(born 21 January 1986) is a

beach soccer Beach soccer, also known as beach football, sand football or sand soccer, is a variant of association football played on a beach or some form of sand between two teams of five players each. Association football has long been played informally on ...

player who plays as a defender. Born in Brazil, he is the captain of the Japan national team, having gained Japanese citizenship in 2012. He has won the Silver and Golden Balls at FIFA World CupsJapan Beach Soccer National Team's MOREIRA Ozu named as the Best Five of the World at the Beach Soccer Stars 2019
Japan Football Association. 16 November 2019. and is known as one of the best defenders in beach soccer history.Ozu, um 'samurai' de Copacabana que sonha ser campeão mundial
SAPO, 8 July 2015 (in Portuguese). He is particularly known for his towering presence and powerful long-range free kicks. In 2019, he became the first Japanese player to score over 100 international goals.

Biography

Early life

Ozu was born in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and began playing beach soccer aged six on the beaches of Copacabana, growing up playing with future members of the Brazil national team including Rafinha, Bokinha and Mauricinho.Ozu: "I want to take Japan to a World Cup title"
Beach Soccer Worldwide. 10 December 2019. Aged 10, Ozu's beach soccer school accepted an invite to play an

exhibition match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the playe ...

before a Brazil match at Copacabana arena which was watched by 5,000 people. As a child, Ozu played

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

including joining

Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama ( , ; – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and nobleman who was the Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India, first European to reach India by sea. Da Gama's first voyage (1497–1499) was the first to link ...

aged 14師はラモス瑠偉。W杯3回出場の茂怜羅オズはなぜ日本を選んだのか
Sportiva. 8 March 2019. (in Japanese). and was scouted on numerous occasionsリオ生まれの日本代表キャプテン、ビーチサッカー・茂怜羅オズとは何者か
Sportiva. 4 December 2016. (in Japanese). 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. In 2004, at 18, he signed his first beach soccer contract, with

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

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.Ozu: I turned down Brazil because I fell in love with Japan
FIFA.com. 31 October 2019. In 2006, he moved to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and briefly played there. In 2007, aged 21, he accepted an offer to play for Lequios in

Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...

, Japan. Despite having no experience with Japanese culture, he immediately adapted to the way of life and, thanks to his experience of the cordiality of the

Japanese people are an East Asian ethnic group native to the Japanese archipelago. Japanese people constitute 97.4% of the population of the country of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 125 million people are of Japanese descent, making them list of contempora ...

, fell in love with the country. In 2009, Lequios relocated from Okinawa to

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

and Ozu followed suit. There, he met with fellow Brazilian and naturalised Japanese,

Ruy Ramos is a Brazilian-born Japanese former football manager and player. He is currently active as a television personality and '' tarento'', represented by Irving. Club career Ramos was one of the first foreign players in Japanese professional f ...

, then coach of the Japan national team. In spite of offers to play for Brazil, Ozu expressed to Ramos his desire to also gain

Japanese citizenship Japanese Nationality Law details the conditions by which a person holds nationality of Japan. The primary law governing nationality regulations is the 1950 Nationality Act. Children born to at least one Japanese parent are generally automatical ...

so that he could play for Japan, the country of his "heart". Ramos decided to help him. Ozu subsequently learnt to be fluent in the

Japanese language is the principal language of the Japonic languages, Japonic language family spoken by the Japanese people. It has around 123 million speakers, primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language, and within the Japanese dia ...

and after five mandatory years of living in Japan, he acquired citizenship on 12 December 2012 and dropped the name of Osmar for Ozu; he was immediately called up to the Japan national team.

International career

At his first international tournament, the 2013 AFC Beach Soccer Championship, he was crowned best playerOzu Moreira: Asian game has more depth than ever
Asian Football Confederation. 9 March 2019. 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 The AFC Championship Game is the annual championship game of the American Football Conference (AFC) and one of the two semifinal playoff games of the National Football League (NFL), the largest professional American football league in the wo ...

and was also joint top scorer. He also joined the

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

team at that year's

Mundialito de Clubes The Mundialito de Clubes () is an international club beach soccer competition contested between top men's clubs from around the world. The tournament is loosely similar to the FIFA Club World Cup in association football, however participating team ...

which the Spanish team won and opened his own institution for children, the "Copacabana Beach Soccer School", in Okinawa. 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 The Euro Winners Cup (EWC) is an annual, continental beach soccer club competition contested between top-division European teams; the clubs that are their country's national league/cup champions (and, for some nations, one or more runners-up) from ...

