wattWhat made Franz Beckenbauer so attractive to generations of Germans was that – at least until the last few years of his life – he came across like a fairy tale character. Not from one of the original Brothers Grimm stories, which is often more twisted and sinister than the Disney version, but from one of those stories where everything works out in the end: Happy Franz“Franz’s Luck” has been the headline story that has followed Beckenbauer’s career since he burst onto the national scene as an 18-year-old.
“In a completely un-German way, he was born under a lucky star and achieved successes that others had to fight tooth and nail to achieve,” TAZ wrote in an obituary of Beckenbauer, who died on Monday. , died at the age of 78.
As a player, he won the European Championship in 1972 and the World Championship in 1974, repeating the latter feat in Italy 16 years later as a manager. At club level, he won numerous domestic and international trophies, most of them with Bayern Munich, where he later served as manager and president, making the club dominant in Germany. As an official, he was instrumental in bringing the 2006 World Cup to Germany, an event now commonly referred to as summer fairy tale Or “summer fairy tale.” “Der Spiegel” wrote: “Everything he touched turned to gold. He was not only King Midas, but also Midas Caesar.”
Once, when Beckenbauer was challenged on German television to kick a football from a beer mug into a spherical hole in the wall, he naturally succeeded on his first try and appeared unfazed. After news of his death broke, the most commonly shared quote was from former Scotland manager Andy Roxburgh: “Franz was the only guy in the world who would fly if he jumped out of a window. people.”
Beckenbauer, who rose to world stardom amid the postwar economic boom, represented a resurgent Germany and could once again inspire pride in his countrymen. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote that his career was “a projection screen… for an era that was arguably Germany’s best and most successful, at least in West Germany”.
Die Zeit wrote: “Not Adenauer, not Kohl, not [the schlager singer] Heino was the most important, greatest and most famous German after the war. “
His elegant style of play – his dashing runs through midfield, his charming crosses with the outside of his boot – were not accidental but key to the story, as they made him the embodiment of a different kind of Germany. “We need someone who can play like Pele, or at least in a way that doesn’t remind the rest of the world of armored vehicles,” Le Monde wrote.
Beckenbauer’s modern interpretation of football positions is unlike any other player’s – Free man, The “free man” in front of the lines – sums up this call: this is a man who is no longer weighed down by history, reflection or guilt, but breaks free.
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“For a long time, Beckenbauer represented a better Germany, as long as no one before him did it,” said Le Monde. “He embodies what Germany and Germans want to be, but mostly don’t: full of joy of life, leisure and cosmopolitanism – not just hard work and success. “
Beckenbauer, said to be a lifelong Catholic, was also a free man when it came to his sexuality, which did not seem to hurt his appeal as the nation’s scavenger. Stories of adultery and illegitimacy were ignored for his trademark indifference. “It’s not a crime after all,” he reportedly said after it was revealed he had conceived a child with a Bayern Munich club secretary at a club Christmas party. “Our dear God wants every child. very satisfied.”
The Brothers Grimm’s fairy tale “Fortunate Hans” is about luck only in an ironic sense: its protagonist is also a gullible fool who is cheated by those with whom he does business. Reports of alleged corruption in Beckenbauer’s 2006 World Cup sponsorship, which led to his suspension by FIFA’s ethics committee in 2014, suggested that his fairy tale was never as simple as hoped.
