Few players can so rightfully claim the title of a sports legend. Yet that is certainly true of Franz Beckenbauer. Because today is his birthday—and to take you back, if only for a few moments, to your recent language trip to Germany — LEC presents a profile of this exceptional soccer player.
Kaiser Franck
Franz Beckenbauer was born on September 11, 1945, in Munich, the legendary capital of the state of Bavaria. Born amid the ruins of postwar Germany to a father who worked as a postal collector, he caught the soccer bug before he was even 10… and set out to conquer Bayern Munich in the late 1950s. The man who could easily be nicknamed Kaiser Franz during his language study trip to Germany, won his first title at the age of 20 with his favorite club: the 1966 German Cup. Many more titles would follow, including the West German championship in 1969, 1972, 1973, and 1974, as well as three European Cup titles in the mid-1970s.
World champion as a player… and as a coach
After ending his career at Bayern Munich, Franz Beckenbauer crossed the Atlantic to join the New York Cosmos, where he played alongside Pelé. The icing on the cake: at age 37, he returned to Germany to play for Hamburg SV, with whom he won one last national championship title! Named Ballon d’Or winner in 1972 and 1976, he also shone on the national team, winning the World Cup in 1974, reaching the final in 1966, and taking home the bronze medal in 1970. But Franz Beckenbauer wasn’t just an exceptional player—he was also a formidable coach. At the helm of Olympique de Marseille, he won a French league title. With Bayern Munich, he won the German championship. And with his own national team, he won (yet again!) the World Cup in 1990. Who can top that?