By Andrew Warshaw
January 9 – Tributes are pouring in from across the globe in memory of Germany’s greatest footballing icon, Franz Beckenbauer, one of only three men to lift the World Cup both as a player and manager and known in his playing days as Der Kaiser (‘the Emperor’).
Beckenbauer, whose classy elegance on the field and relaxed public manner and easy going charm off it endeared him to generations of players, fans and officials throughout an illustrious if sometimes controversial career, died aged 78 on Sunday.
Beckenbauer captained West Germany to glory in 1974, two years after winning the European Championship, and repeated the feat as national coach in 1990 shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
At club level his Bayern Munich team were the best in the world in the mid-1970s. winning the European Cup three times. He was twice named European footballer of the year.
“The world of FC Bayern is no longer what it used to be – suddenly darker, quieter, poorer,” the club said in a statement, adding that without Beckenbauer “Bayern would never have become the club it is today”.
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, for many years Bayern’s chief executive after hanging up his own boots, remarked: “He was my captain at FC Bayern, my coach at the national team, our president at Bayern and in all of these roles he was not only successful but unique.
“As a personality, he impressed with his great respect for all people – because everyone was equal before Franz. German football is losing the greatest personality in its history. We will miss him more than painfully.”
Widely credited with creating the role of the modern free-roaming sweeper, or libero, Beckenbauer later became one of football’s most influential administrators, bestriding the corridors or power as a member of FIFA’s executive committee and also masterminding Germany’s successful 2006 World Cup bid and later running the tournament’s organising committee.
Irnically his death came three days after that of Brazil’s Mario Zagallo, the first person to achieve the same feat of winning the World Cup both as player and manager.
Lothar Matthaeus, Beckenbauer’s victorious captain at Italia 90, remarked: “The shock is deep, even though I knew that Franz wasn’t well.
“He was one of the greatest as a player and coach, but also off the pitch. Franz was an outstanding personality not only in football, and he enjoyed worldwide recognition. Everyone who knew him knows what a great and generous person Franz was.”
It wasn’t all plain sailing, however. Beckenbauer was sanctioned by FIFA’s ethics committee for failing to cooperate with an inquiry into alleged corruption over the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
Another FIFA enquiry regarding the awarding of the 2006 World Cup was dropped due to a statute of limitations issue. Suspicions of murkiness and wrongdoing linked to the winning of hosting rights have never truly disappeared but Beckenbauer always distanced himself from rumours of corruption involving millions of dollars.
“We did not want to bribe anyone and we didn’t bribe anyone,” Beckenbauer wrote in his last column for daily tabloid Bild in 2016.
Whilst there is no doubt the allegations, including false declarations and money laundering, damaged the standing of a man who had previously been considered untouchable, his legacy cannot be denied.
“He did everything that a German is not supposed to do,” former Bayern Munich teammate Paul Breitner once said of Beckenbauer.
“He got divorced, he left his children, took off with his girlfriend, got into trouble with tax collectors, left his girlfriend again.
“But he is forgiven for everything because he’s got a good heart, he’s a positive person and he’s always ready to help. He doesn’t conceal his weaknesses, doesn’t sweep his mistakes under the carpet.”
Cultured, widely travelled and often looking tanned, Beckenbauer had the ability to light up a room with his sheer presence. In several dealings with him in the corridors of football politics, this correspondent found him courteous and approachable, equally happy to discuss his impressive golf handicap as well as all matters football-related.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino said Beckenbauer’s “achievements and triumphs … are etched in history and yet, for all his popularity, ‘Der Kaiser’ always remained modest and down to earth.”
UEFA chief Aleksander Ceferin also paid a glowing tribute.
“His unparalleled versatility, graceful transitions between defense and midfield, impeccable ball control, and visionary style reshaped the way football was played in his era,” said Čeferin.
It is for that, perhaps more than anything, that Der Kaiser will surely be remembered.
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