Yokohama FC forward Kazuyoshi Miura (left) vies for the ball against a Kawasaki Frontale defender on September 23, 2020. Photo: VCG

Time waits for no man, they say, but they might not have told Japanese footballer Kazuyoshi Miura.

He turns 54 next month but is all set for another campaign in the Japanese top flight.

The veteran striker is entering his 36th season as a professional footballer next season having signed another contract extension with his J League side Yokohama FC.

"Last season, I was feeling the joy of playing football at a time when the world was facing a tough situation," Miura said. "It was not a satisfactory season, but my ambition and enthusiasm toward football are increasing." 

Last season, he played four games, becoming the oldest ever J League player in the process, aged 53 years and nine months. 

He had already become the oldest scorer in Japan back in 2017, at the tender age of 50 years and 14 days, grabbing the winner for Yokohama against Thespakusatsu Gunma.

He is not the oldest scorer in the J1 top flight league though, after failing to find the net last season in Yokohama's first season back in the big league since 2007. 

Miura can better Zico's record, made when  the Brazilian legend was with Kashima Antlers in 1994 at 41 years, 3 months and 12 days.

"King Kazu" was around then. He returned to Japan when the J League started in the early 90s, in fact he was the poster boy for the rebrand, and it has been a storied career since it began in the mid 1980s in Brazil with Santos.

The first Japanese player to win the Asian Player of the Year award in 1993, "King Kazu" was also part of the first Samurai Blue team to win the Asian Cup a year before. By 1994, Miura had won back to back J League titles with Verdy Kawasaki after which he went to the Italian Serie A with Genoa before travelling as far as Croatia and Australia before settling with Yokohoma in 2005.

If there is one regret, it is that he missed the 1998 World Cup with Japan, but he has certainly answered those critics that claimed he was too old as a 32-year-old. Still he scored 55 goals in 89 games for Japan. 

Miura shows no sign of stopping. Here are some other outfield players who played on long after their peers.

Eez Eldin Bahder, 74

A year ago Eez Eldin Bahder, aged 74, entered the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest professional footballer in the world. The Egyptian signed a contract with Egyptian third-tier side 6th October, though it took him several months to play the two games needed to claim the record as COVID-19 struck the Egyptian league pyramid. 

"I dream of being able to break my own record one more time, to make the competition a little harder," Bahader said after beating the previous world record of 73-year-old of Israeli goalkeeper Isaak Hayik. Time is on his side in the sense that Bahader turned 75 in November. 

Stanley Matthews, 50



The oldest top professional prior to "King Kazu" broke the Englishman's record in 2017 was Sir Stanley Matthews. The "Wizard of Dribble" played either side of the Second World War in a career that stretched into the 1960s. His final game came in 1965, once he had already been knighted by The Queen for services to football. Matthews, a Stoke City and Blackpool legend, was the first player inducted into the Football Hall of Fame. He will be forever remembered for his part in the so-called Matthews Final in the FA Cup final of 1953, when the winger helped Blackpool come back from 3-1 down against Bolton Wanderers to win the Cup 4-3.

Socrates, 50

The greatest player on the greatest team to never win the World Cup is how many would describe "The Doctor." The 1982 Brazil captain came out of retirement in 2004, aged 50, to play 12 minutes for the Northern Counties East Football League side Garforth Town. The stunt was for the Brazilian Soccer Schools in nearby Leeds which were owned by the same owners as the non-league club.

Teddy Sheringham, 49

The former England forward was registered as Stevenage Borough's player-manager in 2015, aged 49, but never pulled his boots on. He did play on until he was 42 and is the oldest player to have scored in the Premier League - he netted for West Ham when aged 40 years and 268 days in 2007.

Aleksandar Duric, 44

The Yugoslav was still playing for Tampines Rovers in Singapore in 2014, aged 44. That would be the last stop of a 22-year career that included several clubs in the Lion City and an appearance at the 1992 Olympics. Bizarrely, he appeared in the canoeing event rather than football before returning to the pitch. Duric remains the S League's all-time top scorer. He is still scoring in the city's amateur leagues.

Rivaldo, 43



The 1999 Ballon d'Or winner was 30 when he became a FIFA 2002 World Cup champion with Brazil. He was still playing football some 13 years later, although he had swapped Europe's big five leagues for the likes of Angola and Uzbekistan. He played his last game on the same side as son Rivaldinho for Mogi Mirim in Brazil.

Roger Milla, 42

The Cameroon striker seemed perpetually old, especially for those who were introduced to his talents at the 1990 FIFA World Cup - when he was already 38.

That was not his last World Cup, though. The man who celebrated his goals with the "Milla shuffle" was back with his country at the World Cup in the USA four years later, aged 42.