Germany on Monday united to mourn the death of Franz Beckenbauer, with figures from across the sporting and political landscape bidding farewell to “Der Kaiser.”
He was 78.
Beckenbauer, a FIFA World Cup winner as a player and a coach, died on Sunday, with news of his death not announced until Monday evening.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Beckenbauer had largely withdrawn from public life in the past few years as he battled ailments.
His family said that the former midfielder died “peacefully” surrounded by his family in the Austrian city of Salzburg.
Known as “Der Kaiser,” German for “The Emperor,” Beckenbauer was revered as an icon of the game in post-World War II Germany.
Photo: AP
The epitome of elegance in his iconic white Germany No. 5 jersey, Beckenbauer was regarded as a pioneer because he brought an attacking element to the deepest outfield position on the pitch.
Whether it was surging out from the back with the ball at his feet or picking out a teammate with a long, precise pass forward, he was the man who started his team’s attacks.
“We’ll miss him” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Monday.
“Franz Beckenbauer was one of the greatest footballers in Germany” Scholz said, adding that he “inspired enthusiasm for German football for generations.”
Ballon d’Or-winning midfielder Lothar Matthaeus echoed the chancellor’s words, telling Bild: “We will miss him.”
“The shock is deep, even if I knew Franz wasn’t well,” Matthaeus said.
Matthaeus was Germany’s captain and talisman when Beckenbauer coached the side to victory at the 1990 World Cup.
“His death is a loss for football and for all of Germany,” he said. “He was one of the greats as a player and a coach, but also off the pitch.”
“Everyone who knew him knew what a great and generous person Franz was,” he said. “A good friend has left us.”
Fellow 1990 World Cup winner and German Football Association sporting director Rudi Voeller expressed his “immense sadness,” saying that “he will forever remain a luminous figure.”
“German football loses a great personality” Voeller said. “I lose a great friend.”
Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann credited Beckenbauer for “changing the game” as a “libero,” or free central defender.
“His friendship with the ball made him a free man,” Nagelsmann said. “Franz Beckenbauer could float across the pitch. As a footballer and later as a coach he was sublime.”
Beckenbauer’s career is closely linked with Bayern Munich, where he started as a youth player in 1958, playing in the Bavarian capital until 1977.
“Bayern’s world is no longer what it used to be,” the club wrote, adding that “it is suddenly darker, calmer and poorer.”
As one of Bayern’s greatest players, Beckenbauer had an enduring relationship with honorary club president Uli Hoeness — who he played alongside in the victorious 1974 German World Cup side.
“Franz Beckenbauer is the greatest personality that Bayern ever had,” Hoeness said on Monday. “As a player, coach, president, person: Unforgettable.”
“Nobody will ever reach his level... He was a friend, a unique companion and a gift to us all,” he said.
Beckenbauer won titles with Bayern as a player and a coach before stepping into the role of president from 2002 to 2009, establishing the German giants as one of European soccer’s powerhouse sides.
Long-time Bayern chief executive officer Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said he was “deeply shocked” at the news.
“Franz Beckenbauer rewrote the history of German football and left a lasting impact on it,” Rummenigge said. “He had a great respect for people... Because for Franz, everyone was equal.”
“German football is losing the greatest personality in its history,” he said, adding that the loss was “more than painful.”
Beckenbauer also played for German side Hamburger SV, winning the 1982 Bundesliga title.
The club said that Beckenbauer “shaped German football and the sport itself for decades in a way that has rarely been seen before.”
Additional reporting by AP
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