Franz Beckenbauer, who was hailed as one of the game’s greatest exponents, bid his fans and idolaters the final goodbye at the age of 78 on Sunday, January 7.
A statement from the Beckenbauer family conveyed the news that one of the biggest icons of world football had passed away in his sleep in the German town of Salzburg.
Famously known by the sobriquet ‘Der Kaiser’, which he earned for his charisma and dominance on the field in his favourite club Bayern Munich, Beckenbauer made a permanent place among immortal heroes in the sport with extraordinary performances for his country and the clubs he represented. This is reflected in his achievements, which have very few equivalents in the sport.
The fact that he is one of the only three men to have won the World Cup both as a player and manager speaks of the immense influence he had in enhancing the glory of the ‘Beautiful Game’. The other two names in this elite club are Brazil’s Mario Zagao and Frenchman Didier Deschamps.
“As a player, he brought a sense of effortlessness, elegance, and magic to the pitch. Franz Beckenbauer brought the glamour. Even after his playing career, he left an indelible mark on FC Bayern and football, and his legacy cannot be measured in titles,” Bayern Munich president Herbert Hainer’s tribute aptly sums up the stature of Der Kaiser in football.
The German football aficionados remember him in superlatives, as he collected 104 caps for West Germany and captained the team to World Cup glory in 1974.
Legendary stature: The fact that Beckenbauer is one of the only three men to have won the World Cup both as a player and manager speaks of the immense influence he had in enhancing the glory of the ‘Beautiful Game’. | Photo Credit: Getty Images
He repeated his great achievement as a manager in 1990 in Rome, where West Germany, led by Lothar Matthaus, beat Argentina to lift the crown.
At the club level, Beckenbauer’s presence influenced Bayern Munich to win a hat-trick of European Cups between 1974 and 1976. This happened after the Bavarians won three league championships in a row from 1972 to 1974.
The assortment of laurels in his trophy cabinet is an indication of his supreme talent, which provided the stimulus to his teammates and wards to bring out the best in terms of performance.
“Franz Beckenbauer rewrote the history of German football and left a lasting mark on it. He was my captain at FC Bayern, my coach with the national team, and our president at Bayern — and in all these roles, he was not only successful but unique. As a person, he impressed with his great respect for all people, because everyone was equal in Franz’s eyes,” said another German great, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, while reminiscing about the greatest footballer his country has produced.
Born in Giesing, a district in Munich, in September 1945, Beckenbauer came to personify versatility on the football field. The fans of Bayern hailed him as an emperor on the pitch as Beckenbauer experimented with different playing positions before settling down as a libero or sweeper, the position that he perfected to a level of supreme accomplishment.
Beckenbauer’s class reflected in his wonderful understanding of the game and his great skills as a player. He could elegantly control the ball and initiate effective attacks while finding the chinks in the opposition’s game plan. Despite playing primarily as a defender, Beckenbauer’s influence on the teams that he represented was dominant and masterful. These outstanding attributes as a player saw him win the Ballon d’Or twice, in 1972 and 1974.
Having achieved so much as a player and then as a coach, Beckenbauer soon moved into administration, where he encountered some controversies arising from allegations of financial irregularities. Der Kaiser faced a 90-day ban imposed by the FIFA Ethics Committee, which also fined him 7,000 Swiss Franc for failing to cooperate with an inquiry related to corruption dealing with the allocation of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar. But these incidents were soon forgotten as millions of football lovers preferred to remember Beckenbauer as one of the greatest masters of the game that ever lived.
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