Franz Beckenbauer, Germany’s World Cup-Winning Football Icon, Passes Away at 78

Franz Beckenbauer won the FIFA #WorldCup for West Germany – both as a player and as a coach.

Iconic German footballer Franz Beckenbauer has died at 78.

(Photo: Twitter/FabrizioRomano)

• German football icon Franz Beckenbauer passed away at the age of 78.

• He won the FIFA World Cup for West Germany – first as a player in 1974, then as a coach in 1990.

• Beckenbauer is among the only three former footballers to have won the World Cup both as a coach and as a manager.

• He had also won the Ballon d'Or twice.

Iconic German footballer Franz Beckenbauer, who won the FIFA World Cup both as a player and as a manager, passed away yesterday (7 January) at the age of 78, his family has confirmed.

In a statement, the Beckenbauer family said “It is with deep sadness that we announce that my husband and our father, Franz Beckenbauer, passed away peacefully in his sleep yesterday, Sunday, surrounded by his family.”

Hailing from Munich, Beckenbauer made 103 appearances for Germany, wherein he netted 14 goals. Having played most of his life as a central defender, he was affectionately called ‘Der Kaiser’ (The Emperor) by his fans all across the globe, predominantly for his commanding style of play.

Beckenbauer played a crucial role in the erstwhile West Germany’s famous FIFA World Cup triumph in 1974, where they defeated Netherlands by a 2-1 margin at the Olympiastadion in Munich.

While that was West Germany’s second World Cup title, Beckenbauer also led his nation to their third glory, this time as a coach. At the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy, Beckenbauer’s team defeated a star-studded Argentina team – then led by Diego Maradona – by a 1-0 margin. To date, he remains among the only three former footballers to have won the game’s pinnacle competition both as a player and as a coach, with Brazil’s Mario Zagallo and France’s Didier Deschamps being the other two.

As for his club football career, Beckenbauer played 584 of his 754 professional matches for German giants Bayern Munich. He then spent four seasons in the United States of America’s New York Cosmos, before heading to Hamburger and making a return to New York, for what was his final season in 1983.