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Japan’s most successful football striker, Kunishige Kamamoto, dies at 81

Updated on: 12 August,2025 08:39 AM IST  |  Tokyo
Agencies |

The Kyoto native is best remembered for his exploits at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico, where he was the top scorer with seven goals and led Japan to the bronze medal

Japan’s most successful football striker, Kunishige Kamamoto, dies at 81

Kunishige Kamamoto scores a goal at the 1968 Olympics. FILE PIC/AFP

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Japan’s Kunishige Kamamoto, the country’s most prolific striker, died aged 81. Kamamoto, who scored 75 goals in 76 appearances for Japan, died on Sunday of pneumonia. The Kyoto native is best remembered for his exploits at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico, where he was the top scorer with seven goals and led Japan to the bronze medal.

Kamamoto was first called up to the national squad aged 19. In 1967 he joined Yanmar Diesel, now Cerezo Osaka, plundering 202 goals in 251 games until his retirement in 1984. During the final years of his playing career he also worked as Yanmar’s manager. After football Kamamoto shifted to politics, becoming an upper house lawmaker in 1995.


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