Franz Beckenbauer, who has died at the age of 78, is best known for his achievements with Bayern Munich and Germany.
German soccer great Franz Beckenbauer, who died on Sunday at the age of 78, is a member of a select club of men who have won the FIFA World Cup both as a player and as a coach. Only two others - Brazil’s Mário Zagallo and France’s Didier Deschamps - have achieved the feat.
Chiefly a defender, Beckenbauer the player captained West Germany to victory at the 1974 World Cup - the crowning achievement of a 103-cap international career that also saw him skipper the side to the 1972 European title.
Sixteen years after lifting the World Cup at Munich’s Olympiastadion, Beckenbauer the coach then managed his country to success at Italia ‘90, having steered the side to second place in Mexico four years earlier.
At club level, where he spent the vast majority of his playing career with German giants Bayern Munich, Beckenbauer’s resumé is also laden with major trophies.
A player who appeared 582 times for Bayern following his 1964 debut as an 18-year-old, he most notably captained the Bavarians to three straight European Cup wins in 1974, 1975 and 1976.
After leading Bayern to their third successive continental crown, Beckenbauer was awarded his second career Ballon d’Or - an award that at the time was given to the year’s outstanding European footballer. He also received the France Football accolade in 1972, and twice finished second in the voting in the three years before he reclaimed the trophy.
Beckenbauer is one of just nine players in the history of the men’s game who have won the World Cup, the European Cup/Champions League and the Ballon d’Or.
Before leaving Bayern to join the New York Cosmos in 1977, he also won four
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