Football icon Franz Beckenbauer is dead

Beckenbauer was also one of the greatest players in football worldwide. He became world champion as a player and coach and brought the 2006 World Cup to Germany. Beckenbauer was considered a much-celebrated shining light.

“It is with deep sadness that we announce that my husband and our father, Franz Beckenbauer, passed away peacefully in his sleep yesterday, Sunday, surrounded by his family,” the family said. “We ask that you be able to grieve in silence and refrain from asking any questions.”

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As an elegant libero, Beckenbauer won four championship titles and the Master Cup, the predecessor of the Champions League, three times with Bayern Munich. The crowning moment of his career came in 1974 with the world championship title. Two years previously he led the German European Championship winning team. After a few years in the USA with Cosmos New York, where he played in a legendary team with Pelé, Beckenbauer returned to Germany and won another championship title with Hamburger SV in 1982.

World Cup triumph as a player and coach

In 1984, Beckenbauer became team manager of the German national team, even without a coaching license, and led the team straight into the 1986 World Cup final against Argentina, which was lost 2-3. Four years later, they achieved revenge against Diego Maradona and Co. with the World Cup triumph. Beckenbauer returned to FC Bayern as a coach when his Munich team was in crisis in the mid-1990s.

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The DFB used his charisma and polyglot brilliance in its bid for the 2006 World Cup. The summer fairy tale was Beckenbauer’s highlight as an official – and at the same time difficult for him personally. There were allegations when dubious payments became public. The accusations surrounding the awarding of the World Cup with dubious payments of millions are leaving a late aftertaste for Beckenbauer’s impressive life’s work.

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Beckenbauer’s career: highlights and shadows

World champion as a player and as a coach, German champion with FC Bayern and Hamburger SV – Franz Beckenbauer was an exceptional footballer, both nationally and internationally. The highlights:

• 1972: In the quarter-finals of the European Championship, the German national team around captain Beckenbauer won the first victory for a DFB team in England. After the 3-1 win at Wembley Stadium, the team has been considered the most brilliant selection by fans and experts for decades. The fact that the team also became European champions with a 3-0 win in the final against the Soviet Union no longer surprises anyone.
• 1974: After the defeat in the group game of the World Cup against the GDR, the West German team is in a bad mood. But then the team marches all the way to the final in Munich. The game on July 7, 1974 is also a duel between captain Beckenbauer and the Dutchman Johan Cruyff. The Dutch quickly make it 1-0 before a German even touches the ball. Later, Gerd Müller made himself immortal with the 2-1 winning goal.
• 1977 to 1980: After his time at FC Bayern, Beckenbauer moved to the USA for the then record transfer fee of two million US dollars. At Cosmos New York he plays alongside Brazil’s footballer of the century Pelé. The Munich native enjoys his star status in the metropolis. New York wins the US championship three times. But Beckenbauer’s conclusion: “In terms of football, you can forget it.”
• 1990: After six years as team leader of the German national team and a runner-up World Cup title in 1986, the coronation followed on July 8, 1990. The images of Beckenbauer are legendary, as he walked alone with his hands in his trouser pockets after Germany’s World Cup triumph Grass in the Olympic Stadium in Rome is progressing. “It was the only place where I had peace,” he said later.
• 2006: As head of the application and organizing committee, he brings the World Cup to Germany and Italy wins the title. But the “summer fairy tale” also casts its shadow: Beckenbauer finds himself caught up in the scandal surrounding unresolved millions in payments relating to the awarding of the tournament. He is being investigated in Switzerland on suspicion of fraud, money laundering and embezzlement. When the Summer Fairy Tale trial was discontinued in March 2020 due to the statute of limitations, Beckenbauer no longer had to fear legal consequences.