{"id":358399,"date":"2024-01-08T18:13:32","date_gmt":"2024-01-08T19:13:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=358399"},"modified":"2024-01-08T20:03:11","modified_gmt":"2024-01-08T20:03:11","slug":"world-cup-great-who-inspired-generations-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=358399","title":{"rendered":"World Cup great who 'inspired generations' dies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Franz Beckenbauer, who won the FIFA World Cup<\/a> both as player and coach and became one of Germany\u2019s most beloved personalities with his easygoing charm, has died. He was 78.<\/p>\n

Beckenbauer's death was first announced through a statement from his family to German news agency dpa and then confirmed by the German football<\/a> federation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is with deep sadness that we announce that my husband and our father, Franz Beckenbauer, passed away peacefully in his sleep yesterday, surrounded by his family,\u201d the family said in its statement. \u201cWe ask that we be allowed to grieve in peace and be spared any questions.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The statement did not provide a cause of death. The former Bayern Munich great, who became affectionately known as the \u201cKaiser\u201d \u2014 or \u201cEmperor\u201d \u2014 had struggled with health problems in recent years.<\/p>\n

Beckenbauer also had to contend with allegations of impropriety in later years. But they did nothing to damage the esteem in which he was held.<\/p>\n

\"West<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world of FC Bayern is no longer the way it used to be \u2013 suddenly darker, quieter, poorer,\u201d the Bavarian powerhouse said on its website.<\/p>\n

Beckenbauer was one of German football's central figures. As a player, he reimagined the defender\u2019s role in football and captained West Germany to the World Cup title in 1974 after it had lost to England in the 1966 final. He was the coach when West Germany won the tournament again in 1990, a symbolic moment for a country in the midst of reunification, months after the Berlin Wall fell.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe \u2018Kaiser\u2019 was one of the best players our sport has ever seen,\u201d German federation president Bernd Neuendorf said. \u201cWith his lightness, his elegance and his vision, he set standards on the field … Franz Beckenbauer leaves a great legacy for the federation and soccer as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz wrote on social media that Beckenbauer \u201cinspired generations of enthusiasm for German soccer. We will miss him".<\/p>\n

Beckenbauer's death comes just two days after the announcement that Mario Zagallo, the Brazilian who became the first person to win the World Cup as a player and coach, had died at the age of 92<\/a>. The only other person to achieve that feat is France's Didier Deschamps.<\/p>\n

Beckenbauer was also instrumental in bringing the highly successful 2006 World Cup to Germany, though his legacy was later tainted by charges that he only succeeded in winning the hosting rights with the help of bribery. He denied the allegations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Franz Beckenbauer, who won the FIFA World Cup both as player and coach and became one of Germany\u2019s most beloved personalities with his easygoing charm, […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":358402,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358399"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=358399"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":358404,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358399\/revisions\/358404"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/358402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=358399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=358399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=358399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}