Thomas Beckenbauer
Moving words on the death of his father
© imago/Spöttel Picture
Thomas Beckenbauer provides insights into his father’s life. Franz Beckenbauer lived “gratitude” and “reliability”.
Thomas Beckenbauer, 60, the eldest son of Franz Beckenbauer (1945-2024), finds moving words for his late father. In an interview with the magazine “Bunte” he talks about his memories of the emperor. His father lived attributes such as “gratitude” and “reliability” and treated everyone equally with his warmth. Franz Beckenbauer never forgot where he came from: “I think I got a good portion of it. I would also like to thank my father for that.”
During his lifetime, Franz Beckenbauer never made a secret of the fact that he had little time for his children when they were young. Thomas also addressed this in the conversation. Despite this fact, everyone could have relied on him “one hundred percent, always and in every situation,” says the business economist and financial advisor: “As a child, you always want your parents’ attention. But our father was very busy and traveled a lot for work. So we had to “We have to be considerate in every phase of life. And as a child you are not patient.”
His father earned and worked for the title “figure of light”; it was the result of his work and his success. The vehemence of the critical media reports from 2015 onwards about the alleged bribery scandal surrounding the awarding of the World Cup to Germany in the early 2000s, which has not yet been fully resolved, would have surprised his father: “You didn’t have to explicitly talk to him about it, you could see his dejection with this subject.” But his father was not guilty of anything and was portrayed in a light that he didn’t deserve and that was wrong.
Franz Beckenbauer never got over the death of his son Stephan
Thomas Beckenbauer reports that his father, as well as himself and his brother Michael, were never able to overcome the death of his son Stephan (1968-2015), who died of a brain tumor. “There is a mistake in the system, children simply shouldn’t die before their parents,” continued the emperor’s eldest child. In general, his grandmother Antonie (1913-2006), his father’s mother, was the linchpin for the entire family and thus also for Franz Beckenbauer until her death.
Thomas Beckenbauer is also grateful for his father’s third wife: Heidi Beckenbauer, 57. She took great care of him. Thomas Beckenbauer comes from the then young Bayern professional’s relationship with his childhood sweetheart Ingrid Grönke. After marrying his first wife Brigitte, Thomas was accepted into the family and grew up there. The marriage resulted in two more sons: Michael and the late Stephan. His second marriage to Sybille remained childless. With his third and final wife Heidi, the emperor had son Joel, 24, and daughter Francesca, 20.