“Great personality”
Angela Merkel reacts with dismay to Beckenbauer’s death
January 9, 2024, 6:08 p.m
Angela Merkel received the news of Franz Beckenbauer’s death “with great sadness.” The former Chancellor praises his work surrounding the 2006 summer fairy tale. Meanwhile, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge remembers with sadness a very personal incident many years ago.
Former Chancellor Angela Merkel reacted with dismay to the death of Franz Beckenbauer. She received the news “with great sadness. Franz Beckenbauer was a great personality in German football – and far beyond,” Merkel said in response to a request from the Sports Information Service (SID): “In these hours of farewell, I think particularly of him Franz Beckenbauer’s family and friends and wish them support, comfort and strength.”
She met Beckenbauer in 2006, “the year of the Football World Cup in Germany, which shaped our country like few other events. The fact that it could become an unforgettable summer fairy tale was inconceivable without the global citizen Franz Beckenbauer,” said the 69-year-old: ” He managed to make the motto of the World Cup a reality: The world was truly a guest of friends.” Beckenbauer, who brought the World Cup to Germany as chief organizer, died on Sunday at the age of 78.
When Karl-Heinz Rummenigge hears the name Franz Beckenbauer, he thinks wistfully of a very personal incident many years ago. “I came to FC Bayern when I was 18, first day of training, 10,000 people. Franz was German champion, had won the European Cup, and the highlight was being world champion in 1974,” reported the long-time companion.
“I am Franz”
Rummenigge was the first to go into the dressing room to welcome his new teammates. “Franz was the last to come into the dressing room. Then I said: Mr. Beckenbauer, I would like to introduce myself, I am Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. I am the new one.” Beckenbauer just smiled at him and said: “I’m Franz.”
That, Rummenigge concludes from the anecdote, “was so typical of Franz, he was an incredibly great person, generous, respectful, who always treated people well.” His death “shocked us all. When it was announced, phew, I was really shocked.”
Rummenigge, European champion in 1980 and runner-up in the world championships in 1982 and 1986, credits Beckenbauer with playing a crucial role in the rise of FC Bayern Munich. “Without him, FC Bayern would never be what it is today,” he said. “He was the leader of the team that was promoted back in the 1960s. He shaped German football like no other.” Together with Paul Breitner and Uli Hoeneß, he visited Beckenbauer again and again and “talked about old camels, he had fun with them.” In the end, however, this was no longer possible.