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The story
Yokohama F. Marinos’ Shin Miidera (16) scored a left-footed first-time volley in the 9th minute of the first half against Kobe, in what was his home debut. It was his second goal of the season, following his opener against Kashima on matchday one. On 5ch, praise poured in — “the second coming of Amuro,” “this kid’s the real deal” — alongside surprise that a player still in high school is thriving as a pro, plus discussion of the rule barring overseas transfers for players under 18.
◆Meiji Yasuda J1 League, Matchday 3: Yokohama F. Marinos vs. Kobe (Aug. 22, Nissan Stadium)
Yokohama F. Marinos’ Shin Miidera (16) scored on his home debut at Nissan Stadium. It was his second goal of the season, following the opener against Kashima Antlers (at MUFG/National Stadium), where he’d scored at 16 years, 4 months, and 5 days old — the second-youngest scorer in J1 history. In the 9th minute of the first half, he met a looping ball with a left-footed volley.
Miidera has started three straight matches at left wing since the season opener. Scoring against Kobe — reigning champions of Japan’s top flight, built on the J.League’s founding “hundred-year vision” — he left a powerful impression on the home crowd.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Wish we had one of these on our team.
Our team? lol
Acting like you're part of the club, lol
He's safe through high school — there's a rule against clubs scouting and signing players that young.
He's stuck in Japan until he's 18.
You mean he'll have transferred out of Yokohama by then?
Come on, he's going straight to one of the big five leagues.
Pro soccer players from Aomori Prefecture
Shin Miidera (Yokohama F. Marinos) — Hirosaki
Gaku Shibasaki (Kashima Antlers and others) — Noheji
Koji Kumagai (Kashima Antlers and others) — Towada
Makoto Teguramori (former Olympic team manager and others) — Gonohe
Takahiro Shimohira (Kashiwa Reysol and others) — Gonohe
He probably attends on weekdays like normal.
Though it might be a correspondence (distance-learning) school.
High school baseball practice is probably harsher than this — and unpaid, too.
Always? Ever heard of Kitahara? (a Japanese manager also known for fielding young players)
You mean Miikura-san, the erotic-ghost-story teller? (a joke playing on the similar-sounding name)
In 1 year, 7 months, and 9 days.
Once he turns 18.
Unfortunately, he can't go overseas until he's past 18.
Don't care about foreign players.
Background and Key Points
Miidera’s case turns on FIFA’s Article 19, the international-transfer rule for minors: clubs cannot sign a player under 18 from a different association except in narrow cases (family relocating for non-football reasons, or intra-EU moves for 16-17-year-olds under strict conditions). That’s the rule posters are gesturing at when they say he’s “safe” until 18 — it isn’t really about high school, it’s about FIFA blocking the transfer itself, and Japan doesn’t qualify for the EU carve-out. Marinos is one of Japan’s original J.League founding clubs and now sits under City Football Group’s ownership, which has an obvious incentive to develop and eventually export academy talent like this. Kobe, the opponent, are the reigning J1 champions, built on Rakuten’s investment and the Iniesta-era rebuild — beating them as a 16-year-old carries extra weight domestically.
The thread doesn’t actually disagree about his talent; every poster grants he’s good. The split is over trajectory: one camp assumes a clean run straight to a “big five” league at 18, while others predict the more common pattern for hyped Japanese teens — a stint in a feeder league like Belgium or Portugal, a stall, and a return to J1 via a buying club such as Urawa or Machida. That boomerang path is a real, frequently-repeated career arc in Japanese football, not just internet cynicism.
What’s easy to miss: nobody explains “Amuro,” which is very likely a Gundam reference — Amuro Ray, the franchise’s original teenage “newtype” prodigy — not the singer Amuro Namie, a distinction non-Japanese readers would naturally get wrong.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geisports Sokuho+) thread “[J.League] 16-Year-Old Shock, Again — Yokohama F. Marinos’ Miidera Scores Season’s 2nd Goal on Home Debut with a First-Time Volley, Following Kashima Opener with Another Against Kobe.”
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