For Japan's senior soccer players, 80 is the new 50

At 83, Mutsuhiko Nomura can look back on a long soccer career that spans 18 World Cups. Today, the silver-maned former Japanese national team player is a member of the brand new league for over-80s. The Soccer For Life League (SFL) played its first match in April 2023.

In 1998, Nomura traveled to France with his wife Junko, now 80, to watch the World Cup. In high school, Nomura was considered an outstanding athlete and secured a spot on the Japanese national team. "When I was a kid, men in their 50s and 60s were considered 'grandpas,'" he told the Reuters news agency.

Shingo Shiozawa is the goalkeeper of the SFL. Aged 93, he trains several times a month. All that running even motivated him to quit smoking and helped him recover from spinal stenosis. "If I hadn't played soccer, I'd have been dead by now," he said.

To keep not only the body but also the mind fit, Shiozawa likes to solve mathematical problems in his office using Egyptian hieroglyphics. In Japan, average life expectancy is slowly increasing. People aged 65 and older make up almost a third of Japan's population of 126 million.

Players at the Nihon Soccer OB Club in Tokyo, where the average age is 77, also train hard. Competitive sports like soccer were once considered taboo for older people in Japan. But it's not just sports that are changing: about one-fifth of seniors over 70 are now still working to supplement their pensions.

Red Star's Takao Yokoyama (second from left), 86, chases a ball against White Bear's Kozo Ishida, 82, during the opening match of the SFL 80 League in Tokyo. Playing soccer at that age isn't easy, as the SFL team's debut shows. Players breathed heavily and ran stiffly at the opening game under a blazing sun.

Nomura (left), 83, his daughter Yuriko Nomura (center) and his granddaughter Mone Nomura still practice soccer together in a Tokyo park. On weekends, he likes to show them a few tricks. "I sometimes go to watch the seniors play, and it makes me feel I should work hard," said Yuriko.

Even at dinner, sport is the center of attention for Nomura and his wife. Junko also tries to watch her husband when he is playing. She's not worried about him getting injured, but she does keep a close eye on his blood pressure. "He likes to eat meat, so I try to get him to eat vegetables," she said. "I think soccer is the best thing for his health."