His World Cup disappointment ended on home soil when Beckenbauer led West Germany to the title in 1974, defeating the Netherlands 2–1 in the final in his home city of Munich.
After retiring from international duty in 1977, Beckenbauer took over as coach in 1984 and managed the team to win the trophy at Italia ’90, beating Argentina 1–0 in Rome.
His record in club football was similarly excellent.
Beckenbauer played 424 matches in the Bundesliga and scored 44 goals, mostly during a 13-year tenure for Bayern, where he won four German titles and three European Cups.
He won another German title with Hamburg in 1982, before joining Pelé at the New York Cosmos, where he finished his playing career in 1983.
Beckenbauer served as manager in club football at both Bayern and Marseille, winning the French league title in 1991 and the Bundesliga in 1994.
In 1996, he stopped coaching and his role as president of Bayern earned him a place on the executive committee of FIFA, football’s governing body.
Beckenbauer underwent heart surgery in 2016 and again in 2017, when worrying news began to emerge about his deteriorating health.
