Editing Franz Beckenbauer (section)

==Club career==
[[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F025341-0010, Bonn, Landesvertretung Bayern, Fußballmanschaft.jpg|thumb|Beckenbauer (left) after Bayern Munich's [[1967 European Cup Winners' Cup Final|Cup Winners' Cup]] triumph in 1967]]

Beckenbauer made his debut with Bayern in a [[Bundesliga]] promotion play-off match on the left wing against [[FC St. Pauli]] on 6 June 1964. In his first season in the [[Regionalliga Süd (1963–74)|Regionalliga Süd]] ("Regional League South", then the second level in Germany), 1964–65, the team won the league and was eventually promoted to the Bundesliga.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wilson |first=Jonathan |date=9 January 2024 |title=Franz Beckenbauer was a player out of time who made football evolve with him |url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2024/jan/09/franz-beckenbauer-was-a-player-out-of-time-who-made-football-evolve-with-him |access-date=10 January 2024 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

Bayern soon became a force in the new German league, winning the [[German Cup]] in 1966–67 and achieving European success in the [[Cup Winners' Cup]] in 1967. Beckenbauer became team captain for the 1968–69 season and led his club to their first league title. He began experimenting with the [[Sweeper (association football)|sweeper]] ''(libero)'' role around this time, refining the role into a new form and becoming perhaps the greatest exponent of the attacking sweeper game.<ref name="FIFA profile"/>

During Beckenbauer's tenure at Bayern Munich, the club won three league championships in a row from 1972 to 1974<ref name = hattricks>{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/jan/08/franz-beckenbauer-complete-footballer-coach-der-kaiser-bayern-west-germany-world-cup |title=Franz Beckenbauer was the complete footballer and a triumphant coach |newspaper=The Guardian |date=8 January 2024 |accessdate=10 January 2024 |first=Paul |last=Wilson}}</ref> and also a hat-trick of [[UEFA Champions League|European Cup]] wins (1974–76)<ref name = hattricks/> which earned the club the honour of [[UEFA badge of honour|keeping the trophy permanently]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Train |first=Rob |date=28 May 2022 |title=When do Champions League winners keep the trophy permanently? |url=https://en.as.com/soccer/when-do-champions-league-winners-keep-the-trophy-permanently-n/ |access-date=10 January 2024 |website=Diario AS |language=en-us}}</ref>

[[File:Beckenbauer and maradona 1978.jpg|thumb|left|Beckenbauer with [[Diego Maradona]] during a [[New York Cosmos (1971–1985)|New York Cosmos]] friendly in Argentina, November 1978]]

Beginning in 1968, Beckenbauer was called "{{lang|de|der Kaiser}}" ({{gloss|the Emperor}}) by fans and the media.<ref name="FIFA profile"/> The following anecdote is told (even during his lifetime by Beckenbauer himself) to explain the origin: On the occasion of a friendly game of Bayern Munich in [[Vienna]], Austria, Beckenbauer posed for a photo session right beside a bust of the former Austrian emperor [[Franz Joseph I of Austria|Franz Joseph I]]. The media called him {{lang|de|Fußball-Kaiser}} ({{gloss|football-emperor}}) afterwards, and soon he was just called {{lang|de|der Kaiser}}. According to a report in the German newspaper {{lang|de|Welt am Sonntag}}, this explanation is untrue, though very popular. According to the report, Beckenbauer fouled his opposite number, [[Reinhard Libuda]] from [[FC Schalke 04|Schalke 04]], in the cup final on 14 June 1969. Disregarding the fans' hooting, Beckenbauer took the ball into the opposite part of the field, where he balanced the ball in front of the upset fans for half a minute. Libuda was commonly called {{lang|de|König von Westfalen}} ({{gloss|king of [[Westphalia]]}}), so the press looked for an even more exalted moniker and invented {{lang|de|der Kaiser}}.<ref>{{cite news |first1=Patrick |last1=Krull |url=https://www.welt.de/print-wams/article132202/Des_Kaisers_falscher_Schluss.html |title=Des Kaisers falscher Schluß |work=[[Welt am Sonntag]] |date=11 September 2005 |access-date=29 March 2008 |language=de |archive-date=15 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100615004851/http://www.welt.de/print-wams/article132202/Des_Kaisers_falscher_Schluss.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1977, Beckenbauer accepted a lucrative contract to play in the [[North American Soccer League (1968–1984)|North American Soccer League]] (NASL) with the [[New York Cosmos (1971–1985)|New York Cosmos]], playing alongside [[Pelé]] in his debut season. He played with the Cosmos for four seasons up to 1980, and the team won the [[Soccer Bowl]] on three occasions (1977, 1978, 1980).<ref name="FIFA profile"/>

Beckenbauer retired after a two-year spell with [[Hamburger SV]] in Germany (1980–82) with the win of the Bundesliga title that year and one final season with the New York Cosmos in 1983.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Franz Beckenbauer: Germany's World Cup-winning player, coach – DW – 01/08/2024 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/franz-beckenbauer-germanys-world-cup-winning-player-coach/a-67921504 |access-date=10 January 2024 |website=dw.com |language=en}}</ref>