GOAT Index

Two legends at a time. Thousands of votes. One ranking.

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Franz Beckenbauer: the case for the GOAT

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    Franz Beckenbauer: the case for the GOAT

    Defender · Germany · Born 11 September 1945, Munich, Germany · Died 2024 · Career 1964–1983

    Elegant ball-playing defender who redefined the sweeper role, striding forward to start attacks. Captained Bayern Munich and West Germany through their golden era, later playing for the New York Cosmos.

    Career highlights

    Why Franz Beckenbauer could be the GOAT

    Der Kaiser is the greatest defender ever and won everything as a leader: World Cup, Euros and three straight European Cups as captain. He played defence with a playmaker's grace and later won the World Cup as a coach too.

    What fans say

    Franz Beckenbauer is #13 of 30 in the fan ranking, with a 3–3 head-to-head record from 82 Men's football votes. See the full Men's football GOAT ranking

    Franz Beckenbauer head to head

    How the ranking works. Every head-to-head vote is a result, like a game. The standings use a Bradley–Terry model, the same idea behind chess ratings: beating a highly rated legend counts for more than beating a long shot. Ratings are shown on a chess-style scale centred on 1500.

    One vote per matchup per person. If you see a pairing again in another session your new answer replaces the old one, so nobody can stuff the ballot by repeating a matchup.

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    Photo credits

      Photos come from Wikimedia Commons under the licenses listed. Each links to its source page.