Most of us on here are Bayern and Germany fans so we know about mr. Franz Beckenbauer and his greatness very well. This is a thread on the Kaiser's career for those who might not be too familiar with him.

Franz Anton Beckenbauer was born in Munich, Bavaria, West Germany in 1945. He was interested in football from a young age. His idol was Kaiserslautern legend Fritz Walter who helped West Germany lift the World Cup in 1954.

In 1954 at the age of 9 Beckenbauer signed for the youth team of SC Munich. Franz was an 1860 Munich fan and dreamed of playing for them one day. SC Munich was running low on funds and wanted to disband its youth setup. Franz was planning to join 1860.

However, during an Under-14s tournament in Neubiberg, SC Munich faced 1860 in the final. It wasn't the cleanest game ever as Franz and an 1860 defender physically confronted each other. Beckenbauer joined Bayern's youth team in 1959 out of sheer spite for his once favourite club.

An interesting fact about Franz. In 1963 at the age of 18 he found himself in a lot of controversy because he refused to marry his pregnant girlfriend. The DFB reacted by banning him from the West German youth team but he was re-instated thanks to coach Dettmar Cramer.

In 1964 Franz made his Bayern debut in a promotion playoff game vs St. Pauli playing on the left wing. Bayern won the 2nd division the next year and were promoted back to the Bundesliga.

Franz decided to change his position. He moved into the defense as a ball playing center half that could carry the ball forward, help with the build-up play but also win back the ball back and fend off opposing attacks inventing the role of the sweeper (libero).

In his role as an attacking sweeper Beckenbauer would either dribble his way to the opposing penalty box or combine with his teammates to create chances. He was very successful scoring 60 goals as a defender for Bayern (assists were not counted back then sadly)

Beckenbauer was the perfect player. A born leader and a commanding figure at the back. His tackling, finishing and passing ability, his reading of the game and his awareness on both ends of the pitch made him dominant in every way imaginable.

Beckenbauer developed into one of the world's best along with his very talented teammates Gerd Müller and Sepp Maier to name a few. In 1966 Bayern won the DFB Pokal by beating SV Meidericher 4-2 in the final with Franz scoring in the 82nd minute to secure the win.

In 1967 he helped Bayern win the UEFA Cup of Cup Winners. The Bavarian outfit's 1st ever European trophy. They beat Rangers 1-0 in Nürnberg thanks to a 109th minute winner from Franz Roth.

In 1968 Beckenbauer was made club captain and in that same season he led the team to a league and cup double. Not bad at all gents.

After impressing with the national team in previous tournaments he was made the captain of the West German national team in 1971 and in the 1972 European Championship he led them to victory as they routed the Soviets by 3 goals to none in the final.

Franz's talent and elegant style of play earned him the nickname "der Kaiser" (the emperor). In 1972 he won the Ballon d'Or. Standard stuff really

Meanwhile Bayern had put together an unreal team with players like Beckenbauer, Müller, Roth and Hoeneß and were coached by the great Udo Lattek as they won the Bundesliga title 3 times in a row (1971-72, 1972-73, 1973-74)

In 1974 West Germany, captained by Franz won the big one, the World Cup on home soil. They defeated Johan Cruyff's dutch team 2-1 in the Olympiastadion in Munich to capture the nation's 2nd world cup. An immense achievement.

And ofc the Hattrick. Bayern's world class team spearheaded by Beckenbauer won the European cup 3 times in a row from 1974 to 1976.

They won it in 1974 under Lattek, beating Atletico Madrid 4-0 in a replay after a 1-1 draw. The other 2 in 1975 and 1976 were won under coach Dettmar Cramer as Bayern defeated Leeds United 2-0 and ASSE 1-0.

In 1976 he won his 2nd Ballon d'Or. All hail to the mighty Kaiser!

In 1977 he retired from international football with 103 German caps and 14 goals to his name. He was named in the Allstar team of all 3 World Cups he took part in.

He left Bayern to join the New York Cosmos (who had Pele at the time) in 1977 and later played for HSV where he won the Bundesliga again. He retired with the Cosmos in 1983. He played a total of 754 competirive club games throughout his career

After that he became a manager and won titles with Marseille and Bayern but his most important coaching achievement was guiding Germany to glory in the 1990 World Cup in Italy. His side was able to beat Maradona's Argentina in Rome thanks to a Brehme penalty in the 85th minute.

In 1994, Beckenbauer became the club's president and oversaw the team's transformation into one of Europe's elite once again! He gave up his position in 2009 to Uli Hoeneß.

Now aged 74, Franz lives a fairly calm life and even attended a few Bayern games now that they are played behind closed doors.

I also love this quote from him.

In conclusion, Franz Beckenbauer has had one of the most decorated careers in the history of the game. An absolute football genius, he led both Bayern and Germany to the top and changed the game forever. Danke Franz!

End of thread. Thank you for reading