Farewell to the Kaiser | Thank you, Franz Beckenbauer!

Born in Munich, Beckenbauer moved from SC Munich 1906 to FC Bayern at the age of 13 and made his mark on the team as a young player, which was promoted to the Bundesliga in 1965. Over time, he matured to become captain and won the European Cup three times in a row with FCB, the German championship four times, the DFB Cup four times and the World Cup and European Cup Winners’ Cup once each. He scored 74 goals in 582 games. In 1977, he moved to Cosmos New York, where he celebrated three US championships alongside Pelé. He ended his career at Hamburger SV in 1982 - he also became champion once again with the Hanseatic team. He captained the German national team to the title in the 1974 World Cup final against the Netherlands in his home city of Munich and also won the 1972 European Championship. In total, he played 103 times for the DFB team, scoring 14 goals. Beckenbauer was named European Footballer of the Year in 1972 and 1976 and was also named German Footballer of the Year four times. After his act