When retirement is not an option. While the majority of football players end their careers in their early thirties, he does not even consider storing the studs in a box at the back of the garage. Kazuyoshi Miura, 55 next month, signed a new contract with club Suzuka Point Getters, which play in the Japanese league’s 4th Division and are coached by his own brother, Yasutochi.
The transfer was announced on January 11 at 11:11 am, quite a symbol for the striker who will wear … the number 11. “I thank them for giving me the chance to play here,” he wrote in a press release issued by his new club. He also promised to fight “to help the team win on the field”, he who had played only one minute with Yokohama last season. The team finished last in the J-League championship (D1), which did not prevent them from offering an extension to their player, who refused.
Miura, nicknamed “King Kazu”, would like to play until the age of 60. He assured in December that he had received offers from several clubs in Japan and abroad. During his 37 years as a professional, the Japanese star has scoured clubs in Brazil (he settled there in 1982 and signed his first professional contract in 1986 with Santos FC), in Japan, in Italy (Genoa in 1994 -1995), Croatia and Australia, or on four different continents. He joined the national team in 1990 (89 caps, 55 goals), but was excluded for Japan’s first participation in the World Cup in France in 1998.