The 11.01 at 11:11, the number 11 of 54 years old found a club

Japanese legend Kazuyoshi Miura signed on Tuesday with the Suzuka Point Getters, a Japanese 4th division club.

© AFP
Last season, Kazuyoshi Miura wore the colors of Yokohama FC in the J-League (D1).

Japanese football star Kazuyoshi Miura signed a new contract at 54 with a fourth division club coached by his older brother, the team announced on Tuesday. Upon joining the Suzuka Point Getters, Miura, nicknamed “King Kazu”, vowed to “fight to help the team win on the pitch”.

The transfer was announced on January 11 at 11:11 am, quite a symbol for the striker who will wear the number 11. Miura, who will be 55 in February, assured in December that he had received offers from several clubs in Japan and abroad, following playing for Yokohama FC last season in the J-League (D1).

Save playing time

But he had only played for one minute and the team had finished last in the championship. Miura said he turned down an offer of extension to Yokohama to gain playing time. “I thank them for giving me the chance to play here,” he wrote in a statement released by his new club.

The player, who wants to play until the age of 60, hopes to have more impact in his new formation coached by his brother Yasutoshi. The Japanese star has scoured clubs during his long career, in Brazil, Japan, Italy, Croatia and Australia.

First professional contract in 86

He was one of the most famous Asian footballers in the 1990s, helping Japan assert itself in world football when the J-League was launched in 1993. Miura moved to Brazil in 1982 and signed his first professional contract in 1986 with Santos FC.

He made the national team in 1990, but was sidelined for Japan’s first World Cup appearance in 1998, despite scoring 55 goals in 89 caps. His new club Suzuka made a name for itself in 2019 when it became the first Japanese team to be coached by a woman, the Spaniard Mila Martinez.