He worked as a pundit for Sky Germany, and for 34 years as a columnist for the tabloid Bild, both until 2016.In August 2016, it was announced Beckenbauer was being investigated for fraud and money laundering in connection with the 2006 World Cup. The investigation was closed without a verdict in 2020 as the statute of limitations expired.Beckenbauer was born in the post-World War II ruins of Munich, the second son of postal-worker Franz Beckenbauer, Sr. and his wife Antonie (née Hupfauf). He grew up in the working-class district of Giesing and, despite his father’s cynicism about the game, started playing football at the age of nine with the youth team of SC Munich ’06 in 1954.