Ozu Moreira

Osmar Shigeru "Ozu" Moreira (; 21 January 1986) is a Brazilian-born Japanese beach soccer player who plays as a defender. He is the captain of the Japan national team. and is known as one of the best defenders in beach soccer history. He is particularly known for his towering presence and powerful long-range free kicks. Aged 10, Ozu's beach soccer school accepted an invite to play an exhibition match before a Brazil match at Copacabana arena which was watched by 5,000 people. and was scouted on numerous occasions but living minutes from the beach and watching beach soccer regularly on TV was the inspiration for Ozu to pursue becoming a beach soccer professional, aged 16.

Japanese citizenship Ozu has stated that he never had the ambition to play for the Brazil national team. Instead, his dream was to live abroad, learn about a new culture and compete as a beach soccer player there.

In 2006, he moved to Germany and briefly played there. and later in the year led his new country as captain to the quarter-finals of the 2013 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, his first World Cup, in which he won the Silver Ball (second best player) award. The inaugural Beach Soccer Stars awards in 2014 saw Ozu named as part of the best team of the year, an accomplishment he has achieved again every since bar one as of 2022, the most appearances of any player, cementing his position as one of the world's best.

In 2015, Ozu was once again named best player at the AFC Championship and was also joint top scorer. 2016 saw Ozu branch further into playing for European clubs; he became the second Japanese to play in the Italian National League, for Viareggio, winning Europe's top club prize, the Euro Winners Cup, with the Tuscan side that season. who he would go on to win multiple JFA League titles with. The AFC described Ozu's performance as "outstanding" as he again won the best player and top scorer awards of the AFC Championship, this time the 2019 edition, which Japan won for the first time under his captaincy. 2019 continued to mark major international landmarks for Ozu as he reached a century of goals scored in a 7–2 win over Uruguay at the World Beach Games and also earned his 100th cap at the Intercontinental Cup a month later.

In July 2020, Ozu was named as the new head coach of the Japan national team, making him a player-manager; he appointed Teruki Tabata as his assistant coach. At the 2021 World Cup, he led Japan to the best ever placing for an Asian nation in the competition by finishing as runners-up, losing to hosts Russia in the final. However Ozu was critical of his personal performances having only registered a single goal during the tournament. Regardless, he was then voted by fellow players and coaches as the best player in the world for the first time at November's Beach Soccer Stars awards in Dubai. Upon returning to Japan, Ozu and some fellow teammates were found to have breached COVID-19 quarantine procedures; consequently, all accused were suspended from football activities for one month until January 2022 and Ozu apologised for his actions.

Statistics

Country Competition Year Apps Goals Ref.FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2013 4 4 2015 4 1 2017 3 0 2019 6 7 2021 6 1 2024 3 2 Total 26 15 — Competition Year Apps Goals Ref.AFC Beach Soccer Championship 2013 5 7 2015 6 8 2017 5 7 2019 6 9 2023 6 5 2025 6 5 Total 34 41 —

Club Tournament Year Club Apps Goals Ref.Euro Winners Cup 2016 Viareggio 7 2 2017 7 8 2018 Kfar Qassem 6 7 2019 Lokomotiv Moscow 7 5 2022 Kfar Qassem 7 2 2023 Viareggio 5 5 2024 5 2 Total 44 31 —

Honours The following is a selection, not an exhaustive list, of the major international honours Ozu has achieved:

Team FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Runner-up (1): 2021 Fourth place (1): 2019

AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup Winner (1): 2019 Runner-up (3): 2013, 2015, 2023

Asian Beach Games Gold medal (1): 2016 Silver medal (1): 2014

Mundialito Runner-up (1): 2014

Euro Winners Cup Winner (1): 2016

Mundialito de Clubes Winner (2): 2015, 2017

Individual FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup (2): Golden Ball: 2019 Silver Ball: 2013

Beach Soccer Stars (9): World's best player: 2021 World dream team: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023

AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup (8): Best player: 2013, 2015, 2019 Top scorer: 2015, 2019 Team of the tournament: 2017, 2019, 2023

Mundialito de Clubes (1): Best player: 2015