The Story of the Oldest Player Ever

There have been a lot of professional footballers in the history of the world, but only one has played this long and he is not close to done. King Kazu has tackled basically every challenge you could possible come up with -- he’s a Japan legend, he built his domestic league, he played in a top five league, and he showed longevity.
Now, he is just inventing different challenges for himself because noone else has ever stayed on a professional contract this long. This entire video is his story from beginning to NOT end because he is still playing to this day and may play for quite a few more years until he is finally not able to contribute at a professional level.
Much Love,
The Zealand
Sources
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► Express UK
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► CNN
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► ESPN
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#KingKazu #Japan #Soccer #Hashtags

[@dinisalmeida3946]

He has just debuted in Oliveirense, becoming the oldest player ever to play a professional game in Portugal

[@MartyTuro]

Man I thought they weren’t gonna play him, good stuff

[@mariomm9080]

i hope he can score that one goal

[@craiggibbons8228]

Absolutely love Kaziyoshi Muira. Remember him back in his prime. Playing in Italy. Great skills. Proper baller.

[@bananaempijama]

Yup 👍

[@Daniel-je9pi]

Just one more goal!

[@basileosalexios9200]

Kazu is a legend. Very famously when he played for Santos (in Brazil) back in the nineties, the Santos's supporter crowd was singing (in portuguese) "One, two three, put in the Japanese". After demands from the supporters the head coach subbed Kazu in and he scored the winning goal. When celebrating, he went to the Santos's supporters and made a "silence" sign with his hand moving his finger to his lips. The supporters, that had chanted him in, were completely dumbfolded as to why the charismatic japanese player was telling them to shut up after calling him in and him scoring the winning goal. Later when asked about it by journalists, Kazu just said "That's what the sign means? Shit I just saw a player do it on TV once and I thought it was a cool way to celebrate it". Priceless.

[@KN17K3]

That story is from another japanese that has played in Santos, Masakiyo Maezono, back in 1998

[@franciscoamorim2936]

thats another guy not kazu

[@Rand0mGypsy]

Nope, this was another japanese striker, not kazu

[@99Gara99]

In English they may know it as "hush" sign 🤫

[@DrZaius3141]

Noriaki Kasai is a Japanese ski jumper. He started his career at the age of 16 and won his first competition at 19. His last win came at age 42, he was still competitive at 48 and still active now at the age of 50. He also has 3 Olympic medals. One of them he got when he was 21, two more when he was 41. It should be obvious that ski jumping is horrible for your joints and most athletes retire around the age of 30. Must be the Japanese food...

[@FunkyGhostHD]

Aah, the Legend Nori... Remember rooting for him whenever I saw he was in the lineup in any competetion while my ma usually was a big Simon Amman fan (might've pronounced his name wrong), "The Flying Mustache" :) Good old times...

[@tobibitotabibito]

@@FunkyGhostHD the Flying Mustache wasnt Ammann, it was Adam Malysz

[@FunkyGhostHD]

@@tobibitotabibito Oh whoops😅 It's been a long time since I caught a tourney must've mixed them. Hey actually, you remember who was called Harry Potter, or something like that? Maybe that was Simon, my memory's hazy been more than a decade...

[@tobibitotabibito]

@@FunkyGhostHD no worries, Harry Potter was indeed Ammann, I thought it was Gregor Schlierenzauer but it is Ammann, its been a while since I follow it as well

[@dronesclubhighjinks]

Incredible! Thank you for mentioning this athlete as I have never heard of him and I have learned something new. 😎

[@bobjuh]

He is still young, in my FM20 save my oldest player was 72. The guy was a chairman/player without who got "stuck" and never retired. I signed him, played him in the league and Champions league and he retired at the end of the season as a player.

[@berbafan67]

The guy got scared that he was actually getting involved at 72, pretty understandable

[@AN456d]

Guy decided to move to Portugal because he actually is somewhat fluent in the language and knew it would be an easy fit and an enjoyable time, honestly massive props because career management-wise this was a fantastic move for him

[@henriquesantosfernandes6030]

Also he has a Share In the Japonese owned club UD OLIVEIRENSE.

