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Franz Beckenbauer (born September 11, 1945) is a
famous Germany|German Football (soccer) |football
player, coach and manager, nicknamed der Kaiser
("the emperor") because of his elegant style, his
leadership qualities and his domination on the
football 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
(football)|Bundesliga in 1965. Beckenbauer's first
game for the Germany national football
team|national side came in September 1965 and he
played in his first Football World Cup|World Cup
in Football World Cup 1966|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
Libero|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
Football World Cup 1970|1970 World Cup during
which he was injured. In 1972 European Football
Championship|1972 West Germany won the European
Football Championship|European Championship,
beating the USSR national football team|Soviet
Union 3-0 in the final. The Football World Cup
1974|1974 World Cup was hosted by West Germany and
Beckenbauer led his side to victory, including a
win over the hotly favoured Netherlands national
football team|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 UEFA Champions
League|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 Football World Cup
1986|World Cup 1986 where they lost to Argentina
national football team|Argentina. In Football
World Cup 1990|1990 Beckenbauer managed the last
West German team in a World Cup before the German
reunification|reunification, winning the final
with a victory over Argentina. He is one of two
men (with Mario Zagallo) to have won the cup as
player and as manager.

Beckenbauer then made a move into club management,
he accepted a job with Olympique de
Marseille|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
Football_World_Cup_2006|World Cup in 2006. He is
now chairman of the organization committee for the
World Cup and commentator for the Bild-Zeitung.

== External links ==

* http://www.beckenbauer.de Franz Beckenbauer
Foundation (German)
*http://www.dfb.de/dfb-team/nationalteam/statistik
/trainer/beckenb.html Facts on Beckenbauer
(German)
*http://www.planetworldcup.com/LEGENDS/beckbaur.ht
ml Portrait of Franz Beckenbauer (English) 

start box
succession box|title=European Footballer of the
Year|before=Johan Cruijff|Johan Cruyff
|after=Johan Cruijff|Johan Cruyff|years=1972
succession box|title=European Footballer of the
Year|before=Oleg Blokhin |after=Allan
Simonsen|years=1976
end box