The 'Kaiser', as he was nicknamed for his 'imperial' style of play, was captain of the West German national team in the 1970s, later the national coach of the Mannschaft (from 1984 to 1990), but and coach of Bayern Munich in the 1990s. And then its president and then honorary...

In recent years, Franz Beckenbauer had withdrawn from public life, due to problems with his heart, but also with his eyesight.

I met Beckenbauer in 1999 in Barcelona. He was the president of Bayern Munich. I met him outside the bus that would transport the players to the stadium for the UEFA Champions League final. I introduced myself and said to him: "Franz, if today Bayern wins the Champions League, tomorrow if you run for chancellor you will be elected unanimously." He laughed. He replied: "I don't do politics". We maintained a beautiful friendship in the years to come...

In Lucerne in December 2007 we meet again. After the draw of the final phase of the 2008 European Championship, we go for a walk on the lake. He had picked me up and we were walking for about 3 hours. At a certain point I say to him: "Franz, don't you think the time has come for you to run for president of FIFA?" He replies:

 "No because I have three small children (he married for the third time in 2006, now to Heidi) and they need to get to know me because I'm no longer young. Then I can't leave every week like Blatter either by plane or helicopter . I need to be with my family." I realized how right he was...

His first steps

For more than half a century, Franz Beckenbauer set the pace in the daily lives of Germans, being the multi-faceted "Kaiser" of post-war Germany.

It was a story he loved to tell, an anecdote that influenced his future choices. At the age of 12, the kid from the working-class district of Obergissing, south of the Bavarian capital, had discovered football for a few years with SC 1906 Munich.

In the summer of 1958, in a youth tournament, he played against the great team of Munich 1860, which he would later join. During the match, he had a clash with one of Löwen's players, Gerhard Koenig, who slapped him in the face.

After the match, Beckenbauer admitted that he refused to join the "brawl club" by signing for arch-rivals Bayern. It was the beginning of a long, very long history between Bayern and the young Franz, who in a few years would become the 'Kaiser' (Emperor) of Germany.

Born on 11 September 1945 in the ruins of post-war Germany, the son of a postmaster, Franz Beckenbauer joined Bayern in 1964 before turning 19 and spent most of his career there.

He 'created' a position to suit his talent, the libero, playing behind his defense but regularly making the difference in midfield, where he scored most of his best goals.

Honors - Titles

An... elegant footballer, with a haughty presence, managed to create a... list of great honours: 4 championships and as many German Cups, two Ballon d'Or awards (1971, 1974) and three consecutive successes in the European Champions Cup, the... precursor to the UEFA Champions League.

With his national team he won both the European Championship (1972) and the World Cup (1974). "The icing on the cake" was that the world title was won in his home country, in the Munich Olympic Stadium, a stone's throw from his birthplace.

The coaching

Even more than Gerd Müller, his teammates in the national team and at Bayern Munich, Franz Beckenbauer embodied the power of German football in the 1970s.

One photo has gone down in history as a symbol of his self-sacrifice: Beckenbauer, with his right arm like a... sling, continues to the end, despite the pain of a broken collarbone, in the semi-final of the 1970 FIFA World Cup which he lost to Italy with 4-3 in extra time, in the match that was described as "the match of the century."

He spent his final seasons between New York and Hamburg before hanging up his boots in 1983 and embarking on a coaching career, although as a player he claimed he had no intention of doing so.

He was called upon to take charge of the German national team in the summer of 1984 after a failed Euros in France. He led them to the final of the 1986 World Cup, where they lost to Maradona's Argentina, before getting "revenge" four years later against the same Argentina in Rome.

He thus became a legend, the second man to win the World Cup as both player and coach, after Brazilian Mario Zagallo, who died 24 hours earlier!

France's Didier Deschamps, who, like 'Kaiser', lifted the World Cup trophy on home soil in 1998, joined this very exclusive club in 2018.

With little interest in coaching, it was a natural fit for him to take charge of 'his' Bayern in the early 1990s, as part of a trio alongside Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Uli Hoeness.

Suspicions of corruption

On two occasions, he successfully fulfilled the duties of president and interim coach. In demand from all sides, he took a seat on the FIFA executive committee and Germany entrusted him with the organization of the 2006 World Cup, which won in 2000 in a narrow vote over South Africa (12-11).

However, the summer fairy tale of 2006 turned into a nightmare a decade later, when suspicions of corruption tarnished his image for a time. "The Germans wanted the World Cup, including me.

And we were happy to have a Franz Beckenbauer. There is a bit of hypocrisy here, we should all blame ourselves," former German Foreign Minister Joska Fischer said recently.

Beckenbauer will also be handed a 90-day suspension by FIFA from all football-related activities, having been the organisation's former vice-president between 2007 and 2011 at the time of the controversial award of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar in December 2010.

A ubiquitous presence in the media and on television and an advertising star during and after his playing career, Beckenbauer's image was tarnished by these suspicions, but only for a short time.

Beckenbauer had three marriages and had 5 children, but in 2015 he lost his eldest, Stefan, who was defeated by cancer at the age of 46, and he could not get over it.. Rest in Peace Franz, I will always remember you!

Manos Staramopoulos

Journalist and Analyst of International Football and Affairs

Chief Editor English Zone of Discoveryfootball.com

Athens (Greece)