Franz Beckenbauer

Franz Beckenbauer got married to Brigitte in the year 1966 but the marriage ended 24 years later. They had two sons - Michael and Stephen. Stephen became a footballer but died after suffering from an illness.

In 1990 Beckenbauer got married to Sybille but this marriage too ended after 14 years. They had a son named Thomas.

In 2006, Franz Beckenbauer got married to Heidi Burmester. They have two children - Francessca and Noel.

Franz Anton Beckenbauer was born on 11 September, 1945 in Munich, Germany to Franz Beckenbauer Senior and Anotnia Beckenbauer. His father worked in the postal services and discouraged him from playing football probably because of the economic condition of the country right after the Second World War.

He was a keen footballer right from the time when he was a child and in 1954 when he was only nine years old he started playing at SC Munich. He played for their youth team and excelled in his role as a forward during those years.

He was determined to join Munich, the club he supported since his childhood but after a fight with a player from the club in a youth level game, he knew that he could no longer do so and in 1959 he joined the youth ranks at Bayern Munich.

After spending a few seasons with the youth team, Franz Beckenbauer made his debut for Bayern Munich senior team in the year 1964 and at the end of that season the team advanced from the 2nd division to the first division known as the ‘Bundesliga’. Two years later he represented West Germany at the World Cup in England and Beckenbauer lit up the tournament with 4 goals as his team ended as runners up.

Following his excellent show as a left winger, Beckenbauer started playing in the role of an attacking sweeper that became a unique role and he used it to devastating effect during his career. He was made the captain of Bayern Munich in 1968 and the club duly won the league title at the end of the season.

His tenure as captain of Bayern Munich brought unprecedented success for the club. The club won three straight league titles from 1972 onwards and it was during the same period that he led them to three straight European Cup victories. Beckenbauer scored 64 goals in total in 439 appearances for Bayern Munich and became known as ‘Der Kaiser’ or ‘the emperor’.

In the 1970 World Cup, he scored the all important goal in the second round game against England to spark an improbable comeback but West Germany were knocked out at the semi final stage. Two years later, he captained West Germany in a triumphant European Championships campaign.

In 1974, he led West Germany to their 2nd World Cup title by winning the final against firm favourites Netherlands in the final at Munich. He devised the strategy of constantly shadowing Netherland’s Johann Cryuff and it paid off in the big game. Two years later he led Germany to a runner up finish at the European Championships and the following year he retired from international football. Beckenbauer had scored 14 goals in 103 appearances for West Germany.

Franz Beckenbauer won the ‘European Player of the Year Award’ in 1972 and won it again four years later.

In 2013, World Soccer magazine included Franz Beckenbauer in the ‘Greatest XI of All Time’.

Franz Beckenbauer’s biggest achievement as a footballer was that of the captain of the West German side that won the 1974 World Cup on home soil. However, his biggest achievement in life has to be that of managing the unified German national team in their triumphant 1990 World Cup campaign.