Double Ballon d’Or, world and European champion… He won everything. In all roles. The “Kaiser” died at the age of 78 this Monday. He was the symbol of a conquering Germany.
White as a candle, straight as an I, Franz Beckenbauer entered the legend one hot day in June 1970 during the semi-final of the FRG-Italy World Cup. Right collarbone broken following an impact, arm in a sling, he transforms into “ German hero » (the German hero). At the Azteca stadium in Mexico City in front of 102,000 spectators, he gritted his teeth for 50 minutes (the two substitutions had been made), commanding admiration. The RFA was defeated 4-3 after extra time by Gianni Rivera and Co., but no one will forget the determination, the will of a 24-year-old player who is experiencing his second World Cup (after being an unfortunate finalist in 1966 against the English during a match marked by the goal “ ghost » by Geoff Hurst) and will return often and for a long time to the forefront. He who had, for several months already, been nicknamed the “ kaiser » from a photo taken during a friendly match in Vienna, next to a bust of Emperor Franz Joseph.
Franz Beckenbauer, haughty bearing, impeccable ball handling, flawless outfit imposed an idea of the game. Sober, of formidable efficiency, ready to crush without blinking the romantics that will be Johan Cruyff or the Greens of Saint-Etienne. Player with titles, successful coach, popular consultant, Franz Beckenbauer has, in recent years, been more discreet due to health problems. He died at age 78.
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It has established itself as the emblem of a club that shines, of football that wins
Born in the working-class district of Giesing in Munich in ruins in 1945, this son of a postal secretary general took his first steps on a field under the colors of Munich 1860 of Fritz Walter, his idol. He is then installed as an attacker. A slap from a teammate during a youth tournament pushes him to turn on his heel. He will knock on the door of the neighboring club, Bayern Munich, the team in the shadows, not yet present in the Bundesliga. The legend sometimes hangs by a thread. At 18, he played in the first team (after 6 matches he was selected for the national team). After sliding into midfield, then to the libero position, he established himself as the emblem of a club that shines, of football that wins. On all terrains.
Pelé and Franz Beckenbauer Tobias Schwarz / REUTERS
His journey, anchored in Bavaria, also tells the story of a club, its rise, its influence, its sporting and economic success, its domination. With Sepp Maier, Gerd Müller, Paul Breitner, Uli Hoeness, Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck and Hans-Josef Kapellmann, they built a dynasty (3 European Champion Club Cups and 4 German championship titles in six years) which, by dealing with the strong personalities of Borussia Mönchengladbach Günter Netzer, Rainer Bonhof and Berti Vogts, won the world title in… Munich in 1974. The charismatic Beckenbauer became its symbol.
He revolutionized the libero position
« Johan (Cruyff) was the best footballer but I am world champion “, he admits. “ Like Bobby Moore, Franz Beckenbauer had a special gift: he never needed to look fast – although in his case he could be lightning fast – because his mind usually had two or even three steps ahead of the others. In any moving ball game, great players take their time. Beckenbauer was so astute that, apart from sometimes giving the illusion of being physically lazy, his anticipation made him as much the conductor of a team as the soloist », once wrote the Telegraph about the man who revolutionized the libero position. And was awarded two Ballons d’Or (1972, 1976). Jean-Michel Larqué, captain of Saint-Etienne beaten in May 1976 in Glasgow in the final of the European Cup of Champion Clubs, an evening when the square posts took up a lot of space, once underlined in The team : « In central defense, he had a form of ease in moving, which came from his beginnings in midfield. I don’t remember seeing him tackle. He defended standing up, because he saw faster than the others. He was always two, three tenths ahead of everyone. And in the recovery, he was never wrong. Left foot, right foot, fifteen or thirty meters away, it was always perfect. »
With its captain Beckenbauer, the FRG becomes the first team to achieve the Euro-World Cup double (in 72 and 74)
Only two defenders have since appeared on the Ballon d’Or list: his compatriot Mathias Sammer (1996) and the Italian Fabio Cannavaro (2006). “ He was the best. Is the best. And there’s no one better to succeed him », Declared to the Süddeutsche Zeitung Günter Netzer a few years ago. Beckenbauer had not forgotten to slip into The team on the death of Gerd Müller, in 2021: “ I’ve always said: it’s nice to say that I’m the best player of all time in Germany, but could I have become one without Gerd Müller? No way. He even left his mark on the history of Bayern. He may not have been the best, but the most important player in the club’s history, that’s indisputable. Without all his goals, Bayern wouldn’t be where they are today. It would still have wooden infrastructure. »
Franz Beckenbauer STAFF / AFP
With its captain Beckenbauer, the FRG became the first team to achieve the Euro-World Cup double (in 72 and 74), before France (1998-2000). But the Mannschaft stumbled on the treble’s march, beaten in the final of Euro 1976 by Antonin Panenka’s facetious flick from the penalty spot, who made history by mystifying Sepp Maier during the penalty shootout (years later). , Spain would offer itself the triple ricochets in 2008, 2010 and 2012). “ The handsome Franz wonderfully symbolizes the total metamorphosis of the game and Germanic players. The football-athletes of Sepp Herberger, 1954 world champions, broad chest, square shoulders, thick knees and strength work, were succeeded by boys who were more distinguished, more elegant, finer in their touch of the ball as well as in their tactical conceptions. And Beckenbauer is the leader of this new generation which has returned Germany to the forefront of European nations », wrote France Football. At the heart of these years of domination, Franz Beckenbauer was the essential captain of a FRG selection which fell, without damage, in the first round of the 1974 World Cup against the GDR in a historic encounter.
