Franz Beckenbauer
The street in front of the Allianz Arena is to be renamed
Franz Beckenbauer died on January 7, 2024 at the age of 78.
© imago/imagebroker
The thought games for a tribute to the late Franz Beckenbauer are taking shape. The city of Munich is already in discussions.
Will a Franz Beckenbauer Allee and an Kaiser monument be coming quickly? The mind games of how to pay tribute to the late football icon Franz Beckenbauer (1945-2024), who can best bestow the greatest honors in his hometown of Munich, started immediately after his death on January 7th.
After numerous suggestions, two of these ideas now seem to be becoming concrete. As the Munich “TZ” reports, Discussions are currently underway with the city to rename Werner-Heisenberg-Allee to Franz-Beckenbauer-Allee. This is not an insignificant side street in an outskirts, but the official street and address of the Allianz Arena.
The current Bayern CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen (56) is also very impressed by this idea. He said this at a fan club meeting on Sunday: “The Allianz Arena at Franz-Beckenbauer-Allee No. 5 – that would be sensational!” A monument to the emperor also seems to already be in the works. A statue of the legendary Bayern goalscorer and Beckenbauer friend Gerd Müller (1945-2021) still stands alone on the esplanade in front of the Bayern Stadium.
Jan-Christian Dreesen: “Franz fits in well there”
This was only unveiled in September 2023 and is now to be expanded to include an emperor monument. Assuming his widow Heidi Beckenbauer (57) agrees, the same thing as Müller’s is planned, says Dreesen: “If you look at the monument in honor of Gerd on the esplanade in front of the Allianz Arena: Franz fits in well there. Thousands of people are walking there of people, when you stand in front of them yourself, it’s quite impressive.” It will “warm your heart.”
In addition to the two plans mentioned, there are also national considerations as to how the memory of Franz Beckenbauer could be maintained in the future. Among other things, it was suggested that the DFB Cup be renamed the Franz Beckenbauer Cup. Former DFB kicker Ulf Kirsten (58) also had the idea of renaming the DFB campus in Frankfurt to the Franz Beckenbauer Academy. CDU circles in Thuringia even suggested a nationwide day of remembrance in honor of the shining figure.
By the way: Although the chances of the statue being realized for Franz Beckenbauer appear to be very high, the emperor himself apparently had less desire for such honors during his lifetime. When he was asked many years ago about a possible future memorial for him, according to his biographer Torsten Körner (58), he just waved it off and joked in Beckenbauer style: “Only the dogs pee on it anyway.”