BERLIN: Franz Beckenbauer, one of German soccer's greatest players, who captained the team to World Cup victory in 1974 then won the tournament again as manager in 1990, has died at the age of 78, German news agency DPA reported on Monday.

Beckenbauer was a classy, dominant presence on the pitch for West Germany and Bayern Munich, with whom he won three successive European Cups, and had the nickname Der Kaiser, or "The Emperor".