The Kaiser, Few nicknames are as appropriate as that of German footballer Franz Beckenbauer, who died on Sunday at the age of 78. He led the defense like a general, paraded across the axis of the field, the master of the one-two, in search of his buddy Gerd Müller, the goalgetter who was just as appropriate The Bomber was named.
They formed a royal couple in the 1960s and 1970s at Bayern, which until their arrival played in the shadow of city rivals Munich 1860 and would grow into one of the most successful club teams in the world. Together with Bayern they won four league titles, four German Cups, three European Cups for national champions, a European Cup for Cup Winners and a World Cup. And with Die Mannschaft a European Championship and a World Cup.
When Müller died in July 2021, Beckenbauer reminisced about his best friend. “Gerd already had a driver's license and picked me up for every match. But I often had to pack my things and he would honk impatiently. I then reassured him. They really won't leave without their star players.”
Müller fell into ruin after his football career. And who pulled the drunk out of the gutter and got him a part-time job at Bayern? Exactly, the man who became so successful as a national coach, club chairman, tournament director and influential columnist Image. He could make or break players and coaches in the newspaper – he was less subtle with his pen than with the ball.
Beckenbauer was an elegant, emerging libero – and therefore ahead of his time. He didn't need any fouls, he did everything based on technique. When an attacker ran up to him to take the ball from him, he would teasingly lob it over him. Inside foot, outside foot, always with the right. And when the field was soaked and the balls smothered in a puddle, Beckenbauer's were delivered to a fellow player. After such a water ballet, he was often the only one who left the field with a spotless shirt. He left sliding tackles to his man-markers. They did the dirty work for him.
Son of a postman
The son of a postman from Bavaria, born in 1945, is widely regarded as the best defender of all time. Better than the Englishman Bobby Moore, the Italian Giacinto Facchetti and the Argentinian Daniel Passarella. The only defender in the list of Di Stefano, Pelé, Eusebio, Cruijff and later Maradona, Messi and Ronaldo: they were or are the attacking stars, he a world-class defender. He was twice named European Footballer of the Year. And more importantly, he won with that Mannschaft the European Championship of 1972 and the World Cup of 1974. That year he was the boss of the Dutch team with Cruijff in a final that many older Dutch people still experience as a trauma. Cool and collected the captain led his troops to a hard-fought 2-1 victory.
When asked who was better, Cruijff or him, Beckenbauer replied teasingly: “Johan was the best player, but there is also a world leader,” referring to the 1974 World Cup final when the two football friends literally got in each other's way. Moreover, Cruijff did not become world champion as a coach – he even declined the honor. Beckenbauer led a boring, monotonous performance Mannschaft to World Cup gold in 1990.
Two years earlier he lost as Team chief of the host country in the semi-finals of the European Championship of the Dutch national team. Despite all the anti-German sentiments in the Dutch football camp – Ronald Koeman wiped his ass with Olaf Thon's exchanged shirt – the losing coach boarded the celebrating Orange bus afterwards to personally shake hands with all the players, trainers and supervisors. Once a gentleman, always a gentleman.
World Cup match with sling
As early as 1966, Beckenbauer played in a World Cup final against West Germany lost to hosts England. The 20-year-old was still at right half, just like at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. He played there with a sling due to a shoulder injury, all substitutions were gone. It did not detract from his graceful style. Only later would he drop to the heart of the defense. Conducting à la Cruijff, but not constantly bleating.
After thirteen years full of sporting highlights at Bayern – he had already retired from international football two years earlier – Beckenbauer moved to the New York Cosmos in 1977, where he and his Brazilian teammate Pelé entertained the unspoilt American football audience on rock-hard artificial grass fields. They became national champions three times and spent a lot of time in the nightlife. Their Dutch teammates Johan Neeskens and Wim Rijsbergen can talk about it.
Beckenbauer then returned to the Bundesliga to finish his professional career in Hamburg as a 37-year-old football veteran. With HSV he also celebrated his fifth German championship.
After his active career, Beckenbauer, like Cruijff without a diploma, was also successful as a trainer. Through Bayern and Olympique Marseille he became national coach of a group of players who could not match his ball sense and insight into the game. He let the national team play to his (limited) possibilities. In this he also differed from Cruijff, who also opted for adventure as a coach.
Discredited
As a director, Beckenbauer fell into disrepute many years after he had won the organization of the World Cup for Germany in 2006. Justice in Switzerland – FIFA is based in Zurich – opened an investigation in 2015 into the financial affairs of the allocation of the final round. Beckenbauer, like three other Germans, was suspected of fraud and money laundering and had to make a statement in 2017. In 2005, he is said to have transferred an amount of approximately 9.7 million euros to Mohamed bin Hammam, who was part of FIFA's executive committee at the time and was banned for life.
Beckenbauer has always denied that he was guilty of bribery. In 2020 it was announced that the case had expired and Beckenbauer would not be prosecuted. The accusations were a stain on his career. The 'acquittal' fitted the image of the incorruptible.
His private life was fodder for the tabloid press for decades. As a regular columnist he was spared by image, by far the largest boulevard magazine. He survived one of his three sons who died of a brain tumor. He was married three times, divorced twice. Around 'his' World Cup in 2006, he married his third wife, a secretary with whom he had fathered a child.
When asked whether this was acceptable in Catholic, conservative Bavaria, he replied: “Der liebe Gott reut ich über jedes Kind.” No one dared to contradict Franz Beckenbauer.
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