Professional Soccer Player and Coach. Considered by many to be one of the greatest defenders in football history. At the beginning of his career, he was a left winger with excellent prospects; subsequently, he played first in midfield and then in defense, distinguishing himself in both cases for his charisma and an elegant playing style with few equals for the time, which earned him the nickname "Kaiser." After the end of his playing career, he was a very successful coach, winning, among other things, the 1990 World Cup with the West Germany national team: 16 years earlier, he had won that competition as a footballer, beating the Netherlands in the final in the first World Cup played at home by Germany. He is one of few footballers to have succeeded: he shares this record with the Brazilian Mário Zagallo, who died on January 5 at 92, and with the Frenchman Didier Deschamps. In the final phase of his career, Beckenbauer was a much-discussed manager, in particular for his role in the organization of the football World Cup, which took place in Germany in 2006. Beckenbauer was born on September 11, 1945, in Munich. The son of a postal worker and housewife, he spent his childhood in the Giesing neighborhood. Starting to play football wasn't a big problem as his apartment was opposite the sports field of AS Monaco 1906, the local team where he spent the first years of his career. In 1959, at 14, he joined the youth team of Bayern Munich, the most important team in his city and, more generally, in German football. He made his first team debut five years later, on June 6, 1964, in a Second Division match against St. Pauli, one of the Hamburg teams. On the day of the debut against St. Pauli, Bayern Munich won 4 to 0, and Beckenbauer immediately stood out for his personality, scoring the last goal. At the end of the season, the team won the championship and returned to the Bundesliga, the top division of German football. In the meantime, Beckenbauer had become a regular starter: he ended the season scoring 16 goals, including five from penalties, and people began to talk about him as one of the most promising talents in German football. He would play at Bayern Munich until 1977, becoming their most representative footballer. In those 13 years, he won four championships, one Cup Winners' Cup, four German Cups, three European Cups, and one Intercontinental Cup. He stood out for his elegant playing style and dribbling ability, which in his time were characteristics difficult to find in a defender. He began to change roles thanks to the intuitions of Zlatko Čajkovski, Yugoslav coach of Bayern Munich in the 1960s, who in 1966 decided to make him play in midfield to take advantage of his passing ability. His role changed definitively in 1972 when West Germany coach Helmut Schön chose to move him to defense, but without entrusting him with the canonical tackling and marking tasks, leaving him the freedom to position himself in the areas of the pitch necessary to interrupt offensive actions. It was an important evolution for his career: thanks to his vision of the game and his throwing ability, he initiated actions without worrying too much about his opponents. In short, he became a "libero," a role that had begun to be used by many teams in the early 1950s, especially in the Italian championship, which has completely disappeared today. The change of position gave further impetus to his career: in 1972, he won his first Ballon d'Or, a success that he would replicate four years later. In 1977, after 13 years at Bayern Munich, he went to play in the United States, where he was signed by the New York Cosmos, a club with which he won three North American championships in four seasons. In 1980, he returned to Germany to play for Hamburg, with whom he won the Bundesliga the following year at 35. He returned to New York in 1983, playing his final season with the Cosmos and retiring from football at 38. His career in the national team was also full of successes, both as a footballer and a coach. Starting from 1971, he became the captain of West Germany: the following year, he won the European championship, and in 1974, he won the World Cup played at home by beating the Netherlands in the final, in a match that saw him against Dutch footballer Johan Cruijff, with whom he had a very close friendship but also a strong sporting rivalry. Sixteen years later, he returned to win this competition as a coach, beating Argentina in the final of the World Cup hosted by Italy. Beckenbauer also had some success in his few years on the bench of Bayern Munich: in 1994, he took over as coach from Erich Ribbeck and won the Bundesliga, the thirteenth in the club's history. After his coaching stint ended, Beckenbauer became a sports manager of great political weight and influence. In 2002, he became administrative director of Bayern Munich, a club of which he would become honorary president in 2009. In 2006 he was the president of the organizing committee of the first World Cup hosted by Germany. From 2007 to March 30, 2011, he was vice-president of FIFA.