Franz Beckenbauer will always have a place in football history quite apart from popularising the role of libero, establishing Bayern Munich as the force in German football and being one of only three individuals to win the World Cup as a player and as a manager. He had one of the best and most distinctive nicknames ever, and just as with his near contemporary Eddy “The Cannibal” Merckx in cycling, his Der Kaiser moniker both suited him and served to introduce him in advance.
Opinion is divided on where the appellation arose. Some say he was asked to pose beside a bust of an actual emperor, others point to an on-field incident when he effortlessly bettered a German opponent who was known as the King. Either way, there was always something of the statesman about Beckenbauer, whether in action as a player, manager or administrator. He appeared to be cut from different cloth than most footballers, even though he came from a modest, working-class background in war-ravaged Munich.
Certainly Beckenbauer’s nickname did him more favours than the “water-carrier” jibe that Eric Cantona famously aimed at Didier Deschamps before the Frenchman added a World Cup as manager to his 1998 triumph as a player. Brazil’s Mário Zagallo, the founder member of the illustrious trio of World Cup overachievers, was sometimes known as The Professor as well as the Old Wolf (the latter being a play on part of his surname), but even that lacks the authority and respect conferred by Der Kaiser.
