Born on February 26, 1967, Miura Chira is about to celebrate his 56th birthday, and this true veteran who was active in the Japanese professional football league at the end of last year and scored goals is now going to stay in the ocean!
According to the latest news from Japanese media, the pioneer of Japanese football in the ocean 40 years ago will join overseas clubs for the fifth time.
Miura has signed Portuguese Serie A (second division) club Olivirense, where he will play until this summer, the end of the 2022-23 season.
Of course, the signing is not a competitive factor, after all, as a team aiming to rush to the Portuguese Premier League, it is impossible to expect a 56-year-old striker to conquer the city.
Miura was able to return to the ocean at such an age because the Onodera Group, owner of Yokohama FC, the Japanese J1 League club he now plays, acquired Olivilens in November last year.
Onodera Group is a business group founded by the famous Japanese entrepreneur Shingo Onodera in Hokkaido, Japan, which mainly operates hospitals, nursing homes, companies and other group catering services, and has become a leading brand of group catering services in Japan.
Obviously, being able to operate the temporary arrival of Miura, once the number one star in Japanese football, Olivirens should be pursuing a publicity effect.
Miura has been playing for Yokohama FC since 2005 at the age of 38, and the team has renewed his contract so that the Japanese football legend can remain on the green field.
Last year, the 55-year-old Miura was loaned to Suzuka Scorers Club in Japan's fourth division, but he still owned Yokohama FC.
This time the form is indeed greater than the content, but the 56-year-old can still play a few kicks in Portugal, and the temptation for Miura Chira is huge. In fact, this is also a reward for the owner of Yokohama FC Club, who has always loved him.
Although it is not realistic to actually play in the Portuguese league, Miura has really maintained a good playing time in the Japanese league over the years, and you must know that Yokohama FC has basically been a J2 league team. And in the two seasons of 2020 and 2021, Miura Chira also rushed to the J1 League because of Yokohama FC and returned to the top league in Japan, making 5 appearances.
From 2009 to 2022, Miura has been setting the record for the oldest goal scored in the Japanese league.
On November 12 last year, in the penultimate round of Japan's fourth division, Suzuka scorers hosted third-placed Osaka FC in the league, and Miura Chira scored with a header to set his record for the oldest goal in the Japanese league to 55 years and 259 days.
Miura Chira was born in 1967 and basically belonged to the same era as Fan Zhiyi (born in 1969). He was a representative figure of Japanese football when it took off in 1992.
In 1982, at the age of 15, Tomoria Miura went to the football kingdom of Brazil for further studies and became a youth player for Juventud Athletic São Paulo. Four years later, at the age of 19, he signed his first professional contract with Brazilian giants Santos.
Miura returned to Japan in 1990 and joined the then J1 league giants Yomiuri Shimbun (Midori Kawasaki), and together with Japanese naturalized player Ramos, he helped the team win the league title four years in a row.
In 1992, Miura's Japanese team won the Asian Cup. In 1993, Miura became the first Japanese player to receive the Asian Footballer of the Year honor. He also ranks second on the Japanese national team's all-time goal list, scoring 55 goals in 89 games.
In 1994, Miura joined Genoa as the first Japanese player to play in Serie A. Although he has not been in Serie A for long, he is significant as a pioneer of Japanese players.
Since then, Miura has also briefly played for Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia and Sydney FC in Australia.
As for how old he will be before retiring, Miura said last last year that he set the record for the oldest goal in a Japanese league, "It's hard to kick down 70 years old." ”
Is it possible? The "world's oldest professional footballer" currently included in the Guinness Book of World Records is an Egyptian player named Ezardin Bahad.
On October 6, 2020, Bahad, who was about to celebrate his 75th birthday, played all his matches in Egypt's third-tier league and even missed a penalty. The previous record was held by 73-year-old Israeli Isaac Haik.
In Chinese football, Zhuang Yi, the former Liaoning team's winger fast horse, set both the record for the oldest appearance and the oldest goal in the Chinese Football Professional League in 2018 - 44 years and 327 days.
The record for the oldest appearance in the Chinese Super League belongs to Guangzhou head coach Zheng Zhi, who started in the 21st round of the Chinese Super League last season as the team's manager and player, setting a new record of 41 years and 134 days.
The record for oldest goal in the Chinese Super League goes to retired former Chongqing Liangjiang Athletic player Wu Qing, who scored against Shanghai Shenhua in the 2021 season at the age of 40 years and 167 days.