RIP Franz Beckenbauer

The big news in football this week was the passing of legendary German sweeper Franz Beckenbauer, at the age of 78. Much was made of the fact that he was one of only three men to win the World Cup as both a player and a manager, as well as the fact that another of those men, Brazil's Mario Zagallo, also died this week. That leaves Didier Deschamps, who accomplished the feat with France, as the only man still living who's managed it, though the question is whether he can be the first World Cup-winning player to win it more than once as a manager...

Another point that came up in the various testimonials to Beckenbauer on the podcasts I listen to was that he's one of those players that you heard about, but didn't really ever get to see in action. Beckenbauer's heyday was Euro 1972 and the 1974 World Cup, both of which West Germany won under his tutelage, but there's little good YouTube footage of those tournaments, so it's hard to get a sense of how great he was.

This is a problem with all players before about 2006 - even someone like Matt LeTissier, who does have some good reels of famous goals from the 90s, is ill-served by poor-quality transfers to digital. Of course, YouTube highlights aren't always the best way to see players at the peak of their powers, but it seems a shame to lose documentary evidence of them, especially since all that seems to exist of the 1930s World Cups is the odd picture here and there.

On the more negative side, there was also a lot of talk on the podcasts about Beckenbauer's involvement in some of the shadier aspects of winning the 2006 World Cup for Germany. This is too bad on several fronts: on the one hand, it's unfortunate that part of his legacy is tarnished that way, and on the other, that tournament is considered the first great coming-out party for Germany as it is now, dynamic and open and friendly, and so it's equally a shame that an event that brought so much joy to so many people is tarnished that way.

But then, there was also the absurd side, as I learned on Football Weekly. He apparently chose a phone number consisting of all 6'es after appearing on an ad for O2, and this led to him getting a bunch of calls from men who thought they were calling a sex line. Of course, as the host of FW, Max Rushden, said, imagine calling a phone sex line only to find yourself talking to one of German football's greatest players?

I think the most interesting thing I learned, though, was how Beckenbauer seems to have embodied the new (West) Germany. He was born in 1945, amid the wreckage of the Second World War, and his fortunes followed those of his country, so that he came of age as it became one of the richest countries in Europe, and as Bayern Munich became one of Europe's elite too. He was considered a national hero, and despite the damage to his reputation from those FIFA issues mentioned above, it's sad to see him leave the stage.