Kazuyoshi Miura has made a transfer to Europe on the final day of the transfer market. The 55-year-old Japanese, who will turn 56 at the end of this month, has been rented out by his employer Yokohama FC to the Portuguese second divisionist Oliveirense until the end of the season. It is Miura’s sixteenth professional club.
Yokohama is owned by the Onodera Group, which owns more than half of Oliveirense’s shares. Miura started his career in 1982 (!) at Shizuoka Gakuen High School. Since then, adventures have followed in Brazil, Italy, Croatia, Australia and in his homeland Japan. Miura has been under contract with Yokohama since 2005, which has loaned him twice in that time. Oliveirense will be his third European club, having previously been under contract with Genoa and Dinamo Zagreb.
A Lenda chegou a Oliveira de Azeméis! ???? ????????????·?·????????????!????#????? #????????????????a?? #????????????????????????????a?? pic.twitter.com/xVO7hhIB4s
— UD Oliveirense Futebol SAD (@oliveirense_sad) February 1, 2023
At 55 years old, Miura is the oldest professional footballer in the world and made his debut for the national team in September 1990, for which he played 89 times and scored no less than 55 times. Missing out on the World Cup in 1998 is a major stain on his international career. Former national coach Takeshi Okada decided to rejuvenate and left the then 31-year-old Miura out of the selection for that reason. In 1992 and 1993 he became Japanese Footballer of the Year, while he became champion with Verdy Kawasaki in 1993 and 1994. In 1999 he became Croatian champion with Dinamo Zagreb.
Last season, Miura was rented out to Suzuka Point Getters, which plays in the fourth Japanese level. His older brother Yasutoshi Miura was ultimately responsible there. Kazuyoshi Miura said last year that Yokohama had offered him a new contract, but that he wanted more playing time. In recent years he has mainly had to make do with raids. In the 2010/11 season he last played more than a thousand minutes in one season.