German football player Franz Beckenbauer, regarded as one of the sport’s greatest players, has died aged 78. Beckenbauer’s death was first announced by his family to German news agency DPA and then confirmed by the German football federation, the DFB.
The former Bayern Munich great, who became affectionately known as the ‘Kaiser’ had struggled with health problems in recent years. Beckenbauer is seen as re-imagining the defender’s role in football and captained West Germany to the World Cup title in 1974. He was the coach when West Germany won the tournament again in 1990.
The ‘Kaiser’ was one of the best players our sport has ever seen, DFB president Bernd Neuendorf said. With his lightness, his elegance and his vision, he set standards on the field … Franz Beckenbauer leaves a great legacy for the federation and soccer as a whole. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Beckenbauer inspired generations of enthusiasm for German football. We will miss him.
Beckenbauer’s death comes just two days after the announcement of Mario Zagallo’s death at the age of 92. Zagallo is the only other person to achieve World Cup wins as a player and coach, other than France’s Didier Deschamps.
Beckenbauer was also instrumental in bringing the highly successful 2006 World Cup to Germany, though charges later alleged he only succeeded in winning the hosting rights with the help of bribery. He denied the allegations.
We did not want to bribe anyone and we didn’t bribe anyone, Beckenbauer, who headed the World Cup organizing committee, said in 2016. Beckenbauer and three other members of the committee were formally made criminal suspects that year by Swiss prosecutors who suspected fraud, but he was never indicted due to health reasons and the case ended without judgment in 2020.
Beckenbauer was also briefly suspended by FIFA’s ethics committee in 2014, for failing to cooperate with prosecutor Michael Garcia’s probe of alleged corruption in the 2018 and 2022 World Cup votes. The suspension was lifted during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil when he agreed to cooperate.
Beckenbauer was born in a working-class Munich district in the aftermath of World War II. He studied to become an insurance salesman but signed his first professional contract with Bayern Munich when he was 18.
Beckenbauer is perhaps best known for personalizing the position of libero, the free-roaming nominal defender who often moved forward to threaten the opponent’s goal. The role is now virtually disappeared from modern football and was rarely seen before his time.
Although he had never coached before, Beckenbauer was hired to revive West Germany’s fortunes in 1984 after a flop at the European Championship. West Germany made it to the final of the 1986 World Cup, losing to Diego Maradona’s Argentina in Mexico City.
Although West Germany failed to win the 1988 Euros title on home soil, it went to the final of the 1990 World Cup and defeated Argentina in the final in Rome, another highlight in the year after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The penalty goal came from Andreas Brehme, a defender Beckenbauer had once told to play the piano, play the flute but not football.
While his team celebrated, Beckenbauer, who retired from the role after the tournament, cut a lonely figure walking and reflecting at the Olympic Stadium. Later, at the news conference, he said he was sorry for the rest of the world because a united Germany would be unbeatable for years to come.
That 1990 tournament was the last West Germany played before reunification, however, Germany had to wait 24 years before winning another World Cup title.
