A feeling of loss and goodbye to an entire era of football swept through Germany yesterday as the death of Franz Beckenbauer, the man who won almost everything as a footballer, coach and manager, was announced. The great ball legend died on Sunday at the age of 78, and his death unleashed a storm of melancholy and tribute in a country that revered him despite some financial shadows that tarnished his sporting legacy. “He will be remembered as a luminous figure with an irresistible aura,” summarized the German sports magazine Kicker in the farewell obituary.
The atmosphere of mourning included large doses of nostalgia. “The world of FC Bayern is no longer what it was; suddenly it is darker, quieter, poorer,” lamented Bayern Munich, the club of his life, in which he spent the bulk of his career in the city where he was born in 1945, at the beginning of the post-war period.
In those early years he received the nickname that stayed with him forever: the Kaiser (emperor, in German). A Bavarian publication called him that because of his resemblance to the Bavarian king Ludwig II (1845-1886), who was never emperor. Later, the footballer was photographed in Vienna next to a bust of the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I (1830-1916), in German Kaiser Franz, and the coincidence of the proper name cemented the –erroneous– belief that the Austrian monarch was the origin , as reported by the Munich newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Franz Beckenbauer’s elegance with the ball enthused inside and outside Europe. Between 1977 and 1980 he won three American leagues with the New York Cosmos. During that stay in New York, the pop artist Andy Warhol painted a portrait of him, which confirmed him as an icon of popular culture.
The political world also remembered his role in promoting Germany. “He was a world champion as a player and coach, for many he was also the Kaiser because he created enthusiasm for German football in many generations,” wrote German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on the social network X (formerly Twitter). His name, his game and his demeanor already said it all, judging by the farewell phrases. “With his leadership style and his playing philosophy, Franz Beckenbauer made the German team an excellent ambassador for our country in the world; We will always be grateful to him for that,” declared Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier yesterday.
In Germany, the chorus of sadness over the footballer’s death focused on the lights and tiptoed through the shadows. In addition to his position as president of Bayern, Beckenbauer was vice president of the German Football Association (DFB) from 1998 to 2010. In that role he led the successful German bid to host the 2006 World Cup, known as Sommermärchen (fairy tale of the summer).
But in 2016 suspicion arose that the World Cup had not been achieved solely through his charisma, but rather through dubious payments to influence FIFA votes, and it was questioned whether Beckenbauer had worked without remuneration for the candidacy. In any case, Germany remembers and bids farewell to him as a symbol and a giant.
