Football Asia

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Coronavirus stalls Premier League pre-season plans to tour Asia - with one club banning all travel to the region

* The Far East has been a popular place for top flight clubs to spend pre-season
* Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham all went last summer
* But one club has now banned all travel to the worst hit parts of the region

The Coronavirus is threatening to disrupt Premier League clubs' plans for lucrative pre-season tours in Asia this summer.

The Far East — particularly China — has become a popular destination for top-flight clubs for summer training camps as they look to capitalise financially on the huge lure of the league in that part of the world.

The virus, which originated in China's Hubei province, has killed close to 500 people, with another 24,500 people across 25 countries infected.

Pre-season plans are usually finalised at this time of year but clubs who intended to head to Asia, in particular China, are delaying confirming their travel due to the health concerns.

Sportsmail understands at least one Premier League club with strong Asian connections have, for the time being, banned all business-related travel to the region because of the virus.

Last year, Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle, Tottenham, West Ham and Wolves were among the top-flight clubs who went on summer tours to Asia. The aforementioned clubs all spent periods in China.


China has become a popular destination for clubs in the Premier League to spend pre-season. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took his Manchester United side to the Far East last summer. Top-flight clubs draw huge crowds and a high level of interest when they go to China

There is obvious concern from clubs' medical departments and decisions will be guided by the Foreign Office's official advice. As it stands, the government are advising against 'all travel to Hubei Province, and against all but essential travel to the rest of mainland China'.

The Foreign Office, however, are not officially advising against travel to other Asian countries — despite the fact that Coronavirus cases have been reported in Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore — all of which have been popular destinations for English clubs in recent years.

Two people have died of the disease outside of mainland China – one in Hong Kong and one in the Philippines.

There remains hope that the threat will ease in time for clubs to press ahead with plans of Far East tours – and medical staff are being regularly updated by the World Health Organisation with regards to when the outbreak is announced over.

Nevertheless, the Shanghai Sports Federation on Wednesday recommended that all sporting events in the Chinese city be suspended until the ongoing epidemic is declared over.

The World Indoor Athletics Championships, due to take place in Nanjing on March 13-15 has been cancelled, while snooker's China Open, set to take place in Beijing between March 30 and April 5, has also been postponed.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-7971197/Coronavirus-stalls-club-pre-season-Asia-plans.html

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Kazuyoshi Miura became the oldest player to appear in the Japanese top flight aged 53


Muira captained his side Yokohama in their 3-2 defeat by league leaders Kawasaki Frontale. The Japan forward made his professional debut for Brazilian club Santos 37 years ago

King Kazu

[Andi Istiabudi]

Mungkin pemain lawan segan juga ya kalau mau merebut bola dari King Kazu.
Terlalu keras nanti bisa beresiko cedera parah karena usianya sudah lansia, hehe..

[zudomiriku]

Kazuyoshi Miura eclipses his own record to become the oldest active professional footballer as he comes off the bench to appear in Japanese league game aged 55

* Kazuyoshi Miura broke his own appearance record aged 55 years and 225 days
* Mirua came on in the 76th minute to help Suzuka Point Getters claim a victory
* The Former Japan international revealed he want to play until he is 60-years-old

Kazuyoshi Miura has rewrote his own record as the oldest active professional footballer by playing aged 55 years and 225 days old.

The former Japan international came off the bench on Sunday to make the record-breaking appearance for fourth-tier side Suzuka Point Getters.

He entered the pitch in the 76th minute, helping his side to a 1-0 win over Criacao Shinjuku in front of a Japan Football league record-crowd of 16,218 at the newly-built National Stadium.


Kazuyoshi Miura came off the bench to make his record-breaking appearance on Sunday


Miura's long and illustrious career has seen him play against stars such as Andres Iniesta

Despite the victory, the biggest cheer of the day was reserved for the man nicknamed 'King Kazu' who turns 56 next February.

Miura played for Verdy Kawasaki in their J. League opener in 1993 at the National Stadium and having netted on many occasions at the famous arena, his record-breaking appearance was shrouded in emotion.

He has already revealed he would like to continue playing until he is 60-years-old and few would bet against him reaching that amazing feat.


Kazuyoshi Miura earned 89 caps and scored 55 goals in a career spanning 10 years for Japan. The Japanese star says he is not yet ready to hang up his boots and wants to play until he is 60

After the milestone appearance Miura said: 'I'm grateful to have played in the best atmosphere possible, and feel proud.

'I wanted this game to be a part of the history I'm making.

'Having got the chance to play at a place like this, I'll be staying humble and keep going without forgetting the hunger.'

He is seventh on the all-time J. League scoring chart with 139 goals.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-11300485/Kazuyoshi-Miura-beats-record-oldest-professional-footballer-aged-55-years-222-days.html