Franz Beckenbauer: The complicated legacy of a true game-changer،
For those who have seen him perform – even in grainy videos – there is one image of Franz Beckenbauer that stands out. Coming out from behind, the ball at his feet, his head held high, his eyes scrutinizing the things only he could see, while worry grew in the eyes of his opponents: it was “Der Kaiser” who died on Monday on field.
But it has much more than that.
It can be said that Franz Beckenbauer was a lucky man. Most of us only get one act done in our professional life; he achieved GOAT candidate status as a player, made history as a World Cup-winning coach, helped his club cement its heavyweight status, hosted a World Cup in his native Germany and finished his career as a member of the FIFA executive committee. (The latter tarnished it: we'll talk about that later.)
Along the way, he played a central role in America's biggest soccer-related phenomenon before the 1994 World Cup, joining the New York Cosmos in its pomp and playing alongside Pelé, Carlos Alberto and Giorgio Chinaglia.
Above all, along with Pelé and Johan Cruyff, he was part of a triumvirate of phenomena that defined an era in which the world shrank, television proliferated the game and superstars became truly global.
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Beckenbauer also redefined a position: central defender. He wasn't the first sweeper, nor the first central defender capable of making a pass and breaking into midfield, but no one did it so effectively and on such a big stage (probably before or after). The skills learned during his early years as an attacking midfielder never left him.
The ability to move through the middle of the field, create man advantages or simply project the ball accurately all over the field are things we take for granted today, but they were invented by Beckenbauer. So was the idea that a central defender was not just a destroyer, but a creator, a guy capable of lighting up a team; it may not have started with him, but no one took it to the next level.
In many ways, Beckenbauer was the first “modern” defender, which is why this ad before the 2006 World Cup, in which two kids fantasize about putting together a star-studded lineup of contemporary players, is so relevant: even if he retired more than two decades earlier, he would not have been out of place among Zinedine Zidane, Kaka, Frank Lampard and the other stars of this tournament.
Beckenbauer made his first-team debut for Bayern Munich at 18 and stayed there for 14 seasons, 582 appearances and 75 goals – a huge total for a guy who spent most of his career at the back. With the Bavarians he won four league titles, four German Cups, one Cup Winners' Cup and three European Cups. Then, in 1977, at not yet 32 years old, he joined the Cosmos and won three titles in four seasons.
He returned to the Bundesliga – not to Bayern, but to Hamburg, and contributed to another league title in 1981-82 before a final season with the Cosmos. This would be their penultimate season of existence before the closure of the North American Soccer League.
It was his club career. At the same time, an international career spanned three World Cups, and he left his mark on each in the most emphatic way. In 1966, aged just 20, he was part of the West Germany team that reached the final, where he knocked Sir Bobby Charlton out of the match. Beckenbauer's team would eventually lose to England on a goal that, even today, most Germans consider a “phantom goal”, with the ball never crossing the line.
Four years later in Mexico, West Germany looked headed for a clash against Brazil's Pelé in the final at the Azteca, only to be upset by Italy in an epic 4-3 overtime thriller that included FIFA still remembers it as the “Game of the Century.” Take the time to watch the highlights and you'll see Beckenbauer playing the final 50 minutes with a dislocated shoulder, one arm tied to his side in a sling. Yes, he doesn't was not only elegant and pretty to look at: he was also tough as nails.
In 1972, West Germany were crowned European champions, and this was the prelude to the 1974 World Cup, which they hosted and won, with Beckenbauer, the captain, lifting the cup after a victory back against Cruyff's Clockwork Orange in the final.
Did he slow down after his retirement in 1983? Did he screw up. Less than a year later, he was named West Germany coach and guided his team to the 1986 World Cup final, where they were beaten only by the one and only Diego Armando Maradona. Beckenbauer's team gained revenge in 1990, beating Maradona's Argentina 1-0 in the final, making him only the second player in history (after Brazilian Mario Zagallo) to win the World Cup at the both as a player and as a coach.
After leaving the German FA, he had brief stints at Marseille, then at Bayern as interim coach, before leaving the team altogether. His two stays at Bayern totaled around six months, but coincided with other titles: the 1993-94 Bundesliga and the 1995-96 UEFA Cup. This, alongside his success with the national team, cemented the idea that he was a big man with a healthy dose of stardust to sprinkle, rather than a detail-oriented, adapted to the daily life of a club.
This is how Beckenbauer decisively entered the world of football politics. His third act, in some ways, would be the most controversial.
He was club president of Bayern – a largely honorary but highly visible position – from 1994 to 2009, accumulating other roles along the way: vice-president of the German Football Association, head of the bid committee that awarded Germany during the 2006 World Cup, head of the organizing committee of the same World Cup and later member of the FIFA Executive Committee.
If you like your heroes squeaky clean, stop reading here. If you like them human, move on, because that's where his legacy has been tarnished.
Germany won the 2006 bid against South Africa in very controversial circumstances, amid allegations of corruption. He will face further charges after it emerged that his position as head of the 2006 organizing committee – an apparently voluntary role – was actually paid $6 million by a sponsor of dollars. And, perhaps most egregiously, he was accused of corruption in voting for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups (which were controversially awarded to Russia and Qatar). FIFA's ethics committee investigated him for five years before being forced to drop the case due to the statute of limitations having expired.
You want to remember Beckenbauer as a gracious, smiling winner, a man universally loved and admired – a guy who wanted to be loved (unlike, say, his contemporary, Cruyff, who was generally blunt and direct even when he offended others). way) and seemed to please everyone.
During the 2006 World Cup, I was in a parking lot near the AufSchalke Arena in Gelsenkirchen before the Argentina v Serbia match when a helicopter carrying Beckenbauer landed a few hundred meters away. (He made it a point to attend as many games as possible and to do so he used a helicopter.) Beckenbauer jumped up, smiled broadly and started shaking hands – not just with dignitaries (he there was none) and media, but also supporters, parking attendants and volunteers. I was struck by the fact that he had no reason to do this, other than that he enjoyed being among people, even when there were no cameras around. (Remember: this was before the ubiquity of smartphones.)
Did he lose his moral compass once he went upstairs? Maybe. Does this change how we should remember Beckenbauer, the man? Probably. But does this in any way affect how we celebrate Beckenbauer's legacy on the field and in the dugout?
Not in my opinion. He will forever be “Der Kaiser”, a giant of the game, conquering territories with his forays on the pitch, silverware with his victories and hearts with his smile.
I just wish his football story ended before the millennium, before he entered politics at FIFA.
