Franz Beckenbauer: “The emperor is dead. His splendor provoked his compatriots”

Football press reviews

“The emperor is dead. His splendor provoked his compatriots”

Status: 09.01.2024 | Reading time: 3 minutes

This is how the football world bows to the emperor – reactions to Beckenbauer’s death

Franz Beckenbauer was one of the all-time greats in football. Now the Bavarian died at the age of 78. Former companions mourn “an outstanding personality, not just in football.”

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The football world mourns the loss of one of its greatest legends. The death of Franz Beckenbauer also caused a great deal of international media attention. The press reviews.

He was the first libero, a legend – and known across all borders as the emperor. After the death of Franz Beckenbauer, there is great sadness in the football world, as is recognition. “There has never been another like him, neither before nor since. “The figure of the eternal emperor is incomparable,” the Spanish sports newspaper “Marca” praised him. “Le Parisien” from France wrote: “Franz Beckenbauer will forever belong in the category of the immortal personalities of sport.” He was “the perfect footballer,” said the English “Guardian.” The press reviews.

Great Britain

The Guardian: “Franz Beckenbauer was the consummate footballer and a winning coach (…) He had one of the best and most distinctive nicknames of all time, and like his contemporary, Eddy ‘The Cannibal’ Merckx in cycling, his nickname ‘The Kaiser’ was a perfect fit to him and served to introduce him in advance.”

The Sun: “RIP The Emperor. Franz Beckenbauer was a German football machine whose eyesore off the pitch could not overshadow his greatness on it.”

Daily Mail: “Most who knew him well will remember his excellence on the field, his outstanding footballing intelligence, the elegance with which he moved, the joys of his company and the invaluable knowledge we gleaned from conversations with him created.”

“The only thing he envied today’s footballers was the pitch”

Franz Beckenbauer, Germany’s most famous footballer, is dead. Walter M. Straten wrote about him for a long time and always had personal contact with the football legend. On WELT TV, the BILD sports director talks about their time together.

Source: WELT TV / Thomas Klug, Alexander Siemon

The Telegraph: “Franz Beckenbauer: A groundbreaking player and the best thinker in football. With the death of the great West German captain, football has lost the last representative of a generation of players who became global TV superstars.”

Spain

Brand: “There has never been another like him, neither before nor since. The figure of the eternal emperor is incomparable.”

Sports world: “A cross-border idol of several generations and a footballer who everyone wanted to emulate.”

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AS: “He was a soccer player who kicked the ball with ease and looked almost provocatively elegant. The game from behind started with him and he made it socially acceptable, with Bayern and Germany leaving everyone behind in the first half of the 1970s. He later celebrated triumphs as a coach. He was a world champion not only on the pitch, but also outside in a suit like Zagallo and Deschamps.”

France

The Parisian: “Franz Beckenbauer will forever belong in the category of the immortal personalities of sport.”

The Team: “The libero of the revolution. In front of him, the libero was the last defender. Franz Beckenbauer made him the first counter-attacker. The elegant handsome man was at the same time the man of security and freedom, a playmaker in a deep position.”

Italy

The Republic: “Farewell to Franz Beckenbauer, one of the few players from the past who wouldn’t be out of place in today’s football.”

Franz Beckenbauer became world champion as a player and as a coach

Quelle: Getty Images/Bongarts

La Gazzetta dello Sport: “He was probably the best libero in the history of football, having started his career as a midfielder.”

Austria

Kronen Zeitung: “Incidentally, the German football legend, who became world champion as a player and coach, got his nickname in Vienna! It happened in 1971: During a friendly match between Bayern and Austria, Beckenbauer was photographed next to the bust of Emperor Franz Joseph I.”

Delivery man: “Franz Beckenbauer is dead: football has lost its emperor.”

Switzerland

NZZ: “The emperor is dead: his splendor provoked his countrymen. But Franz Beckenbauer will always remain the greatest German footballer.”

1979: Franz Beckenbauer in an extravagant look in the Munich stands

Source: dpa/Hartmut Reeh

Blick: “A shock for friends, acquaintances and fans.”

Daily Gazette: “He brought success and elegance to the Germans. In every heroic story in the lead role: Franz Beckenbauer managed everything with ease. In his lightness, he was the German that doesn’t actually exist.”