“King Kazu” Kazuyoshi Miura is the oldest professional soccer player in the world.
Image: Reuters
He is not a world star, but a man of the world. At 56, Kazuyoshi Miura still plays in the Portuguese second division. He is the oldest professional soccer player. How does the Japanese do that?
Welcome to the football province, in the northern Portuguese town of Oliveira de Azeméis. The local sports club is called UD Oliveirense and is a first-class address for basketball and roller hockey. On the other hand, even in the second division, the kickers are only average and usually not worth more than a side note. But nobody has been able to get past Oliveirense since February, because someone who is not a world star but a man of the world has mingled with the provincial kickers.
Apart from his native Japan, Kazuyoshi Miura has also played in Brazil, Italy, Croatia and Australia. In 1993 he was Asia’s Footballer of the Year; In 1996, when he played in Serie A for FC Genoa, he was even a candidate for the “World Footballer of the Year” election. In 2017, “King Kazu”, as he is known, was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest professional footballer in the world.
