19 November, JFA held at JFA House a memorial ceremony of Dettmar CRAMMER, who passed away on 17 September. Mr. Cramer contributed to building the base of modernisation of Japan’s football. He was firstly invited to Japan as the Coach of the Japan’s Football National Team in 1960 when it was 4 years before the Tokyo Olympic Games in 1964.

He kept working for Japan’s football through launching the Japan Soccer League, training coaches, and developing young players at that time. Her Imperial Highness Princess Takamado, JFA’s Honorary Patron attended the ceremony.

In the ceremony, all guests had a time to offer silent prayers at first and then OKANO Shunichiro, who is Supreme Advisor of JFA and used to work with him as an assistant coach and interpreter of the squad team, gave a speech about Mr. Crammer’s story.

Okano’s speech expressed his gratitude for the achievements he made not only for Japan’s football but also for development of Japan’s sports; Mr. Crammer transferred "Coach Theory", which hasn’t changed even after 100 years, to Japan where there were only some coaching techniques at that time.

JFA’s Supreme Advisor KAWABUCHI Saburo, who played in the Tokyo Olympic Games in 1964, also made a speech to express his gratefulness for Mr. Crammer "teaching him a philosophy of life" and for having the opportunity to meet with his teammates at that time.

After the ceremony, the guests visited the exhibition "Dettmar Crammer and Football Exchange between Japan and Germany", held at the Japan Football Museum. They had a chance to look through his achievements and memories that were collected from his colleagues at the exhibition.

After the visit to the museum, they moved to a lounge space at the JFA House for a further chat. JFA’s President DAINI Kuniya who attended his funeral, mentioned that 300 important people for football from different countries including Mr. Beckenbauer the former German squad payer and FC Bayern München’s President Mr. Rummenigge attended the funeral.

He reported "4 people gave remembrance messages and all of them mentioned that Mr. Crammer always loved Japan and made a great contribution to Japan’s football development." At the end, he promised that he will share Mr. Crammer’s theory with the next generation.

Even though the time was not enough, all guests had a great opportunity to remember him and to renew their friendship.

The exhibition "Dettmar Crammer and Football Exchange between Japan and Germany" is open to public at the Japan Football Museum until February next year. There are showcases of Mr. Crammer’s achievements, football exchanging history between Japan and Germany, and some of his belongings. Please visit us.