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Kunishige Kamamoto photo by Ogiyoshisan-

Top 10 Fascinating Facts about Kunishige Kamamoto

Kunishige Kamamoto is a former Japanese football player, manager, and politician. He was born on April 15, 1944.

He won the bronze medal with the Japanese team at the 1968 summer Olympics in Mexico City.

He was a tournament top scorer finishing the Olympics with seven goals and is an all-time leading goal scorer for Japan.

He served as a member of the house of councils between 1995 and 2001. He went to Waseda University and studied commerce earning a bachelor of arts degree from the university in 1966.

Here are the top 10 fascinating facts about Kunishige Kamamoto.

1. He had an early start in his career as a footballer

Kamamoto was born in Kyoto Japan on April 15, 1944, he attended Yamashiro high school and attained his high school diploma.

He was accepted to Waseda university school of commerce. The young footballer became a top scorer in the Kanto university league for four consecutive years.

He also captured the 1963 and the 1966 emperor’s cup at the university and this was the last time the university team ever basked in the glory of the emperor’s cup.

Kamamoto wasn’t just a footballer, he majored in commerce and earned a bachelor’s degree from Waseda University in 1966.

2. He had a fruitful club career

After graduating from Waseda University, Kamamoto joined japan soccer league, Yanmar diesel in 1967.

In the first season, he played all the games in the league and with the experience and dedication he had, he became a top scorer by 1968.

The club took the leading hat when he won their first title in the 1968 game of emperor cub closing it with his winning goal in the finals.

His presence led the club to wiseveralof leagues, such as the 1970 emperor cup, it was this game-changing moment that the club won their first league champions and also became a top scorer the second time.

In 1974 and 1975, the club took the leading position in the league for two years consecutively and also won the 1974 empress cup.

He became a top scorer seven times and was elected best eleven fourteen times. He was also selected Japanese footballer of the year awards seven times.

3. He had a national career

Vietnam_vs._Japan_AFC_Asian_Cup photo by Amir Ostovari –

Kamamoto debuted on march third 1964, when he was a Waseda university student, scoring a goal for Japan national team against Singapore.

He was chosen in October by Japan for the 1964 summer Olympics in Tokyo. He participated in all the matches and scored one goal.

In 1968, he was also selected for Japan for the 1968 summer Olympics in Mexico City. He won the bronze medal and became a top scorer. Kamamoto participated in all the matches scoring seven goals.

In the year 2013, the team he was handling was selected for the Japan football hall of fame. He participated in the Asian games held in 1966,1970 and 1974.

He finally retired in 1977  from the national team, ending his playing career in 76 games and scoring 75 goals for Japan.

 4. He was mentored and trained by a German coach

The coach of Japan’s national team Dettmarr Cramer described kamamoto to be a world-class material footballer and had a great influence in developing talented footballers.

He went as far as taking him to Germany to get experience with a German football club as well as with the German national team at the beginning of 1968.

Dettmarr Cramer was a German coach who coached the national japan team in its infancy for four years. In Japan, he is viewed as the man who helped to establish the Japan league in 1963.

 5. He played in the Mexico City games

Mexico City Games photo by Alejandro Villalvazo Castillo-

Kamamoto joined the national team in the Mexico City games in 1968, scoring a total of seven goals making him the only Asian ever to be the top scorer of an Olympic game.

He led his team to victories over Nigeria and then drew with Brazil and Spain, Japan beat France 3 to 1 in the quarter-finals.

They eventually lost to the final winners, Hungary in the semi-finals. It is in this game that Kamamoto scored twice in the bronze medal play-off against host Mexico and they finished as top scorer and finishing in 3^rd place.

6. He was side-lined for a while

Kamamoto was, unfortunately, side-lined due to having hepatitis for a considerable amount of time after the Mexico City games.

The Japanese team wasn’t able to advance to the world cup as Japan didn’t have a professional league to take advantage of the momentum created by Japan’s national team in Mexico.

It was during this time that the Japan soccer league was formed and Kamamoto was the shining star with the highest record in the league history.

7. He played in a semi-professional league

Emperors cup Final in Japan photo by Waka77-

Kamamoto played for Japan the soccer league, which was a flight association fount league before the current professional league was formed.

The players of the Japanese league were mostly amateurs and each team represented cooperation and went by the name of the company that owned them.

The players were not only amateurs but also employees of the parent cooperation, the top players were generally and strictly paid to play soccer.

Kamamoto gave a recall of how in the Mexico games his team was mostly amateurs and they hadn’t considered the possibility of achieving something that will mark their glory in history.

The players had to work for the company in the morning and later practice football before departing home.

8. He was a player and manager for Yanmar Diesel

In 1978, Kamamoto played for Yanmar diesel, where he also took the role of manager, he led the club to win its first champions in 1980.

His team won the 1983 and 1984 Japan soccer league champions under his coaching, and he ended up resigning from the company as well as ending his playing career as a footballer.

9. He was a coach of Gamba Osaka

in 1991, he signed with across town to Yanmar diesel rivals, Matsushita electric, now Gamba Osaka. He resigned from the company in the year 1994.

10. He was a member of the house of councilors

In July 1995,kamamoto was selected as a member of the house of councilors and served there until July 2001.