His name is Kazuyoshi Miura.
He is Japanese and professional footballer for Yokohama FC in the J-League, Japanese Division 1.
He plays attacker.
It is said to be as skillful and efficient with the right foot as with the left foot.
He has 89 caps for the Japanese national team.
The last one dates back to the early 2000s. Because, it's an important little detail, Kazuyoshi Miura is 53 years old.
It will celebrate its 54th spring at the end of February.
This Monday noon, he extended his one-year contract with Yokohama FC, a club with which he has been playing for 15 years.
Kazuyoshi Miura is the oldest active professional player on the planet.
"I did not have a satisfactory last season," admitted the dean of world football when signing his extension.
But I felt the joy of playing football at a time when the world was facing a difficult situation due to the Covid epidemic.
My ambition and enthusiasm for football is increasing.
I will work hard every day, aiming to help the team win this season by playing as many matches as possible.
"
Already professional when Messi was born
With this new contract, Miura is preparing to play the 36th season of a professional career that began in 1986, a year before the birth of Lionel Messi.
Be careful, Kazuyoshi Miura is not a gadget player, just good for his club to have a trace in the record books.
In Japan, the 50-year-old is a star nicknamed "King Kazu".
The Japanese are convinced that it was he who inspired the character of the manga "Captain Tsubasa" known in France as "Olive and Tom".
This is wrong since the manga was born before Miura was known but the Japanese do not want to budge.
✍️ 𝐑𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠 👑
At 11:11 on January 11th, @yokohama_fc announced big news about their # 11: The renewal of 53-year-old forward Kazuyoshi Miura's contract for the 2021 season!
https://t.co/tz6iu2WTs5
- J.LEAGUE Official EN (@J_League_En) January 11, 2021
Quadruple Japanese champion in the mid-1990s, Miura was voted "Asian player of the year in 1993".
Like the Brazilian “Ballon d'Or 1999” Rivaldo, he also has the rare distinction of having played for a club on four continents: Asia, America, Europe and Oceania.
The valiant 50-year-old began his career in Brazil playing for Santos, the club dear to King Pelé.
In Europe, in the second half of the 1990s, the globe-trotting footballer played at Genoa in Italy and Zagreb in Croatia, netting a Croatian championship on his record.
Before landing his bundle in Yokohama in 2005, the Japanese also freelance at FC Sydney in Australia.
Cold with the coach, he misses the World 98
In the national team, without a quarrel with the coach at the time, he should have played for the World Cup in France in 1998. In 89 caps, he still scored 55 goals and won the Asian Cup of Nations in … 1992.
Miura holds another longevity record: in 2017, he became the oldest professional scorer in history, supplanting England's Stanley Matthews at the time.
At that time Miura was 50 years and 14 days old and her record still stands.
At his advanced age, Miura, still sharp as a young man, certainly does not run as fast as before.
His thrust in front of goal is less effective.
He no longer plays 90 minutes and besides, he only played 4 full games last season in the J-League.
But when he was signed, he vowed to play until 2027. Until he was 60.
Indestructible!