Franz Beckenbauer
| ● The file | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1945, Munich |
| Golden Balls | 2 (1972, 1976) — only defender in 50 years |
| World Cup | Won as captain 1974 AND as coach 1990 |
| European Cups | 3 in a row, finals 1974–76 |
Beckenbauer's Ballon d'Ors, 1972 and 1976, are the only two won by a defender in the award's first fifty years. He collected them by abolishing the position: the libero had been a sweeper, a safety net; in Beckenbauer's hands it became a fountain, the point from which attacks began, conducted at a walk, with the collar up and the game apparently pre-solved.
He lifted the World Cup as captain in 1974 and again as manager in 1990, one of three men in history to win it in both roles. In 1976, the year of his second Ballon d'Or, he also reached a third consecutive European Cup final with Bayern — they won two of the three. The nickname arrived young, on a photograph of him standing on the Vienna turf like royalty surveying a province, and it never came off. Football has had aristocrats, dictators, and poets. Beckenbauer is the only one who was all three, and was loved for it.