Franz Beckenbauer (✝78) never got over the death of his son! It was announced on Monday evening that the former footballer had died. Since then, the sympathy of fans worldwide has been huge – after all, the Munich native was a real legend of German football. But things didn’t always go well off the pitch: his son Stephan died at the age of 46 as a result of a brain tumor. This loss has Franz never processed.
“He was powerless in the face of his son dying, even though he did everything in the world to prevent it from happening. […] The powerlessness that the Franz Having to experience so much in 2015 has certainly changed him,” says Franz‘ Ex-partner Diana Sandmann in the BR documentary “Beckenbauer – Legend of German Football”. He absorbed his son’s death and never really processed it.
At 18 years old was allowed Franz appear for the first team of FC Bayern Munich for the first time. This was the start of his stellar career – over the next 13 years he scored 60 goals as a professional for Bayern, became German champion, DFB Cup winner and European Cup winner. His work in the national team was equally successful: he scored 14 goals Franz in the Germany jersey, became a record player and not only won the European Championship in 1972, but also the World Championship with the team in 1974.
