Kunishige Kamamoto, who was widely considered the greatest striker in Japanese soccer history, died of pneumonia at a hospital in Osaka Prefecture on Sunday. He was 81.
Kamamoto was the soccer competition's top scorer with seven goals at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, serving as the driving force behind the national team, which earned bronze to secure the country's first-ever soccer medal.
A native of Kyoto Prefecture, Kamamoto started playing soccer in elementary school. After graduating from Yamashiro High School in Kyoto, he attended Waseda University in Tokyo and was the top scorer in the Kanto university soccer league for four consecutive years.
In 1967, Kamamoto joined Yanmar in the Japan Soccer League (JSL), the predecessor to the 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 was first selected for the Japanese national team in 1964 and competed in both the Tokyo Olympics that year and the Mexico City Games four years later. He played in 76 top-level international matches and scored 75 goals, which remains a national team record to this day.
He was known for his right-angled shots, and "right 45 degrees" became his trademark.
Kamamoto retired as a 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 was elected to the Upper House as a member of the Liberal Democratic Party. He served as a lawmaker until 2001.
In recent years, Kamamoto had been in poor health and was undergoing medical treatment.
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