“He could create a party 14 days before the elections and end up chancellor”
Rudi Assauer, the former player and manager of Schalke 04
After shining in Europe, he shared with Pelé at the end of the 1970s the adventure of Cosmos New York to give momentum to soccer across the Atlantic. His neighbor is then another star, Rudolf Nureyev. The end of his career is approaching, he wears his last jerseys in Germany, in Hamburg, before a final freelance in New York, in 1983. Then turns the page without leaving the field: “ We often hear that football is a drug. I say that football is a passion, a desire. I’m not addicted to football. But I like football “, he admitted. As a young coach, he displays the same distinction, cultivates a careful distance, lets infuse a cold authority, without storm. Coach, he won the World Cup in 1990. After a defeat in the final in 1986 against Argentina by a diabolical Diego Maradona, he made the Argentinian strategist cry at the time of revenge, under the whistles of an Italy unleashed against the fallen Argentinian. Beckenbauer shares with Mario Zagallo (they will be joined by Didier Deschamps), the fact of having been world champion as a player and as a coach.
“No other football figure, except perhaps Pelé, has achieved the legendary status of Beckenbauer”
Henry Kissinger, the former American diplomat
Franz Beckenbauer was “the emperor, luminous figure and world champion », pour Kicker. « He could create a party 14 days before the elections and end up chancellor “, once said Rudi Assauer, the former player and manager of Schalke 04. Henry Kissinger, the former American diplomat, confided in Time about the emblematic figure: ” No other football figure, other than perhaps Pelé, has achieved the legendary status of Beckenbauer. »
Franz Beckenbauer NORBERTO DUARTE / AFP
During his career as a technician, Franz Beckenbauer added a Bundesliga, a UEFA Cup and a French championship title to his immense list of achievements. Seduced by Bernard Tapie who, bruised by the episode of Vata’s hand, was looking for a figure to offer prestige and weight to the continental challenge of OM, the German spent a year in Marseille in the early 1990s, prestigious trainer placed in an advisory role after four months.
Franz Beckenbauer then rose to prominence, president of Bayern Munich, then president of the organizing committee for the 2006 World Cup. An episode that hurt him a lot when he made the headlines from 2015 for suspicions of corruption. From 2011, he held various positions within the International Football Federation. Ambassador courted.
Franz Beckenbauer has, for decades, accompanied the daily lives of Germans. Refuge figure. Stable. Solid. Reassuring. Conqueror
Consultant, popular figure among advertisers (in the 1960s there appeared, in black and white, clips for Knor soup), subject of a documentary entitled “ Libero », Franz Beckenbauer, who gave his name to an Adidas clothing line, has, for decades, accompanied the daily lives of Germans. Refuge figure. Stable. Solid. Reassuring. Conqueror. Before health problems (heart operations, glaucoma in one eye, hip prosthesis) slowly deprived him of his golf games and gradually took him away from the courses and from the front of the stage. During a documentary broadcast on January 8, 2024, his brother Walter confided: “ If I said he was fine, I would be lying and I don’t like lying. He does not feel well “. Germany felt an icy chill pass through her…
Franz Beckenbauer (left) STAFF / AFP
