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Franz Beckenbauer: The legendary German defender’s family confirmed his death at the age of 78.
The two-time Ballon d’Or winner, nicknamed ‘Der Kaiser,’ and one of only three men to have won the World Cup as both a player and manager, passed away on Sunday after a brief illness.
The family of Franz Beckenbauer released a statement to the German news agency dpa saying, “It is with deep sadness that we announce that husband and father, Franz Beckenbauer, passed away peacefully in his sleep yesterday, Sunday, surrounded by his family.” We ask that you be silent in your grief and not to raise any questions.
As one of the all-time great defenders, the Munich-born center back played every minute of West Germany’s historic World Cup 1974 campaign, leading his team to victory over the Netherlands in the final.
Initially a midfielder, Beckenbauer transitioned to a defensive role in the 1970s and achieved remarkable success as a sweeper, appearing in 103 games for Germany and recording 14 goals and 10 assists.
Along with winning the World Cup with Germany in 1974, Beckenbauer was also a runner-up in 1966, when Germany lost to England in the final, and a bronze medalist in 1970.
Franz Beckenbauer led Germany to victory at Euro 1972. He collected his first Ballon d’Or. He was Germany’s Footballer of the Year four times taking home the prestigious individual award in 1976.
Between 1964 and 1977, Beckenbauer was a senior player for the Bavarian giants, winning three European Cups, four Bundesliga titles, four DFB-Pokals, and one Intercontinental Cup while accumulating 74 goals and 75 assists in 582 appearances.
Beckenbauer left Bayern in 1977 to play for the New York Cosmos in the United States, where he won the North American Soccer League in each of his first three seasons before signing a free agent contract with Hamburger SV.
Frank Beckenbauer | The greatest German footballer of all time
The Germany legend won another Bundesliga title with Hamburg in the 1981-82 season before returning to the NY Cosmos for one final season before retiring in 1983. He then transitioned into coaching and became Germany manager just one year after his glittering playing career ended.
Beckenbauer led West Germany to the 1986 World Cup final, where they were defeated by Argentina, before exacting revenge on the South Americans by masterminding a 1-0 victory over Argentina in the 1990 final.
Beckenbauer became only the second man to win the World Cup as both a player and a manager after Brazil’s Mario Zagallo, who died on Friday, and France’s Didier Deschamps has since joined that exclusive club.
Franz Beckenbauer left the German setup in 1990 and worked as both manager and technical director at Marseille, where he won one Ligue 1 title before returning to Bayern in 1991, where he won one Bundesliga title and one UEFA Cup in two separate stints.
He was the Reds’ president for 15 years between 1994 and 2009, after which he was named Bayern Munich’s honorary president. He was also the vice-president of the German national team and a FIFA board member.
Beckenbauer still holds the record for the most consecutive matches played for the German men’s team (60 games in a row from 1970 to 1977), and his individual accomplishments include three FIFA World Cup All-Star team nominations, the FIFA Order of Merit in 1984, and a Laureus Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007.
Beckenbauer was later involved in a fraud and money laundering scandal related to the 2006 World Cup, but that FIFA investigation was closed in 2021 without a verdict because the statute of limitations had expired.
