Soccer legend Franz Beckenbauer dead at 78

Franz Beckenbauer, who won a World Cup for West Germany as a player in 1974 and then guided his country to another title as a manager 16 years later, died Sunday. He was 78.

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The German news agency confirmed Beckenbauer’s death in a statement, ESPN reported.

“It is with deep sadness that we announce that my husband and our father, Franz Beckenbauer, passed away peacefully in his sleep yesterday, Sunday, surrounded by his family,” the family said.

Known as “Der Kaiser,” Beckenbauer played 582 matches for Bayern Munich, winning the top flight in Germany as a player and a manager, the BBC reported.

He captained West Germany to the World Cup in 1974 and lifted the trophy again as a manager in 1990 with a victory against Argentina in the final, according to The New York Times. He also led West Germany to a World Cup final in 1966, when West Germany lost to England.

Beckenbauer, along with Brazil’s Mário Zagallo and Didier Deschamps of France, was one of only three people to win the World Cup as both a player and coach, according to the newspaper. Zagallo died on Friday at the age of 92.

Beckenbauer, a gifted sweeper who helped control the tempo of many matches, won the European Championship in 1972 and was awarded the Ballon d’Or in 1972 and 1976, ESPN reported. He was named Germany’s Footballer of the Century in 2000 and received the FIFA Centennial Player and Football Personality Award four years later.

Beckenbauer switched to the North American Soccer League during the 1970s and was part of three championship teams with the New York Cosmos, according to the Times.

“For me, Franz Beckenbauer was the best footballer in German history,” Julian Nagelsmann, Germany’s current manager, said in a statement, according to the BBC. “His interpretation of the role of the libero (sweeper) changed the game, this role and his friendship with the ball made him a free man.”

Lothar Matthäus, who was Beckenbauer’s captain at the 1990 World Cup, told the German newspaper Bild: “The shock is deep, even though I knew that Franz wasn’t feeling well.”

“His death is a loss for football and for Germany as a whole. He was one of the greatest as a player and coach, but also off the field,” Matthäus said. “Franz was an outstanding personality -- not only in football -- and he enjoyed worldwide recognition. Everyone who knew him knows what a great and generous person Franz was. A good friend has left us. I will miss him -- we will all miss him.”

“With Franz Beckenbauer, German football is losing its greatest personality. I am losing a good friend,” Rudi Völler, another member of the 1990 squad, said in a statement, according to The Guardian.

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