When we grow up, we want to be Kazuyoshi Miura.
The diminutive striker, known as ‘King Kazu’, has been playing professional football for 30 years. You read that right. Thirty. Years.
He joined current club Yokohama FC at the age of 38 in 2005. For most people that would mean a year or two before retirement. For Miura it means still scoring goals 12 years and more than 200 games later.
The 50-year-old (yes, five-zero) has broken his own records this season as the oldest active player and goalscorer in a professional football league.
He scored his first goal of the 2017 season against Thespakusatsu Gunma, and it was enough to secure a 1-0 victory.
Oh, and he’s clearly been working on his celebration.
https://twitter.com/Soccer__Issue/status/840861065663635456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
To put Miura’s longevity into context, he was born less than two weeks after Roberto Baggio, who retired in 2004 after an illustrious career.
He is also older than ex-players Jürgen Klopp (a manager since 2001), Dan Petrescu (a manager since 2003) and Mathias Sammer (a Bundesliga-winning manager in 2002).
Hopefully this time next year we’ll be reporting on King Kazu finding the net at the age of 51.
