Kunishige Kamamoto

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.

Kunishige Kamamoto
釜本 邦茂

Kamamoto in 2014
Personal information
Full name	Kunishige Kamamoto
Date of birth	(1944-04-15) 15 April 1944 (age 80)
Place of birth	Kyoto, Japan
Height	1.79 m (5 ft 10+1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Forward
Youth career
1960–1962	Yamashiro High School
1963–1966	Waseda University
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1967–1984	Yanmar Diesel	251	(202)
Total		251	(202)
International career
1964–1977	Japan	76	(75)
1964	Japan U23	10	(8)
Managerial career
1978–1984	Yanmar Diesel
1991–1994	Gamba Osaka
2009–2010	Fujieda MYFC
Medal record Representing  Japan Olympic Games 1968 Mexico City Team Asian Games 1966 Bangkok Team
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

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.

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

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

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. 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. The club also won the 1970 Emperor's Cup. 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. In 1978, Kamamoto became a player manager. The club was league champions 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.

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.

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. In 2018, this team was inducted to the Japan Football Hall of Fame.^{[citation needed]}

Kamamoto played at the Football at the 1966 Asian Games. In the 1970s, after many Olympic players left the national team, he continued being selected. He played at the 1970 and 1974 Asian Games. 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 was a player manager for Yanmar Diesel. He led the club to its first league championship in 1980. 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 resigned in 1994.

Kamamoto was selected as a member of the House of Councillors in July 1995 and served until July 2001.

International goals

Scores and results list Japan's goal tally first.

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	3 March 1964	Tokyo, Japan	Singapore	2–1	Won	Friendly
2.	14 March 1965		Hong Kong	2–1	Won	Friendly
3.
4.	22 March 1965		Burma	1–1	Draw	Friendly
5.	11 December 1966	Bangkok, Thailand	Iran	3–1	Won	1966 Asian Games
6.	14 December 1966		Malaysia	1–0	Won
7.	16 December 1966		Singapore	5–1	Won
8.
9.	17 December 1966		Thailand	5–1	Won
10.	19 December 1966		Singapore	2–0	Won
11.	27 September 1967	Tokyo, Japan	Philippines	15–0	Won	Qualification 1968 Summer Olympics
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.	30 September 1967		Taiwan	4–0	Won
18.
19.
20.	3 October 1967		Lebanon	3–1	Won
21.	7 October 1967		South Korea	3–3	Draw
22.	30 March 1968		Australia	2–2	Draw	Friendly
23.
24.	4 April 1968		Australia	3–1	Won	Friendly
25.
26.	14 October 1968	Puebla, Mexico	Nigeria	3–0	Won	1968 Summer Olympics
27.
28.
29.	10 December 1970	Bangkok, Thailand	Malaysia	1–0	Won	1970 Asian Games
30.	16 December 1970		Indonesia	2–1	Won
31.
32.	28 July 1971	Copenhagen, Denmark	Denmark	2–3	Lost	Friendly
33.
34.	27 September 1971	Bangkok, Thailand	Philippines	8–1	Won	Qualification 1972 Summer Olympics
35.
36.
37.	29 September 1971		Taiwan	5–1	Won
38.
39.
40.	12 July 1972	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Khmer Republic	4–1	Won	1972 Merdeka Tournament
41.
42.
43.
44.	16 July 1972		Sri Lanka	5–0	Won
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.	18 July 1972		Philippines	5–1	Won
50.	22 July 1972		Malaysia	1–3	Lost
51.	4 August 1972	Bangkok, Thailand	Philippines	4–1	Won	Pesta Sukan Tournament
52.
53.	14 September 1972	Tokyo, Japan	South Korea	2–2	Draw	Japan-Korea Annual Match
54.
55.	20 May 1973	Seoul, Korea Republic	South Vietnam	4–0	Won	Qualification 1974 FIFA World Cup
56.
57.	3 September 1974	Tehran, Iran	Philippines	4–0	Won	1974 Asian Games
58.
59.
60.	28 September 1974	Tokyo, Japan	South Korea	4–1	Won	Japan-Korea Annual Match
61.
62.	4 August 1975	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Bangladesh	3–0	Won	Merdeka Tournament
63.
64.	7 August 1975		Indonesia	4–1	Won
65.
66.	14 August 1975		Burma	2–0	Won
67.	25 January 1976	Tokyo, Japan	Bulgaria	1–3	Lost	Asahi International Soccer Tournament
68.	27 March 1976	Tehran, Iran	South Korea	2–2	Draw	Qualification 1976 Summer Olympics
69.
70.	8 August 1976	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	India	5–1	Won	Merdeka Tournament
71.	10 August 1976		Indonesia	6–0	Won
72.	13 August 1976		Burma	2–2	Won
73.	16 August 1976		Thailand	2–2	Won
74.
75.	20 August 1976		Malaysia	2–2	Won

Individual

• Summer Olympics football top scorer: 1968
• Japanese Footballer of the Year: 1966, 1968, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1980, 1981
• Japan Soccer League Top Scorer: 1968, 1970, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1976 (on his own), 1978 (shared with Carvalho).
• Japan Soccer League Best Eleven: 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981.
• Japan Soccer League Assists leader: 1973, 1975
• Japan Soccer League Star Ball Award: 1967, 1968, 1970, 1971, 1972
• Japan Soccer League Fighting Spirit Award: 1968
• Japan Soccer League 100 goals Award: 1974
• Japan Soccer League 200 goals Award: 1981
• Asian All Stars: 1967, 1968
• MasterCard Asian/Oceanian Team of the 20th Century: 1998
• Japan Football Hall of Fame: Inducted in 2005

• List of men's footballers with 50 or more international goals