Remembering the Legendary Kaiser Franz Beckenbauer: A Tribute to a Football Icon

2024-01-08 18:22:30

1/8/2024-|Last update: 1/8/202409:01 PM (Mecca time)

The German Football Association announced on Monday the death of German football legend “Kaiser” Franz Beckenbauer, a world champion as a player in 1974 and as a coach in 1990, on Sunday at the age of 78.

Beckenbauer, captain of the West German national team in the 1970s, coach of Die Mannschaft between 1984 and 1990, and a former administrator at Bayern Munich in the 1990s, withdrew from public life in recent years due to health problems, retreating to Salzburg, Austria, close to Munich.

German Football Association Vice President Hans-Joachim Watzke said, “Franz Beckenbauer is the greatest German player of all time, and above all a wonderful human being that I have met.”

Beckenbauer touched on death in a documentary in 2020 on the occasion of his 75th anniversary on the ARD channel: “The question is: When will the moment come when we disappear on another planet? Or in a place we do not know. The world is wide enough, and there are enough places.” “Which we can land on. But this doubt worries me.”

RIP, Kaiser ????️ pic.twitter.com/Zic2h4I43D

— Bayern & Germany (@iMiaSanMia) January 8, 2024

Beckenbauer, known in football-mad Germany as “the Kaiser”, played a key role in the national team’s greatest achievements, but his legacy was later tarnished by his involvement in the scandals surrounding Germany’s bid to host the 2006 World Cup.

Along with the late Brazilian Mario Zagallo and Frenchman Didier Deschamps, Beckenbauer is one of only three sports figures who was able to win the World Cup as a player and coach.

He led West Germany to win the 1974 World Cup title on home soil when they beat the Netherlands 2-1 in the Munich final, and then as coach led the team that beat Argentina 1-0 in Rome to lift the trophy in Italy 1990.

About the German football legend:

He was born on September 11, 1945 in Munich (Germany).
He died on January 7, 2024.
Height: 1 meter and 81 centimetres.
He served as a libero when he was a player.
He defended the colors of Bayern (1964-1977), New York Cosmos (1977-1980 and 1983), Hamburg (1980-1982).
As a player, he contributed to West Germany winning the 1974 World Cup, after finishing runner-up in 1966.
As a player, he contributed to his country’s victory in the European Nations Cup in 1972.
He led his team, Bayern, to win the European Champion Club Cup in 1974, 1975 and 1976.

Franz Beckenbauer as a player:
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???????????????? DFB Cup
???????????? European Cup
???? European Championship
???? FIFA World Cup
???? Cup Winners’ Cup
???? Intercontinental Cup
???????????? North American Soccer League
???????? Ballon d’Or
????????????????German Footballer of the Year

Franz… pic.twitter.com/AXJjXrcF6f

— Bayern & Germany (@iMiaSanMia) January 8, 2024

He led his team, Bayern, to win the Intercontinental Cup in 1976.
He won the West German championship with Bayern in 1969, 1972 and 1973-1974, then with Hamburg in 1982.
He won the West German Cup four times with Bayern in 1966, 1967, 1969 and 1971.
He led his American team, the New York Cosmos, to win the US Championship three times in 1977, 1978, and 1980.
He won the European Ballon d’Or twice, in 1972 and 1976.
He won the German Player of the Year award in 1966, 1968, 1974, and 1976.
He played 103 international matches between 1965 and 1977, including 50 captains, during which he scored 14 goals.
He coached the West German national team from September 1984 to July 1990, where he led them to win the World Cup in the World Cup in Italy in 1990, and to the final match in the World Cup in 1986. Then he moved on to coach Marseille in France and Bayern Munich, where he later became its president.