Franz Beckenbauer

Franz Beckenbauer is widely recognised as the greatest German footballer of all time and one of the greatest players in football history. He is often credited to have invented the role of the modern sweeper. In 1999 he was voted third, behind Pelé and Johan Cruijff, in IFFHS' World Player of the Century election.

Early days

Franz Beckenbauer was born in Munich on 11 September 1945, the second son of a postal-worker and his wife Antonie. He soon started playing football at the age of eight with the youth team of SC Munich '06, idolizing the footballer Fritz Walter, 1954 World Cup winner, and supporting the local team 1860 Munich where he dreamed to play in the future. However fate decided for him in a different way: at the age of 14 he joined to Bayern Munich youth team, the arch rivals of his favourite team. In fact Beckenbauer and his Munich ’06 team-mates were aware that their club lacked the finance to continue running its youth sides, so they were determined to join 1860 Munich at the end of tournament. However, fortune decreed that SC Munich and 1860 would meet in the final in which a series of bicker during the match between Beckenbauer and the opposing centre-half, convinced Franz and some team-mates to join FC Bayern's youth side rather than 1860 Munich.

Bayern Munich’s legend

So Beckenbauer grew in youth team and after five years he player his first game for the club in 1964 against Stuttgarter Kickers, in the season Bayern were promoted to Bundesliga. Soon Bayern became one of major force in Germany, winning the German Cup in 1966-67 and the following year the Cup Winners’ Cup against Rangers.

In that years the team was a powerful mix of skill player and young talent as Beckenbauer, Sepp Maier and Gerd Muller. Franz became team captain for the 1968-69 season and led his club to league title. He began his experiment with the sweeper role, refining it into a new form and becoming perhaps the greatest exponent of the attacking sweeper game. In this period he also gained his most famous nickname: “the Kaiser”. During a friendly game of Bayern Munich in Vienna, Beckenbauer posed for a photo session right beside a bust of the former Austrian emperor Franz Joseph I. The media called him Fußball-Kaiser (Football emperor) afterwards, or simply “Der Kaiser”. During 70’s Bayern Munich was one of the greatest European team as they won three Bundesliga from 1972 to 1974 and three consecutive European Cup wins from 1974 to 1976 which earned the club the honour of keeping the trophy permanently and equalling the record held by Real Madrid and Ajax.

During these years Beckenbauer he was named twice European footballer of the Year (1972,1976) and twice as runner-up, a record for a defender. In 1977 Beckenbauer after 427 matches and 60 goals, decided to leave Munich and try US experience.

In USA

At age of 32 in In 1977 Beckenbauer accepted a very lucrative contract to play in the North American Soccer League with the New York Cosmos, with other football legend as Pelè and Bobby Moore. With Cosmos he played four years winning three championships (1977, 1978 and 1980).

Later years

In 1980 he returned in Germany to play with Hamburger SV. With the club he won again in his career Bundesliga title in 1982. His last season was again in USA with Cosmos in 1983. At the age of 38 Franz Beckenbauer retired as footballer.

Great successes with West Germany

Beckenbauer started to play very young with Germany youth team. However in 1963, at the age of 18, he was banned from the team because his girlfriend was pregnant but he refused to marry her (we have to consider the conservative social values of the era). In 1965 he earned his first cap for the senior team, becoming soon a regular into the starters. In 1966 he was selected for the World Cup, playing all the matches for Germany and scoring four goals!

An amazing debut for the footballer. West Germany was defeated 4-2 by England in the final after extra-time but Beckenbauer became famous worldwide.

In 1970 he joined again to Germany campaign as one of most interesting players of the tournament. In the second round he helped the team to defeat England in a repeat of the previous World Cup final, scoring a stunning goal from the distance.

However Germany was eliminated in semi-finals by Italy in the famous match known as “the game of the Century”. In that game Franz played with a dislocated arm in a sling as his side had already used up their maximum two substitutions and he didn’t want to leave his team with ten players.

After the World Cup, exactly in 1971, Beckenbauer earned the captaincy of the National team, leading them to the European win in 1972. In the final Germany defeated 3-0 USSR.

He also captained his country in 1974 World Cup held in West Germany. Despite of an embarrassing loss against East Germany in the first round, the team reached again the final where they found the great Cruijff’s Netherland. However Beckenbauer and fellow defenders man-marked Cruyff so well that the Dutch were never quite able to put their "Total Football" into full use.

So the Kaiser raised the trophy in his stadium, the Olympiastadion in Munich. With this win, Germany was the first country to be both World Cup and European Champion winners at the same time. In 1976 he was near to the second win in European championship but Germany was defeated at penalty shootout by Czechoslovakia after 2-2 in the extra-time. Franz played his last game with West Germany’s shirt in 1977, after 103 caps and 14 goals.

Managerial career

In 1984 Beckenbauer was appointed as coach for Germany side, replacing Jupp Derwall. He took the team to 1986 World Cup where they were defeated by Argentina leaded by Diego Maradona.

Two years later Germany hosted European championship but they were eliminated by Netherlands with a 2-1 loss. His great moment, however, was in 1990 with World Cup hosted by Italy. They got revenge for the previous World Cup final, defeating 1-0 Argentina with a controversial penalty in the last minutes of the match.

With this victory, Franz was the second person, with the Brazilian Zagallo, to win a World Cup as a player and a manager. After the tournament, he left the National team, deciding to manage Olympique Marseille in France, where he won in 1991 the France League and in 1993 he signed for his beloved Bayern Munich where he won a Bundesliga in 1994 and a UEFA Cup in 1996. From 1994 he was also the president of the club. In 1998 he became vice-president of the DFB, The German Federation. Since then, he has worked hard to get hosting rights for the 2006 World Cup in Germany, becoming head organiser for the tournament.