Japanese Soccer Legend Kunishige Kamamoto Dies at 81

Jiji Press

17:22 JST, August 10, 2025

Tokyo, Aug. 10 (Jiji Press) — Kunishige Kamamoto, who was widely considered the greatest striker in Japanese soccer history, died of pneumonia at a hospital in Osaka Prefecture, western Japan, on Sunday. He was 81.

At the 1968 Mexico Olympics, Kamamoto scored seven goals to become the top scorer, serving as the driving force behind the Japanese national soccer team’s capture of their first Olympic bronze medal.

A native of Kyoto Prefecture in western Japan, Kamamoto started playing soccer in elementary school. After graduating from Yamashiro High School in Kyoto, he went to Waseda University in Tokyo and became the top scorer in the soccer league of universities in the Kanto eastern Japan region for four consecutive years.

In 1967, Kamamoto joined Yanmar in the Japan Soccer League, or JSL, the predecessor to the Japan Professional Football League, or J.League. In the JSL, he played in 251 games over 17 seasons and scored a record 202 goals. He also won the scoring title a record seven times.

Kamamoto had been selected for the Japanese national team since 1964, competing in both the Tokyo Olympics that year and the Mexico Games four years later. He played in 76 international “A” matches and scored a record 75 goals, which remains the highest number ever scored by a male player.

He was known for his right-angled shots, and “right 45 degrees” became his trademark.

Kamamoto retired as a soccer player in 1984. After serving as head coach of Gamba Osaka in the J League, he held various positions including vice president of the Japan Football Association from 1998. He was inducted into the Japan Football Hall of Fame in 2005.

In 1995, he ran for the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of Japan’s parliament, as a candidate for the Liberal Democratic Party and was elected for his first term.

In recent years, Kamamoto had been in poor health and was undergoing medical treatment.