Munich arena may host memorial for late soccer icon, Franz Beckenbauer

Admin I Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024

MUNICH – Karl-Heinz Rummenigge wants a memorial service for Franz Beckenbauer in Bayern Munich’s home stadium, and Berti Vogts has proposed to name the German Cup after the football great who died on Sunday at age 78.

Rummenigge, who played with Beckenbauer at Bayern and was later club CEO, told Tuesday’s Bild paper that Bayern owe their club icon Beckenbauer a worthy farewell.

“The whole world of football and beyond is mourning out friend Franz. FC Bayern should organise a memorial service for him in the stadium, which would never have existed without him,” Rummenigge said.

Bild said that Rummenigge has talked about a possible memorial service in the Allianz Arena with Bayern’s other former great Uli Hoeneß. The arena seats 75,024 people.
Beckenbauer’s family said on Monday that he died the previous day.

He played at Bayern 1964-1977, winning their first four of 32 Bundesliga titles and plenty of other silverware including three European Cups. He briefly coached the team twice and was club president 1994-2009.

Considered among the best players of all time, Beckenbauer won the World Cup as a player in 1974 and again as a coach in 1990, one of only three men to achieve the feat.

“Franz Beckenbauer rewrote the history of German football and left a lasting mark on it,” Rummenigge said in a club statement Monday. “German football has lost the greatest figure in its history.”

Vogts, who won the World Cup alongside Beckenbauer in 1974 and succeeded him as national team coach in 1990, told the Rheinische Post paper that the national federation DFB should consider naming the German Cup after him.

“It is important that his name is not forgotten by the next generation of footballers. Perhaps the DFB should think about naming the DFB Cup after Franz Beckenbauer, for example,” Vogts said.