Beckenbauer was a classy, dominant presence on the pitch for West Germany and Bayern Munich in the 1960s and 70s, using the calmness on the ball and effortless distribution that marked his midfield performances to virtually invent the central defensive sweeper role where he found most success.
He collected 103 caps for West Germany, winning the 1972 European championship and then the World Cup on home soil having lost in the final to England in 1966.
His Bayern Munich team was the best club side in the world during the mid-1970s, winning three successive European Cups and three successive Bundesliga titles, and Beckenbauer himself was twice named European footballer of the year.
As national team manager his West Germany team lost in the 1986 World Cup final to Argentina but triumphed four years later in Italy as a combined German team.