Franz Beckenbauer, legend of world football, has died

He was one of the symbols of post-war German reconstruction. Born in the ruins of Munich in 1945 and became a genius footballer, double Ballon d’Or, Franz Beckenbauer died on Monday January 8, at the age of 78, announced the German Federation (DFB) to the SID press agency, a subsidiary of AFP. Nicknamed the “Kaiser” (the emperor), he led West Germany to the title of world champion in 1974, at home, before winning the World Cup again, in 1990, as a coach. Suffering for several years, his public appearances were very rare and his state of health did not allow him to go to Brazil for the funeral of his former New York Cosmos teammate, Pelé, in early January 2023.

Yet a fan of Munich 1860, where he dreamed of playing, Franz Beckenbauer began his professional career at Bayern Munich, where he was trained, at a time when the Bavarian club was far from having the same aura as today. In question ? A slap given to him by a Munich 1860 player during a youth tournament, not digested by the future “Kaiser”, who was already asserting his strong character.

From his first season in the first team, in 1964/1965, he played a major role, with 16 goals, in Bayern’s promotion to the Bundesliga. A championship that he would then win five times, four times with the Bavarians (1969, 1972, 1973 and 1974), and once with Hamburg (1982).

Arm in sling during “the match of the century”

A key man for Bayern, moved from winger to midfielder, he was selected by the German Federal Republic (FRG) in 1966 in England, during which he scored four goals including a superb strike in the semi-final against USSR by Lev Yashin. But the Germans lost in the final against England (4-2 ap), in a match that remained in the legend, notably for a disputed goal validated for the English.

Franz Beckenbauer distinguished himself again, four years later, during the World Cup in Mexico, with another memorable semi-final, lost against Italy, and long considered “the match of the century”. A game marked by his dislocated shoulder, forcing him to finish the match with his arm in a sling, so as not to leave his teammates at ten even though the two authorized changes had been made. London’s Evening Standard then spoke of him as a “beaten, but proud Prussian officer”, his injury does not prevent him from keeping his posture straight. An officer who finally became Kaiser, replaced as a libero, and who finally lifted the World Cup, captain’s armband, during the following edition, in 1974, with a final in Munich, on his home soil, in front of his audience , at the expense of the Netherlands of another legend, Johan Cruyff, the “Flying Dutchman”.

That same year, he won the first of his three Champion Clubs’ Cups, the ancestor of the Champions League. A list of achievements to which must be added two Ballons d’Or, of which he was the first winner as a defender, in 1972 and 1976, at a time when the award was only open to European players. Qualified for “White Pele” by the newspaper Kickerhe joined the Brazilian star at the New York Cosmos from 1977, to develop football in the United States.

If he recognizes that this experience was “to forget from a strictly footballing point of view”however, he won the championship three times, before returning to Hamburg for two seasons, then returning for a final gallop to New York, where he ended his playing career in 1983.

Very quickly, Franz Beckenbauer turned to a career as a coach, or rather as a coach, since he took charge of the German national team in July 1984. As during his playing career, the supreme title, the World Cup, was first refused him, with a defeat in the final in 1986, against Diego Maradona’s Argentina. But in 1990, the Germans took their revenge against the Albiceleste and were crowned world champions, allowing their coach to become the second man to have won the World Cup as a player then coach, after the Brazilian Mario Zagallo and before Didier Deschamps .

A whirlwind stint at Olympique de Marseille

Just crowned with this title, the Kaiser joined the Marseille bench at the start of the 1990-1991 season, attracted by Bernard Tapie. But the adventure is cut short, with checkered results, and an influence of the president on the team considered too important by the German technician. Beckenbauer was finally replaced by Raymond Goethals on the bench and took the position of sporting director, before being fired in January 1991, four months after his arrival.

After a few years away from the benches, he returned to Munich and came full circle, at home, with temporary stints on the Bayern bench, from December 1993 to June 1994, then from April to June 1996, still with a championship title. of Germany won in 1994, and a UEFA Cup, the ancestor of the Europa League, raised in 1996. His coaching career ended, Franz Beckenbauer then took over the presidency of the Bavarian club, from 1994 to 2009, and gets involved in the authorities, becoming vice-president of the German federation and president of the German bid committee for hosting the 2006 World Cup. An attribution whose conditions were considered doubtful and which led to an investigation of Swiss justice for suspicion of corruption, but in which Franz Beckenbauer had not been cited, his case being disjointed due to the deterioration of his state of health.

Suffering, the Kaiser had undergone two heart operations in 2016 and 2017 and complained of an eye that had become almost blind. Football fans will remember his elegance on the pitch, his genius with the ball, rewarded by his incredible record.