Famous Germans – Franz Beckenbauer

EDIT 2024: Sadly, Franz Beckenbauer died on the 7th January 2024.

Today I thought we look at a different type of famous German, not an artist or author or inventor, but a former football player. And as it’s his birthday today it’s only fitting that we talk about Franz Beckenbauer, or ‘der Kaiser’ (the emperor), as he was nicknamed.

Franz Beckenbauer was born on the 11th September 1945 in Munich. “He is widely regarded to be one of the greatest players in the history of the sport.” (Wikipedia).

But, as German learners it might be more interesting to read about him in German, so here is the German Wikipedia page: Franz Beckenbauer

If that’s too difficult, try the Klexikon page, which is aimed at German children and writes beautifully about him: Franz Beckenbauer

Want to watch a video about him? Try this one

And just for football fans, a quick video in English about his top 5 goals:

I’ll leave you with some of his famous quotes (taken from Die besten Sprüche von Franz Beckenbauer

„Am Ergebnis wird sich nicht mehr viel ändern, es sei denn, es schießt einer ein Tor“
“There won’t be much change in the result unless someone scores a goal”.

„Ich bin immer noch am Überlegen, welche Sportart meine Mannschaft an diesem Abend ausgeübt hat. Fußball war’s mit Sicherheit nicht.“
“I’m still trying to figure out what sport my team played that night. It certainly wasn’t football.”

„Das Einzige, was sich in der ersten Hälfte bewegt hat, war der Wind.“
“The only thing that moved in the first half was the wind.”

And one final quote, which could be for anybody (after they’ve practised some German, of course 😉):
„Geht’s raus und spielt’s Fußball.“
“Get out there and play some football.”

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag, Franz!

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