Japanese forward Kazuyoshi Miura renews contract with Yokohama FC

The Japanese forward Kazuyoshi Miura, better known to his fans as "King Kazu," has renewed his contract with Yokohama FC for the 2021 season and will continue playing in the top division of the J-League with 54 years old.

This Monday, the football club announced the contract renewal, in which Miura stated that his "aspirations and passion for football only continue to grow."

"In this season, I also want to work every day with the goal of playing more matches and contributing to the team's victory," he said.

"King Kazu" became the oldest player to step onto the field in the top category of the Japanese league in September 2020 (53 years, 6 months, and 28 days), when he was part of the starting eleven in the 3-2 defeat against Kawasaki Frontale.

Miura played four matches last season when Yokohama FC returned to the top division for the first time since 2007. The club finished in fifteenth position in the Japanese championship, which was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although he did not score any goals at that time, Miura still aspires to surpass Zico as the oldest goal scorer in J1. The Brazilian achieved this milestone with Kashima Antlers in 1994 at the age of 41 years, 3 months, and 12 days.

Miura will turn 54 on February 26 and will enter his thirty-sixth year of professional football career, which began when he moved to Brazil in the 1980s at the age of 15. In the South American country, he played for Santos, Palmeiras, and Coritiba.

Upon returning to Japan, Miura became the leading national scorer in the newly established J-League with Verdy Kawasaki, a team in which he scored 100 goals over eight seasons.

"King Kazu" was the first Japanese player to play in Italy (he was at Genoa) and also played a season in the Australian Sydney and another in the Croatian Dinamo Zagreb.

He was also the star of the Japanese national team in the 1990s, although at the age of 31, he was excluded at the last moment from the list of 22 players selected for the 1998 World Cup in France, the first one Japan participated in its history. EFE