Sun: “RIP Der Kaiser. A legend forever. The German is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time.”
The Telegraph: “Franz Beckenbauer: A groundbreaking central defender and football’s best thinker. With the death of the great West German captain, football loses the last representative of a generation of players who became global TV superstars.”
The Guardian: “Franz Beckenbauer was the consummate footballer and a winning coach (…) He had one of the best and most distinctive nicknames of all time, and like his contemporary, Eddy “The Cannibal” Merckx in cycling, his nickname “The Kaiser” was a perfect fit to him and served to introduce him in advance.”
Daily Mail: “Most who knew him well will remember his excellence on the field, his outstanding footballing intelligence, the elegance with which he moved, the joys of his company and the invaluable knowledge we gleaned from conversations with him created.”
Switzerland
NZZ: “The emperor is dead: his brilliance provoked his compatriots. But Franz Beckenbauer will always remain the greatest German footballer.”
View: “A shock for friends, acquaintances and fans.”
Austria
Courier: “Football has lost its emperor. With Franz Beckenbauer, the football world is losing part of its history.”
The standard: “Franz Beckenbauer was the shining light of German football, but he also had his dark sides. He was the emperor of football.”
Italy
Gazzetta dello Sport: “The world is losing its football emperor. To explain his legendary status, people in Germany used to say that Beckenbauer was below God but above the chancellor. The emperor’s charm was as limitless as his influence on German football and the Company.”
Corriere della Sera: “The football gods had bestowed immense class on Kaiser Beckenbauer. He seemed to glide across the pitch, and every gesture showed sophisticated technique. As the son of war-torn Germany, he had found football as the instrument of his advancement.”
Corriere dello Sport: “World football mourns the loss of the greatest defender of all time. Beckenbauer was a revolutionary on the field and a talented coach.”
The Republic: “Franz Beckenbauer and his teams were like an orchestra conductor who brought out the best in his musicians.”
Tuttosport: “With Franz Beckenbauer, the world is losing one of the greatest players in football history. An icon and a German hero.”
Spain
Marca: “With Beckenbauer’s death, Germany is not only losing its greatest footballer, but also one of its most outstanding personalities of the last decades.”
AS: “German football is crying after the death of its best footballer in history. The ‘Kaiser’ is one of the symbols of German football. A myth has left us.”
Sports: “Germany is saying goodbye to its greatest idol. Beckenbauer was and continues to be the role model for many football players around the world.”
World Sports: “Franz Beckenbauer leaves a huge void in Germany and in world football.”
ABC: “‘The Kaiser’ was one of the few footballers with a star on his chest, both as a player and as a coach. Today is a very sad day not only for German football, but for the entire world football.”