Franz Beckenbauer died on Sunday at the age of 78. The international press writes about the death of the football legend:
Great Britain
The Telegraph: “Franz Beckenbauer: A groundbreaking central defender and football’s best thinker. 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.”
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: “THE EMPEROR Franz Beckenbauer was a German football machine whose eyesore off the field 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.”
Photo gallery
On the death of Franz Beckenbauer: Looking back on a special life
Spain
AS: “He was a soccer player who kicked the ball with ease and looked almost provocatively elegant. Playing 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 the Frenchman Deschamps.”
Brand: “There has never been another like him, neither before nor since. The figure of the eternal emperor is incomparable.”
Sports world: “’The Emperor’, a cross-border idol of several generations and a footballer who everyone wanted to emulate.”
ABC: “’The Kaiser’ was one of the few footballers with a star on his chest both as a player and as a coach. Today is a very sad day not only for German football, but for the entire world football.”
France
The Parisian: “Franz Beckenbauer will forever belong in the category of the immortal personalities of sport.”
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.”
La Gazzetta dello Sport: “He was probably the best libero in the history of football, having started his career as a midfielder.”
Corriere dello Sport: “World football mourns the loss of the greatest defender of all time. Beckenbauer was a revolutionary on the field and a talented coach.”
Corriere della Sera: “The football gods had given Emperor Beckenbauer tremendous class. He seemed to glide across the lawn, and every gesture showed sophisticated technique. As the son of war-torn Germany, he found the instrument of his advancement in football.”
Tuttosport: “With Franz Beckenbauer, the world is losing one of the greatest players in football history. An icon and a German hero.”
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.”
The standard: “Franz Beckenbauer was the shining light of German football, but he also had his dark sides. He was the emperor of football.”
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Switzerland
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.”
NZZ: “The emperor is dead: his splendor provoked his countrymen. But Franz Beckenbauer will always remain the greatest German footballer.”
