Der Kaizer

Few players have achieved quite as much on the World Cup stage as Der Kaizer. In three consecutive World Cups his West Germany managed a top three position. First silver, then bronze and finally a gold medal in 1974. He is often named as the third-best player of all-time behind Maradona and Pelé.

Known for many things throughout his long career, elegance and leadership are the terms many associate him with, but there’s more to the tall German than that. In “the game of the century” as nicknamed by the German press, against Italy in 1970, with his shoulder dislocated and the Germans with no substitutions left to make, Beckenbauer kept playing through the pain barrier with his arm in a sling.