Beckenbauer and Matthäus selected in Ballon d'Or Dream Team

Since 1956, French magazine France Football has handed out the prestigious Ballon d’Or prize for the best footballer of the year. Because of the global coronavirus pandemic, the annual vote was cancelled for the first time in 2020. In its place, the bosses of the renowned magazine have held a vote on the best team in history, and two former FC Bayern players have made it in.

Honorary president Franz Beckenbauer and Germany’s most capped international Lothar Matthäus are among the 11 players voted into the ‘Ballon d’Or Dream Team’ by 140 journalists. Lew Jashin, Cafu, Paolo Maldini, Pelé, Xavi, Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi, Ronaldo and Cristiano Ronaldo complete the line-up.

Kaiser Franz Beckenbauer won the World Cup both as a player in 1974 and as a coach in 1990. He was awarded the Ballon d’Or, which was given to the best player in Europe until 1995, in 1972 and 1976. His captain for that World Cup triumph in Italy in 1990 went by the name of Lothar Matthäus, who received the Golden Ball prize in the same year. Together they won the 1994 Bundesliga title and the 1996 UEFA Cup with FC Bayern, as well as being runners-up with Germany at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.

Alongside the vote for the Dream Team, a B and C XI were also made up from players who came second and third in each position. In the latter, three other long-serving Bayern players were represented with Manuel Neuer, Philipp Lahm and Paul Breitner.