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Franz Beckenbauer has died

Published:Monday | January 8, 2024 | 12:03 PM
Fifa executive committee member Franz Beckenbauer smiles during the FIFA Football World Cup award ceremony at the adidas headquarters in Herzogenaurach near Nuremberg, southern Germany, on December 14, 2010.
AP File
Fifa executive committee member Franz Beckenbauer smiles during the FIFA Football World Cup award ceremony at the adidas headquarters in Herzogenaurach near Nuremberg, southern Germany, on December 14, 2010.

MUNICH (AP):

Franz Beckenbauer, the German football great who helped his country win the World Cup both as player and coach, has died, news agency dpa reported Monday. He was 78.

“It is with deep sadness that we announce that my husband and our father, Franz Beckenbauer, passed away peacefully in his sleep yesterday, Sunday, surrounded by his family,” the family said in a statement to dpa, the German news agency.

“We ask that we be allowed grieve in peace and spared any questions.”

The statement did not provide a cause of death.

As a player and coach, Beckenbauer did more than most to shape German soccer. He captained West Germany to the World Cup title in 1974. He also coached the national side that won the 1990 World Cup final against Argentina.

In recent years the former Bayern Munich great struggled with health problems.