To revert to "The Emperor" who is more, Beckenbauer was regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all times being ranked with Pele and Yohan Cruyff. As a player he invented and defined the modern football style.

Always calm under pressure and a skilful marshal of his defence, Beckenbauer could read a game astutely. Small wonder, he exactly knew the right moment to surge upfield.

There was an unhurried air about Beckenbauer. In a situation when others in his position were breaking into sweat, he essayed long raking passes to his strikers.

Beckenbauer excelled in the dual role of silk and steel. He would snatch a ball off the opponent's feet with the faintest of touches and would essay the ball with almost equal felicity thread a gorgeous pass upfield.

Physically the most imposing of strikers could not get the better of Beckenbauer. He could outwit the brainiest of the playmakers too.

It was a strapping young man in West Germany's jersey who redefined the position of centre half and was a threat to the other teams in successive World Cup games.. But then he was not the first sweeper nor the first central defender who would play a pass and step into the mid field which he did effectively attacking the other side be it Holland with Johan Cruyff or Argentina fielding Maradona.

"Der Kaiser" as the Germans were fond of calling the man who embodied all the qualities of this nation and very few of its weaknesses got the better of Cruyff and his men when the two greats were representing their respective countries in the World Cup. It was a clash of the titans.

It was as Germany's coach inspiring his team by Beckenbauer's "never say die" attitude Argentina was trounced in another World Cup; it was then great Maradona bursting into tears after the final whistle was blown making it the first pointer to the fallibility of the man who had scored the "hand of God" goal in another World Cup and deified himself.

To revert to The Emperor" who is more, Beckenbauer stopped Cruyff as a player. He "strangled" Maradona as a coach.

If German football is divided, into eras there would be a pre-Beckenbauer and a post-Beckenbauer era. If Germans knew a victory in a football match in the international arena was far more important than participation in the tournament it was because Franz Beckenbauer taught them.

Born months after Germany's surrender in World War II, Beckenbauer studied to be an insurance salesman. But he signed in Bayern Munich when he was 18 and by his playing skills raised it to great heights.

Football lore goes that the teenager was on the verge of joining 1860 Munich, among Germany's finest clubs then when one of its players Gerherd Konig slapped Beckenbauer. As a result, he turned his back forever on his favourite childhood club; the rest is history.

A free roaming defender who would often surge forward to attack, Bayern Munich with Beckenbauer between 1974 to 1976 won European Cup thrice. With the World Cup too under his belt, he had nothing more to prove to the football fraternity the world over.

But it was never roses all the way. In his first World Cup in 1966, Germany lost to host England in the final. Beckenbauer chased Bobby Charlton all over the field having been given the task of marking the England standout.

Four years later, Beckenbauer played with an arm strapped to his body because of a shoulder injury. Germany lost a memorable semi final extra-time, thriller 4-3 to Italy, a match marked by FIFA as "Game of the Century."

Come 1974, Beckenbauer was leading his country in the World Cup even as Holland with Johan Cruyff playing a new mode of football seemed to be invincible. But the Dutch juggernaut grounded to a halt before Germany, thanks to the skills of its players and it's captain's football brain.

Away from the field in the later years, he was at the head of Bayern Munich in an honorary but highly visible position as an organiser. But he was not a spotless hero and his legacy was tarnished when Germany won the 2006 World Cup bid over South Africa amidst allegation of irregularities and corruption.

Beckenbauer was exonerated because the statute of limitations had expired. He would be remembered as a graceful, smiling winner, a man universally loved and admired; a guy whom everybody liked and who seemed to like everybody.

"Football is a simple game. Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes and in the end the Germans win" Gary Linekar, the noted English player was referring to the 1990 German team coached by Beckenbauer that won the 1990 World Cup.

He was unaware that he had stated in a nutshell the spirit of Beckenbauer. It was not always pleasing to the eye but unfailingly effective. (IPA Service)