Kunishige Kamamoto

Kunishige Kamamoto (釜本 邦茂) is a former Japanese football player, manager, and politician.

Kamamoto was born in Kyoto on 15 April 1944.

He grew up in Kyoto and attended Yamashiro High School.

Then, he joined the Waseda University School of Commerce.

For fours years in a row, he was the top scorer in the Kanto university league.

He won the 1963 and the 1966 Emperor's Cup while he was at Waseda University.

This was the last time a university team won the Emperor's Cup.

On 3 March 1964, when Kamamoto was a Waseda University student, he debuted and scored a goal for the Japan national team against the Singapore national football team.

In October, he was selected by Japan for the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

He played in all matches and scored one goal.

He earned a bachelor of arts degree in Commerce from Waseda University in 1966.

Kamamoto played at the Football at the 1966 Asian Games.

After graduating, Kamamoto joined the Japan Soccer League club Yanmar Diesel in 1967 (currently known as Cerezo Osaka).

He played all league games as from his first season.

He won the bronze medal with the Japan national team at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, finishing as the tournament's top scorer with seven goals, and is the all-time leading goalscorer for Japan.

In 1968, he became the top scorer in the Japan Soccer League.

Yanmar Diesel won their 1st title, the 1968 Emperor's Cup, with Kamamoto's winning goal in the final.

In 1968, Kamamoto was also selected by Japan for the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, where Japan won the Bronze Medal and Kamamoto was the top scorer.

He played in all matches for his country and scored seven goals.

The club also won the 1970 Emperor's Cup.

In the 1970s, after many Olympic players left the national team, he continued being selected.

He played at the 1970 and 1974 Asian Games.

In 1971, for the first time, the club became league champions and Kamamoto became the top scorer for a second time.

Between 1974 and 1975, Yanmar Diesel won the league for two years in a row and also won the 1974 Emperor's Cup.

He retired from the national team in 1977, having played in 76 matches and having scored 75 goals.

Kamamoto, however, has been recognized with 80 goals in 84 appearances from the Japan Football Association, and previously as well by FIFA, but he isn't mentioned with this tally in their latest publications.

In 1978, Kamamoto became a player manager.

In 1978, Kamamoto was a player manager for Yanmar Diesel.

The club was league champions in 1980.

He led the club to its first league championship in 1980.

In 1982, Kamamoto ruptured his Achilles tendon twice and, in 1984, when he was 40 years old, he retired.

All in all, Kamamoto was top scorer seven times and was selected in the best eleven fourteen times.

He was also selected as Japanese Footballer of the Year seven times.

The club also won the 1983 and 1984 JSL Cup.

In 1984, he retired from football and resigned as the manager of Yanmar Diesel.

In 1991, he signed as manager with rivals Matsushita Electric (to be later known as Gamba Osaka).

He also served as a member of the House of Councillors between 1995 and 2001.

Kamamoto served as the Vice-President of the Japan Football Association from July 1998 to July 2008.

In 2005, he was inducted in the Japan Football Hall of Fame.

In 2018, this team was inducted to the Japan Football Hall of Fame.