In an Adidas advert, released during the 2006 World Cup, two kids on a Barcelona street agree to a game of football. When it comes to picking their team-mates, there are no limits. “Kaka,” says one. “Zidane,” responds the other. As the two Ballon d’Or winners jog over, the team building continues:

“Beckham”
“Defoe”
“Kahn”
“Lampard”
“Beckenbauer”
“Beckenbauer?!”

Sure enough, Franz Beckenbauer, in a pristine white 1974 West Germany shirt with number five on the back, joins the makeshift pitch.

The technology of the time didn’t quite allow the Kaiser’s digital image to be imposed into the match action, yet even that brief cameo manages to capture something of his magic. Here was a footballer that left an indelible impression on the game and those that love it, far beyond Bavaria where he spent much of his playing career and long after his retirement. Even today, in streets, playgrounds and parks around the globe, a player dribbling the ball out from the back will still be greeted with cries of “Beckenbauer!” It is a name synonymous with adventurous, attacking football.

There are a handful of footballers in history whose names truly echo down through the ages, and Beckenbauer is undeniably one of them. If a footballing Mount Rushmore were commissioned today, his face would be carved into it.

In one of life’s harsh coincidences, Beckenbauer’s death came just days after the passing of a man with whom he shares an incredible record. Brazil’s Mario Zagallo was the first man to win the World Cup as both a player and manager, a record that Beckenbauer matched in 1990.

As an individual, Zagallo does not have quite have the same global acclaim as Beckenbauer. Yet his role in making Brazil the undisputed kings of the World Cup — first as a player, then as a coach and finally as an assistant — is arguably greater than any other individual, including Pele. As Tim Vickery puts it in his tribute to Zagallo, the  Selecao icon helped make Brazil “the country that everyone wanted to be for a month every four years.” The mastermind of the 1970 World Cup triumph, Zagallo can claim huge credit for that. With his and Beckenbauer’s passing it is no exaggeration to say that football has lost two of its most influential figures of all time. We pay tribute to them in the March 2024 edition of World Soccer.

Jamie Evans, Managing Editor