Kunishige Kamamoto and Ryuichi Sugiyama, who both helped Japan win the bronze medal at the Mexico City Olympics, were among 20 former players and coaches inducted to the first Japanese soccer Hall of Fame, the Japan Football Association said Thursday.
Kamamoto and Sugiyama were among five Japan players and coaches in the 1968 Olympic squad that garnered more than 50 percent of the 79 votes cast by JFA executives and media representatives. Kamamoto received the top number of 69 votes, while Sugiyama had 60.
The other three members were Ryuzo Hiraki, who had 42 votes, and the late Masakatsu Miyamoto and Shigeo Yaegashi, who both had 41 votes each. Elsewhere, German Dietmar Cramer, who was a member of the coaching staff for Japan at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and was known as the "father of Japanese soccer," was among six men specially selected by a Hall of Fame panel. Ken Naganuma, who led Japan to the Olympic bronze medal, and assistant coach Shunichiro Okano were among nine former JFA chairmen that were also recommended by the panel. The induction ceremony is scheduled for May.