German football legend Franz Beckenbauer dies at the age of 78

German football legend Franz Beckenbauer has passed away at the age of 78, media reports said on Monday.

The German football great helped his country win the Football World Cup both as player and as a coach.

“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,” Beckenbauer’s family said in a statement to German media organisation dpa. “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 football. 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.

Nicknamed “Der Kaiser”, he won numerous other honours, including a hat-trick of European Cups with Bayern Munich in the 1970s.

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

(With inputs from The Associated Press)

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