Dettmar Cramer

Dettmar Cramer

Ryuichi Sugiyama and Dettmar Cramer (right) at the 1964 Olympics
Personal information
Date of birth	(1925-04-04)4 April 1925
Place of birth	Dortmund, Weimar Republic
Date of death	17 September 2015(2015-09-17) (aged 90)
Place of death	Reit im Winkl, Germany
Playing position	Manager
Teams managed
Years	Team
1960–1963	Japan (technical advisor)
1964–1966	Germany (assistant)
1971–1974	Egypt
1974	USA
1974	Hertha BSC
1975–1977	Bayern Munich
1977–1978	Eintracht Frankfurt
1978–1981	Al-Ittihad
1981–1982	Aris Salonika
1982–1985	Bayer Leverkusen
1984–1985	Malaysia
1991–1992	South Korea U-23 (technical advisor)
1997	Thailand

Dettmar Cramer (4 April 1925 – 17 September 2015) was a German football player and coach who led Bayern Munich to the 1975 and 1976 European Cups. He was born in Dortmund. Cramer is commonly considered to be the father of modern football in Japan and is a member of the Order of the Sacred Treasure, 3rd Class. He also briefly coached the United States men's national soccer team.

Known as the "Football Professor" because of his attention to detail and also as “Napoleon” because of his diminutive 1.61 meter stature, Cramer began his career at Viktoria Dortmund and Germania Wiesbaden. The beginning of his managerial career lead him to clubs such as Teutonia Lippstadt, VfL Geseke, FC Paderborn, and TuS Eving-Lindenhorst. At the turn of the year 1948–49, Cramer found himself in the service of the German Football Association (DFB) for the first time. Until 1963 he served with the designation as Head Coach for Western Germany under the DFB in Duisburg.

Little known, Cramer attempted to make the jump into a career in journalism at this point. He became lead editor for sports for German television station ZDF. Feeling largely isolated from the football world, Cramer decided to call it quits after only six months on the job. Afterward he was sent by the DFB to Japan to serve as a football instructor.

In order to strengthen its national team ahead of the Tokyo Olympic Games four years later, the Japan Football Association had the idea in 1960 of bringing in a foreign professional coach. Cramer was ultimately selected for this role. Through Cramer's coaching and leadership, and the efforts of his players, the Japanese national team achieved a surprise upset of Argentina at the Tokyo Olympics. The significance of this result was not lost on Cramer who saw it as a confirmation that Japanese football was vastly improving. Cramer's efforts were not limited to the national team, as he also formulated and implemented policies for general development. The foundation of a first national league, the training of other coaches, and the strengthening of the national team would all contribute to Japan's success at the Mexico City Olympics four years later, where Japan would take home the bronze medal.