Franz Beckenbauer (born September 11, 1945) is a famous German
football player, coach and manager, nicknamed der Kaiser ("the
emperor") because of his elegant style, his leadership qualities
and his domination on the soccer pitch.
He was born in Munich and started playing football with SC
Munich '06, he joined the Bayern Munich youth team aged fourteen.
He made his debut with Bayern in the Regionalliga Süd (Regional
League South) in June 1964 and advanced to the Bundesliga in
1965. Beckenbauer's first game for the national side came in
September 1965 and he played in his first World Cup in 1966.
Bayern soon became a force in the new German league, winning the
German Cup in 1966-67 and achieving European success in the Cup
Winners' Cup in 1967. Beckenbauer became team captain for the
1968-69 season and led his club to their first league title. He
began experimenting with the sweeper role around this time,
refining the role into a new form and becoming one of the
greatest exponents of the attacking sweeper game.
He became captain of the national side from 1971, following the
disappointing semi-final of the 1970 World Cup during which he
was injured. In 1972 West Germany won the European Championship,
beating the Soviet Union 3-0 in the final. The 1974 World Cup
was hosted by West Germany and Beckenbauer led his side to
victory, including a win over the hotly favoured Netherlands
side featuring Johan Cruijff. At Bayern Munich Beckenbauer was
equally successful, the club won three league championships in a
row (1972-74) and also an astonishing hat-trick of European Cup
wins (1974-76).
In 1976 West Germany lost the European Championship in the final
and in 1977 Beckenbauer accepted a lucrative contract to play in
the North American Soccer League with the New York Cosmos. He
played with the Cosmos until 1981 and the team won the Soccer
Bowl on three occasions. He retired in 1984 after a spell with
Hamburger SV in Germany and one final season with the Cosmos. He
had 103 caps and had scored 14 goals, in the domestic league he
had made 424 appearances and scored 44 goals.
On his return to Germany he was appointed manager of the
national side to replace the lacklustre Jupp Derwall and he took
an underwhelming team all the way to the final of the World Cup
1986 where they lost to Argentina. In 1990 Beckenbauer managed
the last West German team in a World Cup before the
reunification, winning the final with a victory over Argentina.
He was the first man to have won the cup as player and as
manager.
Beckenbauer then made a move into club management, he accepted a
job with Olympique Marseille in 1990 but left them the following
year. He returned to Bayern Munich in 1992 and in 1994 he was
made club president. In 1998 he became vice-president of the
DFB. Beckenbauer is considered one of the best players of all
time. In 2004 he was voted the second best European player in
the past 50 years in the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll.
More recently, Beckenbauer has headed the bid of Germany to
organize the World Cup in 2006. He is now chairman of the
organization comittee for the World Cup and commentator for the
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