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Franz Beckenbauer, the legendary German player and World Cup-winning player and coach, has died at the age of 78, his family announced.
‘Der Kaiser’ won 103 caps for West Germany during his glittering career, captained his country at the 1974 World Cup and played for Bayern Munich from 1964 to 1977. He returned to the national team as a coach in 1984 and led the team to victory. Glory at the 1990 World Cup.
“It is with deep sadness that we announce that yesterday, Sunday, my husband and our father, Franz Beckenbauer, passed away peacefully in his sleep surrounded by his family,” the family said in a statement on Monday.
“We ask that you please pay your respects quietly and refrain from asking any questions.”
Beckenbauer was twice named European Player of the Year and played in two European Championships and three World Cups (including the winning teams in 1972 and 1974, respectively).
He moved to the New York Cosmos in 1977, returned to Germany in 1980, played in Hamburg for two years, and returned to New York in 1983.
Beckenbauer made his debut for Bayern in 1964 as a left winger in the Bundesliga promotion play-off against St. Pauli.
Beckenbauer became the team’s mainstay, and in his new role as “libero,” he won the captaincy of Bavaria and led Bayern to three consecutive league titles from 1972 to 1974 and three consecutive European Cup titles from 1974 to 1976. lead.
He won the World Cup as captain of West Germany in 1974, and finished runner-up and third in 1966 and 1970, respectively. He won the 1972 European Championship as part of an almost impenetrable West German defense.
After retiring in 1983 after playing 754 games for the club, he took over the reins of West Germany from Jupp Derwall the following year and became manager.
At the 1986 World Cup, Beckenbauer’s team reached the final, losing only to Diego Maradona’s Argentina.
Four years later, in 1990, he became the last manager to manage a pre-unification West Germany team to lift the trophy, and his success made him one of only two players at the time to win a World Cup as a player and manager. Mario Zagallo is his only predecessor. Later, France’s Didier Deschamps joined the exclusive club.
In 1990 he moved to Marseille club management, where he stayed for just one year before having two short spells as Bayern manager from 1993 to 1996. He won the Bundesliga in 1994 and the UEFA Cup in 1996.
He became Bayern’s president in 1994 and retired in 2009. Alongside this role, he also became vice-president of the German Football Association (DFB) and was instrumental in securing Germany’s bid to host the 2006 World Cup.
Bayern released a statement on its social media channels paying tribute to the club legend, saying: “The world of FC Bayern is no longer what it used to be, suddenly darker, quieter and poorer.
“The German record champions mourn the incomparable ‘Emperor’ Franz Beckenbauer, without whom FC Bayern would not be the club it is today. May he rest in peace.”
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