all players born in 1967. The thing is that he is the only active player in modern football who was born in 1967.

No matter where King Kazu is or what he does, he will always have a special place in the hearts of the football fans as he is one of the few people who have managed to prove to the world that age is just a number and you can reach your goal if you put the extra effort needed. We hope to see him play until his 60s which will definitely be quite a wild age to play football.




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source: SportMob