Franz Beckenbauer, World Cup-winning Germany legend, dies aged 78

Franz Beckenbauer, widely regarded among the greatest football players of all time, has died at the age of 78.

Nicknamed ‘Der Kaiser’, Beckenbauer was captain of the West Germany team that won the World Cup in 1974 and he later led them to the title as a manager once again in 1990.

He also won numerous other honours, including a hat-trick of European Cups with Bayern Munich in the mid-70s, when he also established his reputation as a defender of supreme talents.

Beckenbauer was a classy, dominant presence on the pitch for West Germany and Bayern Munich, with whom he won three successive European Cups, and had the nickname Der Kaiser, or “The Emperor”