Romain Rouillard (comments collected by Jacques Vendroux) / Photo credit: MARCO BERTORELLO / AFP
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11:53 p.m., January 8, 2024
While France waits to know the identity of its future Prime Minister, Germany mourns one of its legends this Monday, January 8. Franz Beckenbauer, a true football icon across the Rhine, died on Sunday at the age of 78. Double Golden Ball in 1972 and 1976, he was one of three footballers to have won the World Cup as a player (1974), then as a coach (1990), alongside the Brazilian Mario Zagallo, who died at the end of last week, and the Frenchman Didier Deschamps. Nicknamed the “Kaiser”, the legendary Bayern Munich libero left his mark on the world of football, before successfully taking on the role of coach, then joining football authorities at the end of the century last.
On Europe 1, Michel Platini, triple Golden Ball in 1983, 1984 and 1985 and European champion in 1984 with the Blues, paid tribute to the man who was, for several seasons, his opponent on the field. Thus saluting a “real gentleman” and “a formidable player” who “will remain in the history of world football for a long time”.
“It was always a pleasure to talk football”
The former glory of Juventus Turin can also be recognized in the Kaiser’s career. “I have 40 years of memories with Franz Beckenbauer. We did the same jobs all our lives. We were players, captain of our national team, coach and then we were in institutions for around ten years.” And the similarities don’t end there. In 1992, Michel Platini was appointed co-president of the organizing committee for the 1998 World Cup, organized in France, while Franz Beckenbauer was in charge, a few years later, of the organization of the 2006 World Cup organized in… Germany . “We had practically the same life with Franz,” concludes Platini.
The two men, who rubbed shoulders regularly on the FIFA executive committee between 2007 and 2011, often told each other their anecdotes, forged on the green rectangle. “It was always a pleasure to talk about football. Especially the fights he had with Johan Cruyff (famous Dutch footballer who died in 2016) whom he admired and esteemed.” They also relived their shared experiences, including this France-RFA, played in the semi-final of the 1986 World Cup, organized in Mexico, and lost 2-0 by the Blues. “Franz didn’t understand how we could have lost against them. He said to me, ‘But Michel, I don’t understand how we managed to beat you’.”
“A true gentleman” who “knew what he wanted”
On the field, Michel Platini describes “a modern libero, who built, who was going to score goals” and who contrasted with the image of the Italian libero “who played very far behind”. Off the field, he remembers a “very nice guy, charming, friendly, always in a good mood, always there to help. A real gentleman” who, however, “knew what he wanted”. And to conclude: “It was really a pleasure to be with Franz. He made German football, he was THE great star of German football.”