“Age is just a number”. This phrase repeated over and over again – often linked to non-acceptance of the inexorable passage of time – makes sense when talking about Kazuyoshi Miura. He wrote it in a tweet on Oliveirense on April 22, when the Japanese striker became the longest-serving footballer in history on the European scene when he made his debut with the modest club in the Portuguese second division.
It matters little that the professional career in elite sport is short. At 56, Kazu Miura is still determined to defy the biological clock. That is why he traveled 10,000 kilometers this year to this city in the Porto metropolitan area to play the second part of his 38th season as a professional on Portuguese soil. That minute on the field in the win against Académico Viseu (1-4) served to make his debut at the eighteenth club of his long career. A movie career, or in his case, a manga series.
King Kazu -as he called himself in his day- served as inspiration to Yoichi Takahashi for the creation of the well-known Oliver Atom, main protagonist of the subsequent anime series Oliver and Benji (Captain Tsubasa) that captivated millions of children around the world.
It is no coincidence that Oliver’s dream was to play in Brazil, the country that Miura chose in 1982 to start his career when he packed his bags at just 15 years old and without the approval of his parents. He wanted to become a professional soccer player and he achieved it, although for this he had to subsist as he could (interpreting jobs, as a salesman…) for years before being able to enjoy his first experience as a professional.
After going through the affiliate of several clubs in Sao Paulo, at the age of 22 he was signed by Curitiba. He later had the opportunity to play for Santos. It was at Pelé’s club that Miura’s story became known in Japan despite playing little. In his country he became a phenomenon. The commitment of the Japanese soccer federation to strengthen the country in 1993 with the creation of the J-League included Miura as a great media claim, that footballer who celebrated goals by dancing samba.
With the national team he scored 55 goals in 89 games and won the Asian Cup in 1992. However, he was left with the thorn of not playing in any World Cup… in soccer. Because Kazu Miura did come to represent his country in a futsal World Cup. It was in 2012, when he was 45 years old, with the Spanish coach Miguel Rodrigo Conde-Salazar on the bench. A marketing action justified at the same time by the quality that he still treasured.
Before stepping on Portugal he had already played in Europe. In the late 1990s he signed for Italian side Genoa and Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb. Turned into an idol, he spent practically his entire career at Yokohama FC. He also tried his hand at Australian rules football. After playing on loan at the end of the year at Suzuka, in the fourth division – he scored two goals – he returned to his club and accepted the proposal to venture to Oliveirense. The agreement has an explanation: since 2022 the Japanese club is the majority shareholder of the Portuguese entity.
Even so, Miura has had to earn his share. Coach Fabio Pereira already said when he arrived that he would treat him “like a 20-year-old boy.” It was not until the eleventh game that he was finally able to debut and enjoy football again five months after his last official match. After that minute of glory, Miura played again the following day, in this case for half an hour against Estrela. He was left without playing last weekend against Covilla.
Accompanied in Japan by his inseparable physical trainer, Miura does not see the end of his career. Or he doesn’t want to. His goal is to blow out 60 candles with his boots still on. He does not lose the illusion of that teenager who crossed the entire Pacific in search of a dream.
