Germany’s Franz Beckenbauer, one of soccer’s greatest players who captained his country to World Cup glory in 1974 and won the tournament again as manager in 1990, has died at the age of 78.
Beckenbauer was a versatile player who started out as a midfielder, but made his name as a central defender. He is often credited as having invented the role of the modern sweeper (libero). With success at club and international levels, he is one of nine players to have won the FIFA World Cup, the European Champions Cup, and the Ballon d’Or.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on X: “World Cup winner as player and coach: Franz Beckenbauer was one of the greatest footballers in Germany and for many ‘der Kaiser’ also because of the excitement for German Football he created for generations. We will miss him. My thoughts are with his family and friends.”
Beckenbauer’s former club Bayern Munich said “The world of FC Bayern is no longer what it was – suddenly darker, more quiet, poorer. The German record champions are grieving for Franz Beckenbauer, the unique ‘Kaiser’ without whom FC Bayern would not have become the club it is today.”
Beckenbauer earned 103 caps for West Germany, winning the 1972 European Championship and then the World Cup on home soil two years’ later, having lost in the final to England in 1966.
Beckenbauer’s death comes just two days after the announcement that Mario Zagallo, the Brazilian who became the first person to win the World Cup as a player and coach, had died at the age of 92.
