Franz Beckenbauer | German soccer player

Franz Beckenbauer, (born September 11, 1945, Munich, Germany), German football (soccer) player who is the only man to have both captained and managed World Cup-winning teams (1974 and 1990, respectively). Nicknamed “der Kaiser,” Beckenbauer dominated German football in the 1960s and ’70s and is arguably the country’s greatest footballer. An intelligent and graceful player, he invented the modern position of the attacking sweeper who initiates the offense from central defense with deft passes and long runs.

Beckenbauer joined the Bayern Munich team in 1958 and made his first-team debut in 1963. As captain from 1971, he helped Bayern win three European Champions Clubs’ Cups (1973–74, 1974–75, and 1975–76) and four national titles. In 1971 he was appointed captain of West Germany’s national team, leading it to the 1972 European Championship and the 1974 World Cup championship. He was named European Footballer of the Year in 1972 and 1976. Beckenbauer then played with the New York Cosmos (1977–80, 1983–84) and Hamburg (1980–82) before retiring from play in 1984. He played 103 times for his country.

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In 1984 Beckenbauer was appointed manager of the West German team, which was the World Cup runner-up in 1986 and the winner in 1990. Thereafter he managed Olympique de Marseille (1990–91) and Bayern Munich (1993–94, 1996), and he became club vice president of the German Football Federation in 1998. He oversaw his home country’s successful bid to host the 2006 World Cup and later served in executive capacities for Bayern and for the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), football’s international governing body.