Franz Beckenbauer

Franz Anton Beckenbauer, born on 11 September 1945 in Munich and died on 7 January 2024, was a German footballer, manager, and executive. Known as "der Kaiser," he is considered one of the sport's all-time greats and most influential figures. He began his career as a midfielder but became famous as a centre-back, widely credited with creating the modern sweeper (libero) role.

A two-time European Footballer of the Year, Beckenbauer earned 103 caps for West Germany, appearing in three World Cups and two European Championships. He is among only eleven players to have won the World Cup, European Cup, and Ballon d'Or. He is one of three men—alongside Brazil's Mário Zagallo and France's Didier Deschamps—to win the World Cup both as a player and as a manager: he captained West Germany to victory in 1974 and managed them to the title in 1990. He was the first captain to lift the World Cup, European Championship, and European Cup. He was named to the World Team of the 20th Century (1998), the FIFA World Cup Dream Team (2002), the Ballon d'Or Dream Team (2020), and the IFFHS All-time Men's Dream Team (2021). In 2004, he was listed in the FIFA 100. In August 2024, the AIPS voted him the third-best footballer of the past century, behind Pelé and Diego Maradona.

At club level with Bayern Munich, Beckenbauer won the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1967 and three consecutive European Cups from 1974 to 1976, making him the first player to win three European Cups as club captain. He later served as Bayern's team manager and president. After two spells with the New York Cosmos, he was inducted into the US National Soccer Hall of Fame.

Beckenbauer led Germany's successful bid to host the 2006 FIFA World Cup and chaired its organizing committee. He worked as a pundit for Sky Germany and wrote a column for the tabloid Bild for 34 years, both until 2016. From August 2016, he was investigated for fraud and money laundering related to the 2006 World Cup; the case was closed without a verdict in 2020 due to the statute of limitations.

Beckenbauer was born in Munich's Maxvorstadt district, the second son of postal worker Franz Beckenbauer Sr. and his wife Antonie. He grew up in the working-class Giesing area, was raised Catholic, and served as an altar boy. Despite his father's skepticism about football, he began playing at age nine with SC Munich '06 in 1954. Originally a centre-forward, he idolized 1954 World Cup winner Fritz Walter and supported local side 1860 Munich. He joined Bayern Munich's youth team in 1959 after a contentious under-14 tournament final against 1860 Munich, during which a physical confrontation with an opposing player led him and his teammates to choose Bayern instead. In 1963, at 18, he was banned from the West German youth team after his girlfriend became pregnant and he refused to marry her; he was reinstated only after intervention from coach Dettmar Cramer.

Beckenbauer made his Bayern debut on the left wing in a Bundesliga promotion play-off against FC St. Pauli on 6 June 1964. In his first season in the Regionalliga Süd (1964–65), the team won the league and earned promotion to the Bundesliga. Bayern won the German Cup in 1966–67 and the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1967. He became captain in 1968–69, leading the club to its first league title. Around this time, he began experimenting with the sweeper role, refining it into a new attacking style. Under his captaincy, Bayern won three consecutive league titles (1972–74) and three straight European Cups (1974–76), allowing the club to keep the trophy permanently.

The nickname "der Kaiser" originated around 1968. According to a story Beckenbauer himself told, during a friendly in Vienna, he posed for a photo next to a bust of Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I; the media called him "der Kaiser" afterward, and the name stuck.