Japanese veteran striker Kazuyoshi Miura celebrates 50th birthday playing for Yokohama FC

The veteran Japanese striker Kazuyoshi Miura turned 50 and celebrated by starting for his team, Yokohama FC, in the first match of the second division season in Japan.

Kazuyoshi Miura, generally considered the oldest active football player in the world, stepped onto the Mitsuzawa stadium as a starter for the first time in the past two years.

The forward played 65 minutes in the home match against Matsumoto Yamaga (which his team won 1-0) before being substituted by Tomohiro Tsuda.

Last season, Kazuyoshi Miura played in 20 matches and scored two goals, the last one on August 7, when he surpassed his own record as the oldest player to score a goal in Japanese professional leagues at the age of 49 years, five months, and 12 days.

Beyond his long career, "King Kazu" is a legend in Japan, as he spearheaded the modernization and professionalization of football in the Asian country when the J.League was founded in 1993.

His career started in the 80s in Brazil (playing for Santos, Palmeiras, and Coritiba), where he traveled at the age of 15 to become a professional.

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

"King Kazu" was the first Japanese player to play in Italy (he was part of Genoa) and also spent 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 90s, 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 World Cup Japan participated in.

Source: EFE