Franz Beckenbauer, who has died aged 78, was widely regarded as the best footballer Germany ever produced. A leading figure in the post-World War II World Cup, he was a phenomenally successful and innovative player who guided West Germany to a World Cup victory in 1974 and later guided his country to two consecutive World Cup finals, winning the second of the won World Cup finals. them in 1990 in Rome.
As a club manager he added a Bundesliga title and a UEFA Cup victory to his World Cup triumph at international level and as a player he won a World Cup, a European Championship, three European Cups and five Bundesliga titles in Germany. But more than his ability to win, it was the elegant, intelligent nature of his play that attracted so much admiration around the world.
While still a teenager at Bayern Munich, Beckenbauer had become the virtual inventor of what was called ‘total football’. Watching Milan team Internazionale on television, he was impressed by the attacking displays of their great left back, Giacinto Facchetti. He wondered why a defender wouldn’t attack from a central role as well as from the flanks, thus becoming Bayern’s decoy. free. It was a role that became the cornerstone of the overall football practiced by Bayern and their great Dutch rival Ajax in the early 1970s.
Led by Beckenbauer – a tall, upright figure always ready to get out of the defense – Bayern initially played second fiddle to Ajax, but eventually followed them by winning the European Cup three times in a row between 1974 and 1976. Before that series, Beckenbauer had already led an excellent West German team to the European championship title in 1972, beating the Soviet Union 3-0 in the final. Two years later, he led his country to victory at the 1974 World Cup on German soil, beating the Netherlands 2-1. He played 103 times for West Germany and played in 427 league matches for Bayern.
Franz was born to Antonie (née Huphauf) and Franz Sr, a postman in the Munich suburb of Giesing, near the stadium where he would make his name. At the age of eight, he was already considered a technically skilled player, even in a city where footballers and football proliferated. Munich 1860 was the club he preferred; Bayern Munich, where he would later excel, was a small beer at the time; an upstart in comparison.
However, Munich’s loss in 1860 would be Bayern’s gain. In 1958 he played for the junior team of a small local club, SC 1906, which actually closed that year and was expected to join in 1860. ‘But in the last match we were playing for SC 1906 against 1860,’ he said, ‘and a half-back hit me. That was enough for me. 1860 would never get me. And so Bayern accepted me into their ranks.” Beckenbauer, with rare exceptions, was always a sporting player, stating that he would rather be fouled and leave the field than commit a foul himself.
He made his debut for Bayern Munich in 1964 – when they were playing in the German second division – and helped them win promotion to the Bundesliga in his first season.
Thereafter, Bayern quickly became a major force both at home and in Europe, winning the German Cup in 1966–67 and the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1967 (against Rangers). Beckenbauer became team captain for the 1968-69 season and led the club to its first league title that year, going on to win three straight league titles from 1972 to 1974 and that hat-trick of European Cup victories in 1974-76. Under his inspiring leadership (he was nicknamed the Kaiser for his commanding, almost imperious presence), the Bayern team of the time, which also included greats such as goalkeeper Sepp Maier and centre-forward Gerd Müller, emerged as one of the world’s leading players . talented club sides of all time.
Beckenbauer’s first game for the national team, at the age of 21 in 1965, had taken place before Bayern’s dramatic rise to prominence. He was West Germany’s star at the 1966 World Cup finals, where they finished second in the Wembley final against England, and again in the 1970 final in Mexico, where they finished in third place. Helmut Schön, the tall, soft-spoken West Germany team manager who was almost a father figure to Beckenbauer, refused to let him play the libero role for his country for years. When he finally relented in 1974, West Germany won the competition and Beckenbauer lifted the trophy as captain.
Everything seemed fair for a fourth World Cup campaign for Beckenbauer in Argentina in 1978, but to popular surprise, and at just 31 years of age, he retired from international football in 1977 to move to New York Cosmos in the North American Soccer . Competition.
It was an unusual move after almost fifteen years at the top level of the game with Bayern, but the contract was lucrative and huge crowds came to see him play with Pelé and other stars at Giants Stadium, New Jersey.
In his four seasons with the Cosmos, the team won the National Soccer Bowl three times (1977, 1978 and 1980). “I’ve done everything in my life – championships for Bayern Munich and the World Cup for Germany – but the New York Cosmos was the best time of my life,” he said. “In Munich it was all German players; at the Cosmos it was 14 nationalities and Pelé.”
He returned to Germany to play for Hamburg (1980–82), where he picked up another Bundesliga winners’ medal at the end of the 1981–82 season before returning to the US for a final campaign with the Cosmos in 1983 and beyond retired. . In his domestic competition career he had made 587 appearances and scored 81 goals.
When Beckenbauer retired he seemed to have no ambition to enter management, so it was a surprise when he agreed to run West Germany in 1984, succeeding Jupp Derwall. Never before had a West German manager been appointed who had not completed the German Football Association’s extensive qualification programme, a program that involved not only passing exams but also running smaller clubs.
In appointing Beckenbauer, the German authorities abandoned firm principles in the hope that his immense prestige and authority would prevail; and they were not disappointed.
The team he inherited was in the doldrums, but at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico they reached, suitably inspired, a final in which they were clearly inferior to an Argentinian team who took a 2-0 lead, only for the Germans to pull back fight, overtake them and then lose 3-2. Four years later, in a scary final in Rome, Germany took revenge by beating Argentina 1-0 with an Andreas Brehme penalty to win the final.
Shortly afterwards, Beckenbauer resigned and became technical director of French club Marseille on a two-year contract worth almost £500,000, taking with him a German physical trainer.
But for once his summons did not run. The French players were dissatisfied with the training and Beckenbauer withdrew after just four months. He was much happier when he returned to Bayern Munich to serve as manager for two short spells – in 1993/94 and in 1996 – during which time he collected two more honours: the Bundesliga title in 1994 and the UEFA Cup in 1996. was president of the club for two years.
In 1998 he became vice-president of the German Football Association and in the late 1990s he led Germany’s successful bid to host the 2006 World Cup, chairing the subsequent organizing committee. In 2009, he was appointed honorary chairman of Bayern Munich, a position he held until his death.
In 1966 he married his first wife, Brigitte; they divorced in 1990. Later that year he married Sybille Weimer; they divorced in 2004. He is survived by Heidi Burmester, his third wife, and four children, Thomas, Michael, Noel and Francessca. A fifth child, Stephan, who was also a footballer and played for Bayern Munich, died in 2015.
• Franz Anton Beckenbauer, footballer, born September 11, 1945; died January 7, 2024