Taizo Kawamoto

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Taizo Kawamoto (January 17, 1914 – September 20, 1985) was a Japanese footballer and later a coach. He was born in Seto, Aichi, Japan.

Club career
Kawamoto studied at Waseda University and played for Waseda WMW, a team made up of students and graduates. The club finished second in the 1940 Emperor’s Cup. After World War II, he returned to play for Osaka SC, which also finished as Emperor’s Cup runners-up in 1951, 1952, and 1953. Kawamoto’s career was interrupted by the war; he served in the military and was detained in the Soviet Union for four years before returning to Japan in 1949 to continue playing.

National team career
While a student at Waseda, Kawamoto joined the Japan national team in May 1934 for the Far Eastern Championship Games in Manila, where he scored on his debut against the Dutch East Indies. He played for Japan at the 1936 Berlin Olympics and scored against Sweden. Japan’s victory over Sweden in 1936 became known as the Miracle of Berlin. After the war, he appeared for Japan again in 1954 during World Cup qualifying and at the 1954 Asian Games. He was part of Japan’s squad for the 1956 Summer Olympics as a player and assistant coach, but did not play. In total, Kawamoto earned 9 caps and scored 4 goals for Japan, with his last appearance on May 3, 1954, at the age of 40 years and 106 days, making him the oldest player to represent Japan.

Coaching career
In 1956, Kawamoto served as an assistant coach for Japan at the Melbourne Olympics. In 1958, he became the Japan national team’s head coach for the Tokyo Asian Games. Japan lost both games, and he resigned after the tournament.

Honours
Kawamoto was posthumously inducted into the Japan Football Hall of Fame in 2005.

Death
Taizo Kawamoto died of stomach cancer in Osaka, Japan, in 1985 at the age of 71.