- In the Munich Allianz Arena, long-time companions, greats from politics and sports as well as many fans remember the late Franz Beckenbauer.
- German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier remembered the late football legend with emotional words.
“I don’t know whether the angels in heaven play sports,” said Steinmeier. “But if so, then you will certainly have heard this new, somewhat Bavarian-sounding voice in the past few days: ‘Let’s go out and play football!’,” said the 68-year-old in his eulogy to around 30,000 visitors in the Munich Allianz Arena: “A voice that we all know and that we will miss forever. The Emperor’s Voice. The voice of Franz Beckenbauer.”
“We are also saying goodbye to a great person,” Steinmeier continued. “We were impressed by his skills, his friendly demeanor won people over, his fairness and attitude were never inferior to his talent.” As Federal President, he wanted to say on behalf of everyone: “Thank you, Franz Beckenbauer, thank you for everything.”
Football celebrities lay flowers
At the beginning of the memorial service for Franz Beckenbauer on the lawn of the Allianz Arena, eleven companions honored the memory of the football legend on behalf of the guests.
To the singing of star tenor Jonas Kaufmann, who performed “Time to say Goodbye” in the Italian version “Con te partiro”, Paul Breitner, Günter Netzer, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Bastian Schweinsteiger, among others, took to the pitch. They laid red roses at the center circle, where a banner showed Beckenbauer in the number 5 jersey.
With a musical introduction by a brass band, the famous Tölzer boys’ choir and the saxophonist Noah Fischer, thousands of visitors in the Allianz Arena were in the mood for FC Bayern’s big memorial ceremony for Franz Beckenbauer.
Beckenbauer died on January 7th at the age of 78. The “Kaiser” was one of the most influential personalities in football worldwide. Beckenbauer was world champion both as a player (1974) and as a coach (1990). As a player he won the championship cup three times with Bayern Munich.