[@99Gara99]

His life management is ot of this world The way the guy decided to move to Brazil in 86 was crazy

[@themadscientistfm]

He's featured on every database i've made from 1985 to 2023. Love Kazu.

[@luisjesus2276]

You couldn't have chosen a better/worst day to post this video as I just saw Miura play a couple minutes live on my local team stadium when we were being destroyed 4-1. Just seeing Miura live made it less sad on our current situation

[@jrdnmtsn]

are you an oliveirense fan !? i'd love to speak to you for a project i'm currently planning

[@luisjesus2276]

@@jrdnmtsn no, on the day this video was posted Oliveirense came to play away against my club Académico de Viseu and beat us 1-4, as they were winning by 3 goal difference they subbed in Miura for the final minutes of the game and most of the stadium got up and applauded him

[@ShinySwalot]

I love how his career and that of Captain Tsubasa have so many similarities! Especially since now pro footballers admit that Tsubasa was their inspiration, yet Kazu is still going haha

[@leonng3752]

That's because the author was inspired by Kazu Miura when creating Tsubasa Oozora. 😂

[@MrKiniwa]

@@leonng3752 Captain Tsubasa began in 81, so a little bit too early. There's another japanese player named Musashi Mizushima that did go to Brazil to become pro before Kazu Miura that is another possible inspiration

[@ricardoblayer9537]

This video broke my heart, a month ago a Portuguese news website publicised this amazing outside the area volley goal by Kazu... only today I realized it was the Brasilian left back Kazu

[@alexandrereginatto4420]

Actually this Brazilian left back started his career in Coritiba youth team and Kazu is not his real name. Kazu Miura played for Coritiba in the late eighties and I guess that the knickname was given to him paying homage to Miura since he's from a japanese family.

[@andrenunes4868]

He played today for the first time in Portugal, becoming the oldest professional footballer to play on Portugal! Insane

[@mariomm9080]

he is living a dream life of every man

[@FMAdventure]

This is what I call a perfect timing: he just made is official debut for Oliveirense this Saturday morning 😊

[@playerone7663]

Im 37 now and I'm pretty sure that if I play a football match I'm gonna break a leg or pull at least 2 muscles, respect for this dude.

[@mariomm9080]

you should start exercising then because Lebron is older than you

[@Neno_6610]

@Julio E yeah and LeBron is a professional athlete his body is used to it if LeBron never played ball and picked up a ball right now do you he think he will be good?

[@SufDam]

According to transfermarkt he's only missed one game in his entire career due to injury

[@adamh4h4]

You won't have to worry about injuries if you use PEDs like what athletes do. Thats what they do to recover quick.

[@otakuhunter4817]

31 and same haha

[@hsbase5]

The man plays like he's 19 years old in his 50s. I remember seeing a clip of him full committing on slide tackles. How he's still playing is beyond reality

[@T3hBoss69]

He played today for the first time in Portugal, like 3 hours after the video went out 🤣

[@pfortner9699]

King Kazu is legendary. It feels like yesterday when King Kazu was featured in 2012th Case Closed "the eleventh Striker", as this phenomenal legend that is still going in his 40's. Let's see if I can learn something new about him.

[@craiggibbons8228]

He is in his 50's not 40's

[@otakuhunter4817]

@@craiggibbons8228 he meant in the documentary of 2012 "...in his 40s" was the title which is correct.

[@dronesclubhighjinks]

What an absolutely incredible story! This lady is doing her best to keep up with him: Oksana Chusovitina is a gymnast who was born in 1975. In 1988, she was the Soviet junior national champion. She then began her international career which has included competing in eight (8!!) Olympic games, the first of which was in 1992 when she represented the "Unified Team" (USSR in its final stage of disintegration). Since then, she has represented her native Uzbekistan (Olympics 1996, 2000, 2004 and many world championships). In 1997 (the year Simone Biles was born), Oksana gave birth to a son after marrying an Olympic wrestler. In the early 2000s, her little boy was diagnosed with cancer, and there were no medical resources at home. Oksana turned to the international gymnastics community for help, and a German gymnastics family welcomed her family, got the little boy treatment, and Oksana afterwards competed for Germany (Olympics 2008, and 2012 at age 36). She continued to qualify for event finals in vault at all Olympics and many world championships! Oksana talked about retiring, but switched her citizenship back to Uzbekistan and competed in the 2016 and 2020 Olympics at age 46, where she only just failed to make the vault final! Oksana plans on competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics, which would be her ninth! These athletes are absolute marvels! Thank you for the video!

