Franz Beckenbauer, one of Germany’s greatest soccer players, who captained the team to World Cup victory in 1974 then won the tournament again as manager in 1990, has died at the age of 78, German news agency DPA has reported.
Beckenbauer was a classy, dominant presence on the pitch for West Germany and Bayern Munich in the 1960s and 70s, using the calmness on the ball and effortless distribution that marked his midfield performances to virtually invent the central defensive sweeper role where he found most success.
“Franz Beckenbauer was definitely the biggest German footballer of all time, and above all one of the greatest men who I have known,” said DFB vice president Hans-Joachim Watzke.
Beckenbauer, one of only three men to win the World Cup as player and as a coach, passed away on Sunday, the DFB said yesterday.
Former captain of the German team in the 1970s, Beckenbauer had in the last years been suffering from health problems and lived mostly withdrawn from the public eye in Salzburg, just across from the German border.
Known in football-obsessed Germany as ‘the Kaiser’ meaning ‘the Emperor,’ Beckenbauer played a central role in some of the country’s greatest sporting achievements, but his legacy was later tarnished for his involvement in scandals surrounding Germany’s successful bid to host the 2006 World Cup.
Born in Munich in 1945, Beckenbauer helped establish Bayern as his country’s strongest club. Alongside Mario Zagallo — who died aged 92 on Friday — and Didier Deschamps, Beckenbauer is one of only three men to have won the World Cup as both a player and a manager.
He captained West Germany to the 1974 World Cup title on home soil when they beat the Netherlands 2-1 in the Munich final, then managed the team that beat Argentina 1-0 in Rome to lift the trophy at Italia 90.