, with the Tuscan side that season. He has since had spells at FC City and

Lokomotiv Moscow FC Lokomotiv Moscow (, ) is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Moscow. Lokomotiv have won the Russian Premier League on three occasions; the Soviet Cup twice; and the Russian Cup (football), Russian Cup a record ...

of Russia,

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

and Falfala Kfar Qassem of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. In 2017, Ozu joined the first

J-League The , commonly a.k.a. shortened to the , and officially known as the for sponsorship with Meiji Yasuda Life, is the men's association football league in Japan. It is responsible for organizing Japan's major professional football tournaments, in ...

club to establish a beach soccer branch,

Tokyo Verdy is a Japanese professional football club based in Inagi, Tokyo. The club currently competes in the J1 League, following promotion from the J2 League in 2023. History Founded as Yomiuri Football Club in 1969, Tokyo Verdy is one of the mo ...

, who he would go on to win multiple JFA League titles with. He also became an ambassador of the JFA's 'Teacher of Dreams' project, touring schools across Japan, explaining to children how he has overcome problems in his life to achieve the successes in his field. 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 Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

at the

World Beach Games The ANOC World Beach Games, known simply as the ''World Beach Games'', is an international multi-sport event organized by the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC). The games are held wikt:Special:Search/biennially, biennially in odd-n ...

and also earned his 100th cap at the Intercontinental Cup a month later. Despite crucially missing his attempt in the

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

against

in the semi-final, Ozu ultimately inspired Japan to a positive 2019 World Cup performance of fourth place, their joint best ever finish at the World Cup at the time, and he also won the prestigious Golden Ball (best player) award at the tournament. In July 2020, Ozu was named as the new head coach of the Japan national team, making him a

player-manager A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

; he appointed

Teruki Tabata is a former Japanese Association football, football player. Playing career Tabata was born in Kagoshima Prefecture on April 16, 1979. After graduating from high school, he joined Japan Football League (1992–98), Japan Football League club Al ...

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 Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

. Upon returning to Japan, Ozu and some fellow teammates were found to have breached

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

quarantine A quarantine is a restriction on the movement of people, animals, and goods which is intended to prevent the spread of disease or pests. It is often used in connection to disease and illness, preventing the movement of those who may have bee ...

procedures; consequently, all accused were suspended from football activities for one month until January 2022 and Ozu apologised for his actions.

Statistics

;Country ;Club

Honours

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

Team

FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup The FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup is an international beach soccer competition contested by the national teams of the member associations of FIFA, the sport's global governing body. The tournament was preceded by the Beach Soccer World Championshi ...

**Runner-up (1):

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

**Fourth place (1):

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup The AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup is the main championship for beach soccer in Asia, contested between the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It is the sport's version of the better known AFC Asian C ...

**Winner (1):

**Runner-up (3):

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

Asian Beach Games The Asian Beach Games, also known as ABG, is a multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games have been organized by the Olympic Council of Asia. The Games are described as the second or third largest Asian m ...

**Gold medal (1):

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

**Silver medal (1):

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

* Mundialito **Runner-up (1):

**Winner (1):

**Winner (2):

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

Individual

(2): **Golden Ball:

**Silver Ball:

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

(8): **Best player:

**Top scorer:

**Team of the tournament:

(1): **Best player:

References

External links

Ozu Moreira
profile at

Beach Soccer Worldwide Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) is the organisation responsible for the founding and growth of the association football-based sport of beach soccer. The founding partners of BSWW codified the rules of beach soccer in 1992, with BSWW as it is known ...

Moreira Ozu
profile at

Japan Football Association The Japan Football Association (JFA, ) is the Sport governing body, governing body responsible for the administration of Association football, football, futsal, beach soccer and Esports, efootball in Japan. It is responsible for the Japan national ...

(in Japanese)
Ozu Moreira
profile at Beach Soccer Russia (in Russian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ozu, Moreira 1986 births Living people Japanese men's footballers Japanese beach soccer players Men's association football defenders Brazilian emigrants to Japan Naturalized citizens of Japan Naturalised association football players