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At 53, Kazuyoshi Miura still shows the others where to go.
Photo: KYODO / REUTERS
The Japanese professional soccer player Kazuyoshi Miura has broken the age record in the J-League.
At 53 years, six months and 28 days, he was in the starting line-up of his club FC Yokohama in the game against Kawasaki Frontale (2: 3) on Wednesday and replaced the previous record holder Masashi Nakayama, who played in the top league in 2012 at the age of 45 was.
Miura has not played a first division game since 2007 and has been under contract with Yokohama since 2005.
In his career he also set other age records: in 2020 he became the oldest player in the Japanese League Cup.
In 2017, he scored a goal in a professional game as the oldest goalscorer.
For the national team, Miura scored 55 goals in 89 games between 1990 and 2000.
Miura's strike partner at FC Yokohama is Shunsuke Nakamura, a real youngster compared to Miura: He is only 42 years old.
Daiskue Matsui - 39 years old - was also in the starting line-up.
Miura signed his first professional contract in 1986 - not in Japan, but in Brazil, with the legendary Pele club FC Santos.
At the age of 15 he left for Brazil with the aim of becoming a professional footballer.
Miura only returned home as a professional in 1990, when he was already a national player.
In 1994 he was named Asia's Footballer of the Year.
The record player also played in Europe for a short time: one season with CFC Genoa and a few months with Croatia Zagreb.
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