It turned out that Masashi Motoyama, a former Japan national football team who played an active part in J1 Kashima Antlers, has basically agreed to a one-year contract with a Malaysian club.
This was revealed to NHK by a Malaysian professional league official.
According to this, Motoyama has basically agreed to a one-year contract with "Kelantan United FC", which belongs to the second division of the professional league, based in Kelantan, northern Malaysia.
Motoyama is 41 years old from Kitakyushu.
He joined Kashima Antlers from Higashi-Fukuoka High School in 1998, and as an aggressive player with a sharp dribble breakthrough, he participated in 365 games in 18 seasons and scored 38 goals.
Also, as a representative of Japan, he participated in 28 games such as the 2004 Asian Cup.
In 2015, he transferred to the local Giravanz Kitakyushu, which was J3 at the time, but he left the group in December last year due to an injury to his right knee, and his departure was drawing attention.
Many Japanese players are playing in the Southeast Asian professional league, but this is the first time that a player with experience representing Japan has participated in the Malaysian league.
"Kelantan United FC" will hold a press conference in Malaysia on the 30th to announce the participation of Motoyama, who will join the practice after undergoing a medical check etc. at the site next month, and in February It means preparing for the opening of the league in the end of the month.