Dettmar Cramer

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 led 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 West 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 Japan national team achieved a surprise upset over 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…

As of 6 May 2012

Cramer served in World War II as a Senior Lieutenant with a German paratrooper division. For his international achievements, Cramer was awarded two honorary doctorates in addition to being presented with the Bundesverdienstkreuz (Federal Cross of Merit) in Germany. In 1971, Emperor Hirohito also personally presented him with membership in the Order of the Sacred Treasure for his service to Japan. Furthermore, Cramer was an honorary chieftain in the Native American Sioux and Mohican tribes. Cramer died at the age of 90 on 17 September 2015.

Egypt Palestine Cup of Nations: 1972 African Games bronze medal: 1973 Africa Cup of Nations third place: 1974 FC Bayern Munich European Cup: 1974–75, 1975–76 Intercontinental Cup: 1976 Individual France Football 40th Greatest Manager of All Time: 2019 Inducted into Japan Football Hall of Fame