The emperor is no more. The former defender of the German national team died on Sunday at the age of 78, we heard on Monday. The condition of Franz Beckenbauer, weakened by several heart operations and blindness in his right eye, had been a cause of concern for weeks.
A documentary about his career was to be broadcast in Germany on January 8. In the trailer, the news from his brother Walter was not good. “If I said he was doing well, I would be lying and I don’t like lying. He doesn’t feel well, he has constant ups and downs.”he revealed.
The Bayern Munich legend, a world reference in the libero position, won two Golden Balls, in 1972 and 1976. In Bavaria, the Kaiser notably won the Champion Clubs’ Cup three times in a row (1974, 1975, 1976). He also won four times in the Bundesliga and four times in the German Cup before discovering America. Under the shirt of the New York Cosmos, where he played with Pelé and became a three-time champion of the North American Soccer League. The centre-back then returned to Germany and won another league title with Hamburg in 1982, before ending his career with a final season at Cosmos.
World champion as a player and as a coach
In the Mannschaft jersey he won the 1972 European Championship and the 1974 World Cup. In 1990 he again won the largest international competition with Germany, this time as a coach.
After the 1990 World Cup, Bernard Tapie brought him to Olympique de Marseille, but a few months later the German coach was fired. After a distinguished career as a player and then as a coach, he began a managerial career in 1994 by taking over the management of Bayern, his favorite club, which he led for almost twenty years. Beckenbauer also made two interim spells on the Bavarian bench, winning the league title in 1994 and then the UEFA Cup in 1996.
Vice President of the German Federation in 1998, chairman of the bidding and then organizing committee for the 2006 World Cup, and he was also a columnist for thirty-four years, until 2016, in the daily newspaper Image. Star of TV sets and commercials during and after his career, Beckenbauer was a guest in the daily lives of Germans for half a century and leaves a gaping void.
