RECORD - THE FIRST EVER PLAYER OVER 5 DECADES : KAZUYOSHI MIURA
Picture : Kazuyoshi Miura entered in the Football World History !
FIRST EVER FOOTBALLER PLAYING OVER 5 DECADES : KAZUYOSHI MIURA !
On March 10, the forward of Yokohama FC Kazuyoshi Miura came on as a substitute shortly before the final whistle in Japanese league match against Urawa Reds (0:2). He has played just one minute, but this minute marked the unbelievable World record: Miura became the first player in the football history who featured in top level games over 5 decades!
He started professional career in 1986 in Santos. His first decade in top football (1981-90) passed almost entirely in Brazil. In 1990, Miura returned to homeland where he played since then with exclusion of short spells in Italy, Croatia and Australia.
The second decade (1991-2000) was the most successful for Kazuyoshi. He became the most prominent native player in Japanese football, leader in the national team, won a lot of trophies including 4 champion titles. He was also the first Japanese player invite to play in Italian Serie A (Genoa).
In the third decade (2001-10), his career went declining what was absolutely natural as he turned 40. But instead of finishing, Miura opted to go on for two decades more!
Yokohama FC, his current club, still wants to have him playing, even though his effective game time measures in minutes per season. The club prolongs his contract once and once again. It happened also at the end of 2020 – and nobody knows if for last time.
This season is already 17th for Miura as a Yokohama player but only 3rd in top division. Between 2008 and 2019, the club performed only at the second tier of Japanese league, so his 4th decade (2011-20) added not more than 12 games for his top-level statistics.
In 2020, Yokohama finally returned to the top flight. Miura made 4 league appearances with 66 minutes spent on pitch in total; 56 of them in the game against Kawasaki Frontale (2:3) on 23 September. It was the only game where he appeared in the starting lineup (something very unusual for 53 years old man acting in one of best Asian leagues!)
His minute played in the last round of J1 League is so far his single minute in Decade 2021-2030 but it inscribed the “eternal” forward in the history!
| FIVE DECADES OF KAZU MIURA | |||||||
| Club | League | Games | Total | ||||
| NL | NC | ICC | NT | ||||
| Decade 1 (1981-1990) | |||||||
| 1986 | Santos | Brazil | 2 | ||||
| 1986-87 | Palmeiras | Brazil | 25 | ||||
| 1989 | Coritiba | Brazil | 21 | ||||
| 1990 | Santos | Brazil | 11 | ||||
| 1990 | Yomiuri Tōkyō | Japan | 5 | 7 | |||
| Total | 64 | 7 | 3 | 74 | |||
| Decade 2 (1991-2000) | |||||||
| 1991-94, 1995-98 | Verdy Kawasaki | Japan | 187 | 47 | 7 | ||
| 1994-95 | Genoa | Italy | 22 | 1 | |||
| 1998-99 | Croatia Zagreb | Croatia | 12 | ||||
| 1999-00 | Kyoto Sanga | Japan | 41 | 10 | |||
| Total | 262 | 58 | 7 | 86 | 413 | ||
| Decade 3 (2001-2010) | |||||||
| 2001-05 | Vissel Kobe | Japan | 103 | 24 | |||
| 2005, 2006-10 | Yokohama | Japan | 24 | 9 | |||
| 2005 | Sydney | Australia | 4 | 2 | |||
| Total | 131 | 33 | 2 | 166 | |||
| Decade 4 (2011-2020) | |||||||
| 2011-20 | Yokohama | Japan | 4 | 8 | |||
| Total | 4 | 8 | 12 | ||||
| Decade 5 (2021-2030) | |||||||
| 2021- | Yokohama | Japan | 1 | ||||
| Total | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Total Career | 462 | 106 | 9 | 89 | 666 | ||
Abbreviatures:
NL – National League (only top divisions)
NC – National Cups
ICC – International Club Competitions
NT – National Team