He still had to find his position, but never his role. Whether as a left winger — where he began — as a midfield dynamo — which he was for five years — or as a sweeper — in which role he experienced his glory years and departed the Munich stage in 1977 — he was the superstar of the team. After just six Bundesliga games he became a full international, went to a World Cup after his first season, and returned as a vice-world champion.
In 396 Bundesliga games for FC Bayern (1965–77), he never once sat on the bench.
After Werner Olk's departure in 1970, the Kaiser assumed the captaincy at the age of 25. Four times German Footballer of the Year (1966, 1968, 1974 and 1977), twice European Footballer of the Year (1972 and 1976), World Cup winner as captain (1974) and European champion (1972). His trademarks: outside-of-the-boot passes and one-twos with Gerd Müller, against which legions of defenders could find no remedy.
In 1977 he fled the tax authorities and the tabloid press — who were gleefully exploiting his marital problems — to New York, where success followed him at Cosmos New York as well (champion 1978 and 1980). He won his final titles as a player with HSV (champion 1982) after his surprise Bundesliga return.
But his club remained FC Bayern, to which he devoted his full attention after his time as DFB team manager (World Cup winner 1990).
Vice-president from October 1991, he stepped in as coach in January 1994 as Erich Ribbeck's successor and was promptly champion. Then he became president of FCB (1994–2009) and, as such, the first person to coach a Bundesliga club while serving as its president — in April 1996 he replaced coaching flop Otto Rehhagel. He didn't win the title this time, but he did capture the UEFA Cup.
After that, he withdrew definitively into the executive suite; nine league titles and the Champions League triumph fell within his presidency.
Uli Hoeneß: What Franz achieved is outstanding. He is very ambitious and sees things through with great personal sacrifice. From 2009 honorary president, things grew quieter around the Kaiser — so called because he once had himself photographed next to a bust of the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph, and because he ruled on the pitch like no other in German football.
A shadow fell over perhaps his greatest achievement for German football, one that darkened the twilight of his life.
From 2015, at the centre of international financial investigations by German, Swiss and US authorities over corruption allegations — was the 2006 World Cup bought? The mystery of the infamous €6.7 million that Beckenbauer procured on the DFB's behalf, and which were falsely accounted for to conceal who knows what, was never resolved — not even by Beckenbauer himself before his death.