Why they rank here
The greatest defender ever, ranked here because he invented the position he mastered. Beckenbauer took the sweeper role — until then a purely destructive job — and turned it into the attacking libero, striding out of defence to become an extra midfielder, a concept that echoes in every modern ball-playing center-back and every full-back inverting into midfield. The honors are staggering: European champion with West Germany in 1972 (a side often rated the best European international team of its era), World Cup-winning captain in 1974, three consecutive European Cups with Bayern Munich from 1974 to 1976, and the only defender with two Ballons d'Or (1972, 1976). He then managed West Germany to the 1990 World Cup, joining Mário Zagallo (and later Didier Deschamps) in the tiny club of men who won it as player and coach. Over 103 caps he combined elegance with ruthless game-management; his duel with Cruyff in the 1974 final — pragmatism against poetry, 2-1 — remains the sport's great philosophical argument in ninety minutes.
Career profile
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Head-to-head
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