Franz Beckenbauer, German football legend, dies

Franz Beckenbauer, a German football legend, died this Sunday at the age of 78, according to the former player’s family.

“It is with deep sadness that we inform you that my husband and our father Franz Beckenbauer died peacefully yesterday, Sunday, surrounded by his family. We ask you to mourn in silence and refrain from asking questions,” the message can be read. from the family, according to Traunsteiner Tagblatt.

Beckenbauer, nicknamed “Kaiser” or “Emperor”, He is considered one of the best players of all time: he was one of only three footballers to reach the World Cup as a player in 1974 and as a coach in 1990.

The former defender and midfielder also became one of Bayern Munich’s highlights on the road to global power, winning the European Cup (now the Champions League) three times and also winning the Ballon d’Or in 1972 and 1976.

He was born on September 11, 1945 in the city of Munich, which became his defining factor. He ultimately marked his time at Bayern, where he played from 1964 to 1977, helping to create the libero – a kind of “free” player. central defense, with the ability and permission to also climb the terrain – as a defining position in the tactical scheme.

At club level, the 1.81m tall player also played for New York Cosmos, a North American constellation that also included Pelé, Johan Cruyff and Carlos Alberto, as well as Hamburg, with whom he was also champion Germany.

However, at Bayern he won the European Cup (now the Champions League) three times, in 1974, 1975 and 1976, and the Intercontinental Cup in 1976, with several Bundesliga and other cup titles in his career while playing for Germany. Occidental 103 times, 50 times as captain, scored 14 goals.

He was the figurehead of his country’s football alongside Gerd Müller and Sepp Maier and played the “Match of the Century” with a broken bone and his arm to his chest against Italy in the 1970 Championship semi-final. The World Cup, lost 4–3 after extra time, became one of the most striking images of his career, which he continued as a successful coach, especially in Germany.

Called in to lead the “manshaft” after Euro 1984, a German “failure”, he led them to the 1986 World Cup final, where they lost to Diego Maradona’s Argentina, before getting “revenge” on the same team in 1990. solution. , In Rome.

He then matched Brazilian football ‘legend’ Mario Zagallo, later seeing France’s Didier Deschamps enter that ‘pantheon’ when the Frenchman won the competition as a player in 1998 and as a coach 20 years later.

He worked as a coach in Marseille, but enjoyed management more and helped “lead” his Bayern team in the 1990s alongside Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Uli Hoeness, as well as on the FIFA Executive Committee and the successful mission to obtain Germany is organizing the 2006 World Cup.

This involvement would land him in trouble with the law, be the subject of an investigation, and then be removed as FIFA’s “deputy” when the 2022 World Cup was handed over to Qatar in 2010.