Undoubtedly the biggest success of Beckenbauer’s career was the World Cup 1974 held in his homeland West Germany. The match went into extra time with the Italians winning 4-3 in the end. Since the Germans used both of their substitutions earlier in the match he was forced to stay on the pitch and carry his shoulder in a sling. During the match Beckenbauer dislocated his shoulder after a hard foul by the Italians.
The most memorable match of the tournament was the semi-final showdown between West German and Italy which was labelled as “The Game of the Century”. The 1970 World Cup, which was played in Mexico, was also a successful one for Der Kaiser and his team as they finished third after a 1-0 victory over Uruguay. At first he was called “Fußball-Kaiser” but soon afterwards it was shortened to just “Der Kaiser”. He said the media gave him the nickname after he posed beside a bust of the former Austrian emperor Franz Joseph I. Beckenbauer told the story of how the nickname happened. To this day there is no official version on how he got the nickname.
Franz beckenbauer full#
His teammates were always full of respect for Franz and in 1968 his stellar play earned him the nickname “Der Kaiser” (The Emperor). Scoring goals from this position, developing the play of his team and creating chances is what he did. He completely revolutionized how the game of football was played by introducing a new position called “libero”. He was given the captain’s armband at Bayern as he led the team to the Bundesliga title and won the “German Player of the Year” award. Beckenbauer finished the tournament tied for 3rd place on the scoring list despite playing a defensive role for his country.Īfter the tournament in England ended Beckenbauer’s reputation changed dramatically. The match would go down as one of most exciting and controversial ever played in a World Cup. In the final the Germans were up against the host England, the match ended up going into extra time and England eventually won. Beckenbauer played one of his best games of the tournament against the Soviets as he helped his side advance to the finals with his fourth goal of the tournament. The South Americans didn’t pose a threat to the Germans as they won 4-0 to go through to the next round and face USSR in the semi’s. Beckenbauer was fast becoming the star of the tournament. Dominating the group West Germany went through as the winner and faced Uruguay in the Quarter-Finals. But soon afterwards the critics accepted him as a part of the team as West Germany qualified for the 1966 World Cup in England with Beckenbauer playing a big role in the success.īeckenbauer’s World Cup debut came against Switzerland as he scored twice in a 5-0 win in West Germany’s first match of the tournament. Then West Germany’s national team head coach Helmut Schön took a bit of a risk for inviting him to the team. Beckenbauer’s stellar performances didn’t go unnoticed as he was called up to play for the national side at the age of 20 years old. In just his first season (1964-65) with the club they managed to gain promotion to the Bundesliga. His teammates decided to join him at Bayern as well.Īfter switching to Bayern Munich, Beckenbauer went quickly through the youth ranks and made it to the first team. After the match he told his teammates they could all go to 1860 Munich but he was going to Bayern instead. During the match one of the players from 1860 Munich who was marking Beckenbauer at the time punched him in the face. Coincidentally one of the last matches they played was against 1860 Munich. Early on in his career Beckenbauer played a attacking role and idolized 1860 Kaiserslautern’s attacker Fritz Walter.Īt the age of 13 the team he was playing for decided to disolve their youth. Beckenbauer described it as “magical” and pointed out that it played a huge part in his desire to continue playing football at his young age. In that same year the “Miracle of Bern” happened, West Germany won it’s first ever World Cup after coming back from two goals down in the final against Hungary. His career started at the young age of just nine years old in the youth team of SC Munich ’06 in 1954. Growing up wasn’t easy for Franz as his country was on it’s knees after the second World War finished. Born in Munich on September 11th 1945, Beckenbauer is hailed by many as the greatest German footballer of all time. Franz Beckenbauer, nicknamed “Der Kaiser” is one of the most important figures in the history of German football.
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