‘One of the greatest footballers’ – Germany’s Beckenbauer dies at 78

Football is morning the death of German icon Franz Beckenbauer, who won the World Cup as a captain and as a coach, and is considered one of the global legends of the game.

Beckenbauer’s family told dpa on Monday that he died the previous day at age 78.

Known as Der Kaiser (The Emperor) and Die Lichtgestalt (the shining light), Beckenbauer redefined the sweeper position in the 1960s and 1970s with his elegant style and leadership.

Apart from his national team success, he earned countless honours with his long-time club Bayern Munich, including three straight European Cups and the Intercontinental Cup.

“It is with deep sadness that we inform you that my husband and our father Franz Beckenbauer passed away peacefully yesterday, Sunday, surrounded by his family,” the family announced. “We ask that you mourn in silence and refrain from asking any questions.”

The tributes poured in swiftly, with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz saying on X, formerly Twitter: “Franz Beckenbauer was one of the greatest footballers in Germany and for many Der Kaiser – also because he inspired enthusiasm for German football for generations.”

German Football Federation (DFB) president Bernd Neuendorf named Beckenbauer’s death “a real turning point.

“We look back on his life’s work with respect and great gratitude. In him, we have lost a unique footballer and an endearing person. The Kaiser was one of the best players our sport has ever seen,” Neuendorf said.

“Franz Beckenbauer leaves behind a great legacy for the DFB and football as a whole.”

Lothar Matthäus, who captained the 1990 World Cup winning team under Beckenbauer, spoke out along with the team’s striker Rudi Völler, now national team director.

“Franz was an outstanding personality, not only in football, and he enjoyed worldwide recognition. Everyone who knew him knows what a great and generous person Franz was. A good friend has left us,” Matthäus told the Bild paper.

Völler said he was “infinitely saddened” by the news of his death.

“I consider it one of the great privileges of my life to have known and experienced Franz Beckenbauer. The Kaiser was an inspiration for more than one generation, he will forever remain the shining light of German football,” Völler added.

National team coach Julian Nagelsmann said: “When Franz Beckenbauer entered a room, the room lit up.”

Beckenbauer played alongside Brazil legend Pele at New York Cosmos, spent two years back in West Germany at SV Hamburg before ending his glittering playing career after another short stint at Cosmos in 1983.

A year later he became national team coach, and, after losing the 1986 World Cup final to Diego Maradona’s Argentina, lifted the World Cup in 1990 with victory against the South Americans.

Beckenbauer was Bayern coach briefly in the 1990s, club president 1994-2009, and chief organizer of the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

However, dubious payments in connection with the tournament, which have never been fully cleared up, tainted his image in his later years just like controversial remarks on the situation of migrant workers in 2022 World Cup host nation Qatar.

He disappeared more and more from the public eye, also due to illnesses.

A slap in the face decided his and Bayern’s fate – the Munich-born Beckenbauer had initially planned to join city rivals 1860 Munich at a young age.

But after being hit by 1860 player Gerhard König during a match when he was 13, he joined Bayern instead in 1959 and made his first-team debut aged 18 in 1964, Bayern’s final year to date in the second division.

Ten years later, in 1974, he helped Bayern win a fourth Bundesliga title with him in the team, a first European Cup title against Atletico Madrid, and captained West Germany to World Cup glory against the Netherlands in his Munich home stadium. They had also won the Euros two years earlier.

He was part of Bayern’s first golden generation with striker Gerd Müller, winger Uli Hoeneß, defender Paul Breitner and goalkeeper Sepp Maier.

“One of the greatest footballers in the history of Bayern has unfortunately left us. Rest in peace, Kaiser Franz. We will never forget what you did for football in Germany,” Bayern forward Thomas Müller said on X.

Beckenbauer won 103 West Germany caps, scoring 14 goals, between 1965 and 1977, and in the Bundesliga had 424 appearances with 44 goals.

He was as present off the pitch as on it, starring in soup commercials in the early 1970s and other ads in his later days – plus having a column in the Bild tabloid for many years.

The once passionate golfer was married three times and had five children. One of them, Stephan, was also a professional footballer who died in 2015.

The then president of the organizing committee of the 2006 World Cup in Germany, Franz Beckenbauer, casts a large shadow on the event’s logo. Beckenbauer, considered the greatest German football legend, died on Sunday at the age of 78, his family told dpa on Monday. Bernd Weißbrod/dpa