German Footballer
- He is one of the greatest icons of German football.
- Sporting debut: 1964 (Bayern Munich)
- Sporting retirement l: 1983 (New York Cosmos)
- Position: Libero, defensive midfielder
- Parents: Franz and Antonie
- Spouses: Brigitte Beckenbauer (d. 1966–1990), Sybille Beckenbauer (d. 1990–2004), Heidi Burmester (d. 2006)
- Children: Stephan, Michael, Thomas, Francesca, Noel
- Name: Franz Anton Beckenbauer
- Height: 1.81 m
- Nickname: The Kaiser
Franz Beckenbauer was born on September 11, 1945, in Munich.
Parents
He was the second son of postal worker Franz Beckenbauer and his wife Antonie.
Soccer
He grew up in the working-class district of Giesing, a district of Munich, and began playing football at the age of nine with the youth team of SC Munich '06 in 1954.
He started out as a midfielder and developed his role as a libero or half-back, which changed the course of football tactics by adding attack to a position that had been defensive.
Bayern Munich
He signed for Bayern Munich in 1958 and first played for the West Germany national team in 1965, going on to make a total of 103 appearances, including as part of the team that finished runners-up at the 1966 World Cup. He won three European Cup titles
with Bayern Munich in 1974, 1975, and 1976. In 1974, he captained the team that won the World Cup .
Cosmos
In 1976, after being voted European Player of the Year for the second time, he moved to the United States to join the New York Cosmos team of the American Soccer League (NASL).
Coach
In 1984 he was appointed coach of West Germany , a team with which he played in two World Cup finals: they lost Mexico in 1986 to Argentina 3-2, and won, again against Argentina, in Italy in 1990 1-0.
In total, as a player and coach, he played in five World Cups, and his worst classification was third place.
In 1992, he was manager of the Olympique de Marseille team , reaching the runners-up position in the European Cup, and later returned to Bayern as president (1994 to 2009. Honorary since 2009), a position that he sometimes combined with that of coach .
He was included on December 14, 2020, as a central defender in the historic Dream Team of the Ballon d'Or.
Marriages and Children
He was married three times: Heidi Beckenbauer (d. 2006), Sybille Beckenbauer (m. 1990–2004) and Brigitte Beckenbauer (m. 1966–1990). He was the father of five children: Stephan, Francesca, Thomas, Joel, and Michael. Stephan, a professional football player, died after a long illness on 1 August 2015.
Death
Franz Beckenbauer passed away on January 7, 2024.