Kazuyoshi Miura

Kazuyoshi Miura is married to popular Japanese mass-media personality Risako Miura. The couple got married in 1993.

When asked about his retirement, Kazuyoshi stated that he had no plans to retire anytime soon and that the day he stops playing football can very well be the day he dies.

His younger brother, Yasutoshi Miura, also happens to be a former professional footballer.

Kazuyoshi Miura was born on February 26, 1967, in the Shizuoka Prefecture of Japan. He was a football enthusiast since his childhood years. However, the pathetic condition of Japanese football had him keep his dreams to himself.

He continued playing as he entered his teenage years. He decided to move to Brazil when he came to know about better youth programs in the country. In 1982, at the age of 15, while in the ‘Shizuoka Gakuen School,’ he decided to leave behind his life in Japan and move to Brazil to become a professional footballer.

The early few years of his life in Brazil were not easy for him, but he refused to give up. He was finally accepted into ‘Clube Atlético Juventus’ and became a part of their youth program. He trained very hard with them and proved his mettle for the next four years while he kept looking for better opportunities.

His efforts paid off when he was finally offered a professional contract by the club ‘Santos’ in 1986.

Kazuyoshi played for ‘Santos’ as a forward and emerged as one of their key squad members. He later went on to join several other Brazilian clubs, such as ‘Coritiba’ and ‘Palmeiras.’ In 1990, he finally decided to move back to Japan to be a part of the growing craze about the game.

‘J. League’ was taking shape in the early 1990s, and he joined ‘Yomiuri FC,’ one of the major teams of the ‘Japan Soccer League’. After the official launch of ‘J. League’ in 1993, ‘Yomiuri FC’ became known as ‘Verdy Kawasaki,’ and Kazuyoshi decided to continue with it.

After Miura joined the team, they never lost a single league title for the first few years. They won the ‘Japan Soccer League’ in 1991 and 1992 and the ‘J. League’ titles in 1993 and 1994. In 1993, he was named the ‘Asian Footballer of the Year.’ The same year saw him being awarded with ‘J. League’s Most Valuable Player.’

Miura was growing to become the first-ever Japanese football superstar. Needless to say, a number of international clubs kept an eye on the Japanese domestic leagues to locate hidden talents. The Italian club ‘Genoa’ hired him after a negotiation in 1994. He thus became the first-ever Japanese footballer to play in the ‘Serie A,’ which was the richest football series in the world at that time.

However, he managed to give a performance that was below expectations. He struggled with speed and physicality while playing with the best players in the world. There were talks about sending him to the relatively inferior ‘Serie B,’ but his hardcore Japanese fans protested against the decision.