[@aryanmalik4811]

He seems to be older than time itself.

[@andrefaria2921]

He has been on the bench in some games and has played in a friendly game for Oliveirense. He might still play a game or two this season.

[@rodrigogomesteixeira7645]

The funniest part is that in the current oliveirense team there is a player that goes by the nickname Kazu because when he was growing up in Brazil is idol was Kazu 😂

[@chazhartwayne6493]

They call him King Kazu for a reason!

[@Granife9]

Zealand makes a video about this legend. And the same day he makes his debut for his club at 56. True legend indeed

[@qwenya1120]

He debuted today! Oldest player playing in portuguese professional football!

[@zidanely]

Kazu was the original inspiration for the character Tsubasa Ozora from the legendary manga Captain Tsubasa. This manga inspired many stars such as Del Piero, Nakata, Xavi, Iniesta etc. to pursue careers in football.

[@rizqyirsyad9477]

He was also part of Japan National Futsal team on FIFA Futsal World Cup on 2012 if im not mistaken

[@zaphbrannigan]

Point Getters is probably one the best Sports Team Names 2.0 I’ve ever heard lol

[@KushQQ]

As a portuguese I so want to watch a Oliveirense match and see king kazu even if hes on the bench

[@eduardomoraes3631]

Funnily enough, i was talking to my dad about this old ass Japanese player who was still playing on his late 50s, only to discover that my dad saw him play when he had a stint at our local club (CRB) in the late 80s.

[@MrScoot27]

Seems to be something of Japanese thing. Noriaki Kasai, a famous Japanese ski-jumper, is still going at 50. He's fallen off in the last few years, but he's won a World Cup podium as recently as 2016 and has competed at the Winter Olympics at 45 years old in 2018 (his 8th Olympic appearance), finishing 21st in one of the competitions. It's gotta be the onsens, right?

[@frankiedaard]

Actually made his first appearance this weekend, a few minutes in injury time but enough to break the record of oldest player in our professional leagues

[@RaffaeleDelGatto]

This is just legendary. Very inspirational for everyone !

[@FolkeBernadotte2]

He’s amazing… him & Bader Almutawa from Kuwait. Bader started young at the last days of a competitive generation & went through the downfall of the sport in his country. But he kept fighting all the odds and ended up scoring a world record……… you may make a video about him. His story is interesting & inspirational

[@GioMarron]

Had no idea he was still playing. Knew he was playing well into his 40s More power too him. As long as he’s happy with what he’s doing, I hope he keeps appearing My home town team Dumbarton (only just) missed out on Johan Cruyff in ‘78. Maybe we can pick up Kazu

[@craigford2092]

need Kazu in the cinch!

[@AG-sd9ik]

This dude is a epic hero

[@Michaelkaydee]

Amazing. He'll make a great coach someday

[@LordWay]

what a legend signed him on fm 05

[@joeswansoninawheelchair8202]

Just got here, but this video is really informative - thank you Zealand for yet another great football video!

[@OscarPtr]

Your videos have been amazing recently keep up the great work I’m loving it

[@JiggyMiggytv]

I assume he knows how to speak Portuguese after all those years in Brazil in his youth. Would be easy for him to play in Portugal then.

[@SeedSnatcher]

If he's actually at Oliveirense, then he's gotta be in the next Football Manager game, right? There's gonna be a challenge to get him a goal at the highest level possible.

[@dinisalmeida3946]

he just debuted in Oliveirense

[@hkar4385]

@@dinisalmeida3946 they won 4-1. He didn't score but I don't know if he assisted or not. Even getting an assist in Portugal's 2nd division at 56 is crazy. The guy might play until 60.

[@dinisalmeida3946]

@@hkar4385 he didn't, he played the last 5 minutes and touched the ball once (didn't fail the pass tho🔥)

[@waltervelasquez6926]

I honestly thought he never retired because he never got married but he did get married to a beautiful American model and they had two sons both in their 20’s. One is a MMA fighter and the other an actor. Is astonishing king Kazu still playing and still maintains his fitness how does he do it.

