{"id":824823,"date":"2026-07-26T11:36:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T11:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/824823\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T11:36:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T11:36:14","slug":"japanese-football-legend-king-kazu-59-scores-first-goal-in-four-years-football-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/824823\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese football legend \u2018King Kazu\u2019, 59, scores first goal in four years | Football News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The world\u2019s oldest professional footballer, Kazuyoshi Miura, scores as Fukushima United thrash Iwaki Furukawa 7-0.<\/p>\n

Published On 26 Jul 202626 Jul 2026<\/p>\n

Japanese football icon Kazuyoshi Miura proved that age is just a number as the 59-year-old scored his first competitive goal in nearly four years.<\/p>\n

The world\u2019s oldest professional footballer<\/a>, affectionately known as \u201cKing Kazu\u201d, struck in the 52nd minute for Fukushima United on Saturday, as the J-League third division side thrashed Iwaki Furukawa 7-0 to advance in the Emperor\u2019s Cup.<\/p>\n

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The goal prompted celebrations among teammates on the pitch and the bench before the veteran forward was substituted three minutes later.<\/p>\n

It was Miura\u2019s first competitive goal since November 2022, when he scored for Suzuka PG, now Atletico Suzuka, in a Japan Football League defeat by FC Osaka.<\/p>\n

Enormous draw for fans<\/p>\n

The former Japan international is preparing for a remarkable 42nd season as a professional after extending his loan spell with third-tier Fukushima United until June 2027.<\/p>\n

Miura joined the club from Yokohama FC<\/a> in December and will remain with Fukushima after making six appearances during a shortened 2026 campaign.<\/p>\n

With Japan\u2019s professional leagues set to switch from a spring-to-autumn schedule to an autumn-to-spring calendar, Miura will enter his 60s still playing professionally, adding another chapter to one of football\u2019s most enduring careers.<\/p>\n

Miura has previously insisted that he will not hang up his boots until he turns 60, and he continues to be an enormous draw for fans in Japan and abroad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The world\u2019s oldest professional footballer, Kazuyoshi Miura, scores as Fukushima United thrash Iwaki Furukawa 7-0. Published On 26…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":824824,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[1724,77,64,63,596,85192,941,44,588,85],"class_list":["post-824823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-asia","tag-asia-pacific","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-fukushima","tag-japan","tag-news","tag-sport","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=824823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824823\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/824824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=824823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=824823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=824823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}