Franz Beckenbauer a member of exclusive World Cup-winning club
The IndependentSign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for free Sign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter Sign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Zagallo played alongside a 17-year-old Pele in the 1958 final as Brazil won the title for the first of three times in 12 years in 1958 with a 5-2 victory over hosts Sweden, and repeated the feat four years later in Chile, when they beat Czechoslovakia 3-1 in the final. Franz Beckenbauer West Germany’s Beckenbauer – or ‘Der Kaiser’ as he was known to his adoring fans – suffered the disappointment of losing to England in the 1966 final at Wembley, a game in which he and the late Sir Bobby Charlton famously cancelled each other out only for Geoff Hurst to plunder a hat-trick which later helped to earn him a knighthood too. The Germans, who ended England’s title defence at the quarter-final stage in Mexico four years later, had to wait until 1974 for captain Beckenbauer to get his hands on the trophy on home soil, bouncing back from Johan Neeskens’ early penalty to beat the Netherlands 2-1 in the final. Didier Deschamps Disparagingly dismissed by former team-mate Eric Cantona as a “water carrier”, defensive midfielder Deschamps captained host nation France to World Cup glory for the first time in 1998 when they trounced Brazil 3-0 in the final.