[@PicassoMossana]

he is in my team in FM24, playing with the teammates: messi, mbappe, haaland, harry kane, de bruyne, virgil.

[@PicassoMossana]

retired after 1 season

[@stewartmoore3590]

Should have spoken to Danny Aarons about this guy. He promoted him on FIFA so much he got an 85 rated special card because he was so popular

[@fabioluislourenco]

Miura played today a few minutes for Oliveirense 😄

[@McMonkeyful]

Wow, I remember this guy at Genoa. I was about 13 or 14 at the time. It was a few years after Italia 90 & Football Italiano (if that was the programe name) was a Sunday staple on British TV channel 4, with players such as Gazza & Platt playing in Italy. I remember being intrigued by this Japanese player. I occasionally recalled him over the years when I heard about Japanese football but never looked him up. I had no idea he'd had such an epic career. Thanks, this has made my day!

[@andrefaria2921]

I should have waited a few hours before making my previous comment as the mighty Kazu Miura was subbed on today.

[@reverendroar]

He’s such an impressive man and footballer but Zealand 2000 is the same century as we are in now, 1999 is last century

[@joaomcmmarques]

Zealand!!!! Please do a fall and rise about Clube Futebol Estrela da Amadora, we are a Portuguese club based in the outskirts of Lisbon, with a few titles, being the most important, the second tier of Portugal, and a Portuguese cup in 1990, and with more than 15 years in the top flight, sadly a few years ago the club went bankrupt do too bad management, but now we are back!!! And already in the second tier and in a good position to go back to the 1st division. p.s- yes, our kits are the same as Fluminense, they offer us the kits on a tour in Portugal during the 70s, and we decide to use them as well. A hug from Portugal! João

[@tonchigaming7238]

Imagine Zlatan playing Football for another 10 years or so😂

[@1607Adi_Manz]

why not he can play at Swedish League if he want great marketing for club as well

[@eltrucooo7632]

I actually had him in fm23 first year on my save with Aris Fc.I got him for the memes but he ended up assisting like a monster!!

[@heichan8657]

He played today!!!!!!!! Only sub on in 90" but still

[@qwertyuiop123453993]

as a Atsushi Nohmi (43 yr old NPB pitcher) I enjoy hearing other great feats of endurance out of Japan, great video!

[@pedrocachapuz5958]

This is great timing as Kazu played the first minutes in Portugal today

[@tugzzcouncil485]

yeah he is crazy he just scored a crazy ass goal lmao on his first game in here , i was not expecting that

[@miguelsantos3231]

He debuted today! What a coincidence ahah

[@crzy24]

Oliveirense is my hometown club and where i played for 10+ years so this video is even more interesting

[@jameswg13]

I'm curious to see how many coaching courses and badges he potentially has. Wonder if that is part of the European move

[@hokagehaynes5645]

I was born in 2001. This man retired from the national team a year before I was born

[@SeranaTheStudent]

The Ric Flair of the footballing world. He doesn't know what the word retirement means.

[@lfavaro]

I remember him playing in Brazil, such a nice and bizarre career

[@Mateus_Carvalho]

I might be wrong but I think PES still had his Kazu dance goal celebration up until 21. It's amazing.

[@diogotrindade3372]

And today made is debut for oliveirense... 2h after you post. Good shot

[@tmthestar123]

He play his first game TODAY!!!!

[@user-cq1kr4kn6o]

His final peak was scoring a goal in a charity match following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, helping to save many Japanese people from despair.

[@thelastmanonearth2631]

Long live, King Kazu!

[@stumpedtv]

feel the commentators of the leeds fulham match must have watched this right before they went live

[@burningknuckle26]

legendary

[@blinkusfishus2052]

I watched him play for my club Sydney fc as a young man, sadly I had to retire from playing before he did. 🤣 Legend. Total gentlemen off the pitch too.

[@sametozkan9175]

Before 1986, he played for Juve in Brazil

[@davidrichards613]

I may be wrong but I feel like I remember Kazu being in the Genoa squad in CM Italia (the Italian version of SIs earlier iteration of FM in like 94) back in the day.

[@crazy1230000]

Surprised that it took this long for you to notice him

[@antonioalexandre9240]

@Zealand, i'm portuguese and i can confirm that he played for the first time in the second tier of portuguese football today, it's was only a few minutes but at the age of 56 is really impressive xD

[@lourencoteles8414]

Debuted today at 56 for Oliveirense

[@gabetravels231]

Before Qatar, I picked up a Japan home kit, and of course got Kazu's name and number on it.

[@CoolDownBR123]

There's a uruguarian footballer that's 61. Detail:he's still playing (as CB) in the 4th tier of it's own country

[@JesseShortss]

He’s fitter than most teenage kids fr

[@oo0024]

That’s because teenage kids eat McDonald’s and drink coke cola

[@zimospaghetti]

Miura was made fun of in Italy in his spell at Genoa, there was this program called "Mai dire Gol" and there was this part of the program called "Fenomeni parastatali" where they mocked some foreign players that italian teams bought with a lot of expectations but eventually flopped (they did Kluivert in AC Milan, Pancev in Inter Milan and Ian Rush in Juve too, for example), and that's how I first heard about Kazu Miura (it actually was a recording of this moment of peak italian comedy football TV put on KZbin but whatever), from there I started to being interested in his career and I'm so happy whenever I see he's still playing Fun fact: he scored his only italian goal in a Genova derby

[@JackBauerCurtis]

He was part of a "legendary" duo in Dinamo Zagreb, him and Gražvydas Mikulenas. He was let go later by then new coach Osvaldo Ardiles, which was the worst move for Dinamo, at least in the sense of the marketing department. Our team tried to get him to a goal in his debut against Mladost 127, but his penalty was saved. Apparently due to him signing for Dinamo, we had a new deal with a Japanese TV house that would broadcast all of Dinamo matches, we had a direct flight line from Zagreb to Tokyo, and a lot of sales of our merchandise to Japanese fans. I'm kind of sad Dinamo is among the rare few clubs where he never scored. Legend of a player, always kept an eye on his career since he left, wondering how he's still able to play professional football and not look out of place. I hope he's able to score for Oliveirense.

[@TheiPadTube777]

Just did his debut on Portugal

[@Foxo-Matti12]

You forgot he scored a goal in the derby vs Sampdoria.

[@reddish98]

in the 3 hours since this video was uploaded, Kazu has made his first appearance for Oliveirense

[@andreafresca9869]

He only scored 1 goal in his Genoa stint... Against hated city rivals Sampdoria! What a guy😁

[@BURNLEY87]

Joaquin is something similar he’s 42 still playing at real betis in La liga he was around before Ronaldo and messi maybe you could do a video on him 😊

[@sneakerjuice1856]

This man is not a man, he's a god

[@joaogoncalves5290]

He played a few minutes today!!

[@Youtubas]

They were waiting for you. He just played the first match for Oliveirense

[@AndreasTautra]

Pretty insane that you uploaded this hours before he made his debut for Oliveirense

[@The28studio]

He inspired so many Anime!

[@1607Adi_Manz]

actually captain tsubasa was inspired by different player

[@erikrodrigues2733]

Fun fact: Juventus still existing, even if it's not in any major championship in Brazil. It's very accessible, with a family friendly enviroment and a perfect place to go if you want to visit São Paulo if you don't want to experience tourist traps.

[@mxtheunknown4689]

I wish you spoke briefly about his time in Australia

[@falagarius]

Has to be a tremendous mentor in the locker room

[@Derek-qu8qi]

I’ve heard Ange Postecoglou is keen on bringing him to Celtic in the summer.

[@FR3ZZ64]

he enter today in the game against Academia Viseu and enter in the 90th minute

[@geoshalin]

🔥🔥🔥

[@thiagoarrais5216]

Zealand, you know that one of the most famous Japanese Manga/Anime is inspired by him? It's called Captain Tsubasa.

[@rutete9]

Great timing. He just made is debut

[@zacfas]

It's amazing to see someone at such an advanced age still competing at a high level in a physically demanding sport.

[@henrikgh2006]

love from Norway

[@silvestrept]

My guy just made his first appearance for Alivarensh this afternoon.

[@leonpecky3481]

He'll be playing at wrexham soon

[@t.c.4321]

This is incredible